Almost half a year on, but here's a new chapter. As always, I'm sorry for the delay.
I'm sure you all know the drill by now, but Worm and Warhammer are the properties of other people, etc etc.
Just to quickly address something a few reviews have asked- The Emperor is not based upon the Emperor of The Emperor Speaks, or Text to Speech. At least, not intentionally, although I have seen it. It appears that I'm simply incapable of writing a character who doesn't belong in a pulpy action novella.
As always, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Taylor stood upon the rooftop, glaring into the night. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be back in her workshop, finishing her power armour and her chain-glaive in preparation for going after Lung. She had heard the reports, even managed to get a snippet from a CCTV camera that showed the villain: he clearly wasn't fully recovered from her attack, so long ago, seemingly permanently trapped in a scaled form and moving noticeably slower than before. The Emperor thought it likely that someone had finally realised that the shards of glass embedded in Lung were damaging him and had removed most of them but there were some small pieces still left, unrecoverable.
So long as he was still vulnerable Taylor didn't really care. The only thing stopping her from going after him was the lingering suspicion that all was not as it seemed. That Lung was too cautious to have ordered the assassination of Bakuda like that. That she needed to find this new cape, this man who called himself Raijin, for a…chat. And if her vague suspicions were wrong, if she then had to carve through Lung to bring him to justice, then she didn't want to waste time waiting.
Still. Tattletale rarely contacted her, so Taylor assumed that this must be important. Waiting a few minutes couldn't hurt, she thought, just as she sensed someone stepping onto the roof. Tattletale. There was another person, she thought, waiting on the stairway, though she didn't bother to ascertain who- they didn't feel hostile, at least.
"I don't think I'll ever understand your fondness for meeting on rooftops." Tattletale said, breaking the silence. Taylor turned to face her, shrugging.
"It suits my dark and mysterious aspect." She replied, surprised at how easily the words came out.
"I told you that brooding did not suit you, Taylor."
'I'll brood if I want.' She grumbled, although in truth she had quickly grown tired of it. Perhaps she was a killer now but…but it didn't matter. It didn't change who she was.
"It had better not change who you are, if you want to prevent anyone with even a fraction of intelligence from realising it was you."
'Yes, thank you for that reminder.'
Taylor kept her eyes on Tattletale. The Undersider looked a little tired, a little pale and worn. Taylor didn't comment on it.
"You said you had some information for me?"
Tattletale smiled, though it looked a little more wan than usual.
"I always do. Though in this case I can't just give it away."
"You can't? And here I thought we were friends." Taylor said, her voice light. Without so much as moving her fingers she gathered her powers, readying for a fight. There was something wrong here, she idly considered, seeing a nervousness in Tattletales eyes.
"Come on then, out with it. What exactly do you want?" Taylor asked, unmoving. Tattletale licked her lips.
"You want information on Lung and Raijin, right? After the bombing thing? I have some, but I need a favour from you first."
Taylor rolled her eyes, tucking one hand into a pocket of her coat. Tattletale wasn't normally this nervous. It must be a big thing that she wanted to ask. Tattletale kept talking.
"See, we- you know that we broke Canary out, right? You saw us? Only thing is, she was pretty heavily restrained and we can't get all of the restraints off. So, thing is-"
Taylor had stopped paying attention to Tattletale, the second person that Tattletale had brought to the meeting had moved up the stairs and onto the roof. Taylor could see a flash of yellow and immediately understood who it was. Her hand left her pocket, power curling and writhing inside her veins.
"You brought her here?" Taylor demanded, voice harsh. She didn't give Tattletale a chance to respond, curling her fingers and pulling. Tattletale was yanked forwards, directly into Taylor's shoulder; Taylor heard the breath huff from her as her chest met armoured plate. Taylor reached out, grabbed Tattletale by the chest of her costume, dragged her closer, second hand reaching out and closing a fist of force around Canary, holding her still.
"What did you think, that she can control me? That I'd sit still and let her work her magic on me?" Taylor hissed, helmet inches away from Tattletales face. Tattletale shook her head, alarm covering her features.
"No! No, I need you to help her. I thought you could help her." She gasped out. Taylor scowled at her for a moment, fingers tightening before she let go and pushed Tattletale away from her. A gesture dragged Canary closer and, now that she was close, Taylor could see a collar around her neck.
"You do realise that this could have a tracker in it, right?" she asked. Something mundane. Something to keep the suddenly white-hot rage in her stomach at bay, at least until she could master herself and crush it. Tattletale, rubbing gingerly at her throat, gave another wan smile.
"I have a blocker. I just can't get the collar off."
Taylor let Canary go. The girl dropped to the ground immediately, her face white as milk, and Taylor felt a pang of remorse, like needles in her chest. For all that she had been sentenced for her crimes, Canary wasn't a hardened criminal like she usually dealt with. Her frustration was making her cruel and volatile, Taylor uneasily realised. It sent an unpleasant chill through her. Grimacing, she gave Tattletale a brief glance and sighed.
"I'm sorry." She said, quietly. Tattletale blinked before managing a small smile.
"Don't worry about it." She muttered. Taylor turned her attention back to Canary, finding an urge to fill the quiet with noise even as she carefully helped Canary to her feet. The girl was a few inches shorter than Taylor herself, and Taylor had to reach out and tilt her head to the side to get a proper look at the collar.
"Don't give me that, Tattletale. I bloody should worry about it. I went from normal to attacking immediately, from sheer paranoia." Taylor said, peering more closely at the collar. It was held together with screws, the joints not quite sealed. Carefully she focused her power around her hand, a thousand invisible tendrils of force coming from her fingertips and beginning to worm their way into the device. Assuming it had some kind of anti-tampering thing on it, she intended to take it apart in a single go, disassemble it without damaging any of the constituent parts. It would be an interesting challenge.
"You're tired." Tattletale said. There was no question to her statement, just a calm truth. Taylor shrugged one shoulder.
"I've been busy." She muttered, mostly distracted by the collar. It was a beautiful design, marred by an unremarkable construction. It wasn't nearly as complex as she would have expected, either. Tattletale hummed quietly, her voice becoming slightly more confident. Obviously she was recovering from Taylor's attack on her.
"Are you? That's interesting, given that the Merchants are gone and the Empire has called a truce with you. I would have expected you to have less to do- especially as Oni Lee is dead."
Taylor didn't twitch, didn't jump. She even put the appropriate amount of surprise into her voice, but she had a nasty feeling that Tattletale wasn't fooled.
"Oni Lee is definitely dead?" she asked. Tattletale hummed softly.
"Died in a fire. Official report is that he accidentally set off one of the Bakuda bombs that he still had, killed himself by mistake. Rumour is that Lung killed him for going against his orders. Crazy conspiracy is that someone took exception to him killing Bakuda."
Taylor grunted in reply. It really was convenient how the Internet happily provided theories to cover for her, although…
"If anyone is likely to have realised it will be Tattletale."
'I know. But until she tries to use it against us…'
"And if she decides to?"
There was only one answer to that, though it wasn't one that Taylor was fond of.
"Even if Lee is dead, whoever told him to kill Bakuda is still out there. We both know Lee didn't have the initiative to kill her on his own, someone gave him orders. That someone is just as responsible as Lee was." Taylor said quietly. Tattletale gave a little laugh and, when Taylor glanced over at her, the knowing grin was back on Tattletale's face, albeit not as wide as it usually was.
"Well, lucky for you I can help you with that."
Taylor snorted faintly, curling her fingers and mapping out the innards of the collar. She was reasonably certain that she could isolate and deactivate the connector between the vial of whatever it was in the collar and the trigger, but she didn't break it yet. She wanted to make sure that there were no other tricks or traps inside.
"You say that like you didn't already know I'd be interested." She sardonically noted. Tattletale snickered. Taylor noticed that Canary looked confused, the expression even displacing the earlier fear. It was sort of cute. Like a stunned puppy or something.
"If you have a question, Feathers, now is the time to ask it." She said.
'I haven't used Feathers as a nickname before, right?'
"I don't keep track of all the inane names you give to people."
'That's a fib right there. I know how good your memory is.'
"I didn't say I wouldn't be able to. I said that I haven't."
"She means you, Canary. Don't mind the stupid nickname." Tattletale interjected. Taylor pouted a little bit. It wasn't a stupid nickname.
"An extremely stupid nickname. Be more original."
'Yeah, because calling your bodyguard Custodians in not-Latin is so original.'
"…touché."
"Anyway, Feathers, what was your question?" Taylor asked. She was pretty sure that the collar was safe to take apart, but she was still going to take it slow. Canary nodded.
"I, um. It's just that the two of you seem familiar with each other?"
Tattletale laughed.
"Because we're on opposite sides, right? We should be swinging at each other?"
"I'm tempted sometimes." Taylor murmured, carefully wrapping the vial that presumably contained sedatives in a cocoon of force and starting to ease it free. It moved slowly, tightly fitted into the collar, but it was coming. Tattletale completely ignored her comment.
"Thing is, Canary, it's not that simple. This whole heroes and villains thing is just a game. Like cops and robbers."
Taylor scoffed aloud, seeing Tattletale glance at her and grin.
"Well, Circaetus doesn't believe that. But it's true. So long as we fly low, the heroes aren't interested in coming after us. So long as we don't get caught they won't look too hard. Cops and robbers, just a game."
"Didn't expect naivety from you, Tattletale." Taylor muttered. Tattletale looked at her, waiting for her to continue. Taylor snorted.
"The PRT and Protectorate don't want to crack down hard because the more bodies they have for the Endbringers the better. We both know that, let's not sugar-coat it. But even if you're right in what you say, Canary here doesn't have that luxury. She's wanted, birdcage bound. They'll all be after her."
"Including you?" Canary asked after a pregnant pause, soft and wavering. Taylor glanced at her as the vial of sedative slowly worked its way free.
"No." she replied. "No, I think that your sentencing was a travesty and sets a terrible precedent. But that doesn't mean it matters. I won't hunt you down, but I won't give you any breaks if we're tangling."
Canary lifted her chin a fraction.
"Thank you for the warning."
"Think nothing of it." Taylor muttered. A moment later the vial of sedative came free and Taylor smiled, twisting her hand. The vial fell gently into her palm even as her powers shifted and pulled and the collar broke apart into a swirl of pieces and components, swirling in the air before it reformed in her hand. Taylor tucked it into her coat before she stood.
"Fact is, Canary, I think what you did was horrible. It was stupid on your part. But stupid is human and prejudice against Parahumans won't help anything here. You want my advice, though- work on your control. If you're going to stay free you might need it."
Taylor didn't bother to keep speaking, instead turning her attention to the vial in her hand. It was tiny, filled with a colourless liquid- a powerful tranquiliser, she guessed, just in case all the other options failed. Maybe even Tinker produced. She could approve of that sort of caution.
"Canary, would you mind letting me have a word with Circaetus alone? The whole cops and robbers thing, you know, sometimes it helps to have a word on the other side."
"And plausible deniability." Taylor added, carefully stowing the vial in an inside pocket. Hopefully it wouldn't get broken before she had a chance to study it. Canary retreated from the roof and Taylor cocked her head at Tattletale.
"Alright, spill it. A favour for a favour, right?"
"That was our agreement." Tattletale said. Taylor watched her, eyes fixed on her face, and saw the quicksilver flash of her tongue as Tattletale licked her lips. Nerves perhaps, probably lingering from the attack Taylor had made.
"The new cape working with Lung is from out of town, as far as I know. He calls himself Raijin."
'Raijin?'
"Thunder God, I think. Seems he has an ego."
'They always do.'
"His powers aren't obvious, best bet is that it's something to do with swords, he dresses like a samurai. Full armour, two swords, the whole nine yards. From what I've heard he's meeting with Marque tomorrow night." Tattletale continued.
"Marque? The new Merchants leader?" Taylor asked. Tattletale nodded.
"Puppet leader, yeah. He's from out of town as well, not sure on his powers."
"But he's using the name to link himself to Marquis and get some traction. Your boss is using him as a patsy, right?"
"Right." Tattletale confirmed. Her emotions felt uneasy and her voice was lowered; she was taking a risk telling Taylor this much. Then again, leading Taylor to Raijin could lead her to Lung. Leading Taylor to Lung would result in the removal of either Taylor or Lung. Either way, one less obstacle for Tattletale's boss.
"But he has to look like he's standing on his own, so he's meeting with Raijin. That way he gives the impression that he's working to establish himself." Taylor continued, working through the obvious speculation aloud. She paused there, though, thoughtfully chewing at her lip.
"But the ABB are in decline. It would arguably make more sense for him to approach the Empire…but the Empire, themselves, are powerful. Negotiate from a position of strength. The Merchants are in disarray and therefore allying with the ABB is logical."
"Don't forget that the Empire are currently unoccupied." Tattletale added. Taylor tilted her head towards the Undersider, who shrugged.
"Everybody's heard about Kaisers offer to you."
"He can cram his offer up his ass."
"But are you going to come right out and say that?" Tattletale asked, her smile a little more tired than normal but still amused and knowing. Taylor tutted.
"I guess not. I can't really afford to be running a one-woman war with every gang in the city." She admitted. She thoughtfully tapped a finger against her side before she continued.
"I really have to ask, though, on account of you being scary smart and all- do you really think Lung gave the order? It seems pretty damn suspicious that this new guy joined the ABB and not long after Bakuda ends up dead. You can't tell me that Lung wouldn't have learned about the bombs. Bakuda might have been slipping them into his men in preparation for a coup but once she was down and out someone must have told him."
Tattletale thought quietly for a few moments before she shrugged.
"Lung isn't that stupid, but he's rash. He gets away with the stuff he does because the Protectorate is still hoping that he'll pitch in with an Endbringer fight."
Taylor laughed aloud.
"As though he ever has. The only time he did was Kyushu, and he accomplished exactly fuck all."
Tattletale continued as though Taylor hadn't spoken.
"But even with that, possibly destroying a large portion of the city just to show that Bakuda can't have things all her own way is an especially reckless act. There was no way he could have known that most of the bombs would be disarmed."
"But it's still not out of character. So he could have given the order."
"He could have."
"Thanks for that, Tattletale. Really helped me make a decision, there."
Tattletale smiled.
"You're welcome." She happily told Taylor. Taylor sighed, turning away from the Undersider to glance across the city.
"There's a decent chance that Raijin really is working for Lung. But as well as that, seems awfully suspicious that Lung would pull something almost certain to draw attention like that, before he's back to full strength. Awfully convenient for the other gangs." She said, turning again and casting her gaze upon Tattletale. Tattletale merely continued to smile and Taylor scoffed quietly.
"Yeah, I get it. Alright. You need anything else from me?"
"I don't think so. Not yet, anyway. Just…you know, keep in mind that-"
"Your boss isn't a patient man and you can't wait forever?"
Tattletale let her grin grow a little wider, although it looked forced to Taylor.
"Wow. Is predicting sentences that annoying when I do it?"
"Even more so. I think my naturally devastating charisma makes up for it." Taylor told her, her deadpan tone not disguising the joke. Tattletale made a mocking noise, but then shook her head.
"Thanks, you know. I know I helped you out, but it was good of you to help Canary."
"Stop, you'll make me blush." Taylor replied. She mulled over her next words before sighing.
"Look, don't tell anyone this but- it was the right thing to do. Canary doesn't deserve the Birdcage. And don't think I don't see the irony in saying that."
Tattletale nodded at her.
"Well. Until we meet again, then." She said. Taylor gave her a jaunty wave and simply hopped off the roof, leaving the Undersiders behind. The night was still young, and she had things to do.
Daniel Hebert was not a light sleeper, even before Taylor had meddled with his mind. Afterwards, he slept like a log. Like the dead. Like a…dead log.
"Constantly applying metaphors to things is not an endearing habit."
'Nobody else can hear, you grouch.'
"Honestly I think that makes it worse."
Taylor sniffed in irritation, bending over her father and laying a gentle hand on his forehead. His mind was still wrapped in layers of fossilisation and twisted thoughts, trapping him in the construct his own mind had created. Carefully she extended her power to him, carefully peeling away at his thoughts, piece by piece, layer by layer. It was enlightening, really, this look at her fathers unguarded mind. It confirmed something she had suspected for a long time, but never found herself willing to confirm: as much as anything else, her father was sunken in depression. He had never gotten over the death of her mother, his grief raw and grating. She pushed it away from her own thoughts. She had moved on, at least. Accepted it.
"You know, you could take away his hurt."
'You can't just cure depression like that, you know.'
"Well, technically…but you're right. Taking that away from him would inevitably change him. But blunting it…would that be so terrible?"
'You tell me. You could argue that moving past it on his own will be the thing that makes him a better person. That he needs to surpass his past in order to heal from it.'
"You could. But tell me, Taylor- will you?"
Taylor supressed a growl. Honestly, she knew that the Emperor was right. All concerns aside, could she really allow her father to sink back into the mire that swamped his thoughts in every waking minute? And yet, should she restore him to the man he once was- how would that affect her? Could she continue to so easily be Circaetus if her father was active, awake and alert?
Taylor recognised the selfishness inherent in that thought mere seconds after she thought it and cast it aside.
Not that it wasn't true. But regardless.
'Maybe just a little. Smooth it out, just a fraction. And see where that goes. Anyway, it's like- it's like aging him, right? He would have healed in the end; I'm just making it go quicker.'
When he spoke, The Emperor's voice was unusually soft.
"Yes, Taylor. That is the case."
Taylor sighed gently, letting her powers touch her father and sooth away some of the hurt. She fancied that his breath became deeper, more even, the lines on his face smoothing a fraction as she brought her hand away from his head and slowly backed away. She still had things to do, to prepare for the next day, but…she could afford a little selfishness. Just a little. But still, her conscience nagged at her.
'Is it really the right thing to do? To just reach out and change him, without giving him any choice?'
"Even if you could offer him a choice, does he have the agency to make it? At this moment, your father is not the strong, proud man you remember. He is a puppet, enslaved to the sorrow in his past."
'I know! I know, alright? But that doesn't mean that- that doesn't mean I can just cast away all my morality. Changing people like this, it's…I don't know if it's right.'
The Emperor didn't reply immediately, as Taylor backed away from her father and slipped out of the room. As she descended the stairs he spoke again.
"Tell me, Taylor, as we debate morality. If you could go back, to before we met. Before the bullying began. If you could return and use your powers on Sophia, on Emma, to make them different people, would you? If you could free Sophia from the shackles of her philosophy and Emma from the chains of her experience, would you?"
'Even if I did, I wouldn't get powers. So I couldn't go back, so they wouldn't be affected.' Taylor responded automatically, trying to give herself time to think. The Emperor made a noise of disgust.
"Don't try and quibble me with semantics, Taylor. Perhaps it is impossible and time is a loop. Very well then. If you could travel to an alternate universe and save another version of yourself the torment that would follow, would you? Could you justify that to yourself? Or would you shake your head, tell yourself that it was for the greater good, that your alternate would become a stronger person for it, and leave them to their fate?"
Taylor walked on, struggling with herself.
'No.' She eventually admitted. No, the point that the Emperor made was a good one. But still, it somewhat rankled to be using her power on her father like this. And yet- and yet, some part of her reminded her, she had been content enough to manipulate him to ignore her when she needed it. She had been pleased to be selfish then.
Taylor was not a huge fan of that line of thought, though the Emperor was less willing to indulge it.
"In an ideal world, Taylor, everyone would have a therapist and everyone would have the chance to move past their issues. But right now, the best we can do is make your father as safe as possible."
'It still seems selfish. How many people could I help by doing something like this?'
"How many people could you help if you ended up like Panacea, burned out and bitter? Selfishness does not preclude helping others sometimes, just as selflessness does not mean never thinking of yourself. While I hesitate to use such a trite phrase…"
'I should see the bigger picture? I hate that phrase, you know. It's how you get terrible things.'
"It is a cold thing to say. And yet, it is not entirely negative."
'I know, I know.'
Taylor smiled slightly, a flicker of amusement crossing her face.
'So, do you think we should start on the New Imperium now, or leave it until later?'
She wasn't sure how an immaterial being could choke in surprise, but somehow the Emperor managed it.
Taylor shifted on her haunches, forcing an unwieldy plate of ceramite into place with both hands and focusing. A trickle of sweat ran down her brow as she carefully manipulated her powers, using her hands to hold the plate in place as she hammered a pair of rivets through the plate with nothing but telekinetic force.
'I see why the Mechanicus goes for those mechadendrites now. Having an extra pair of hands or two would be pretty useful.'
"Not especially good for stealth. Or any sort of anonymity."
'I still think attaching some to the armour would be useful.'
"And I still insist that you should save those additions for your second suit. Make sure that the suit works before adding something like that."
Taylor grunted in annoyed agreement, hissing in triumph as the rivets snapped into place and she could let go of the plate. The armour was close to completion, the frame forged and built and the armouring in progress. It still needed power, of course, but that was well along. The cells were complete, she just needed to install them, but she wanted to apply the armour in order to be completely sure that the cells were correctly protected. She couldn't afford it to break down in the midst of battle: she might be able to move in the unpowered suit, but barely.
'You know, I'm not even sure this thing will be worth anything but proof of concept. I mean, it'll help a bit, but nothing we can't do power-wise. And it'll chew through the batteries like a rabid dog in an orphanage.'
"Please never use that metaphor again. I do share you concerns, though. It is crude by any measure. But the best way to understand the issues is to stress-test it. While I wouldn't recommend using it in any heavy combat capacity in case something goes wrong, a test run in a relatively controlled situation should help begin to work out the kinks."
'Bring backup and fight minions, you mean. I can get behind that, honestly. It'll be nice to just beat up some idiots without risking my life. A lack of traumatic visions would be pretty great, too.'
"In that case you might want to avoid Coils men."
'Yeah. I feel like that's not gonna happen. In fact, I get the feeling- now that I've cooled down a bit, you know- I get the feeling that Marque might not be the only one working for Coil.'
"Cut outs and patsies. The favourite tool of the con man, the coward and the Eldar." The Emperor noted, his tone rich and heavy with contempt. Taylor contemplated that, swearing under her breath as the armour plate pinched her finger before it finally remained in place. She straightened away from the armour, cuffing a hand across her brow to flick away the sweat.
'Do you mind if I ask you something?'
"I usually don't."
'Something personal.'
"Ask, Taylor, and we will see if I answer."
A gruff chuckle.
"Though I cannot fathom a reason to withhold it from you. We are all but one, you and I."
'We both know we still have some privacy. But anyway. Tell me, if you're willing- why do you hate the Eldar so much?'
There was a silence, heavy and pregnant. The Emperor broke it first.
"Why do you think I hate the Eldar?" he asked, his voice devoid of any emotion besides curiosity. Taylor replied evenly.
'Your tone when you talk of them. You mentioned their Gods with some respect, noted that you found the Phoenix Lords fascinating, but that was all. Fascinating. Like an experiment, or a weapon.'
"You're becoming more perceptive."
'And you're dodging the question.'
A dour, sarcastic laugh.
"Not yet, Taylor. If I were dodging the question I would have suggested that perhaps your armour could have mechadendrites fitted to it. I am merely considering the best place to begin."
'I've always been told to try the beginning.'
"Hmm. Well, in that case, I suppose it must begin with the Old Ones and the Necrons. Or Necrontyr, as they were then. They fought their war, brief though it was, and the Old Ones thought it finished. And then the Necrontyr found the C'Tan."
Taylor carefully continued her work, but almost all of her attention was on the Emperor.
"The Star Gods. Star eaters. Soul eaters. They consumed the Necrons, of course, their personality yet unformed. In those souls they found power…and they found corruption. They hungered for more, ever more, and the Old Ones shone brighter than any. Driven by their mad gods and the remnants of their hate, the Necrons returned to war an undying army. The Old Ones were each mighty- perhaps not so mighty as I, but far more numerous. Far, far more numerous. Yet no power could still that deathly army, forcing them to look to other means."
'The Eldar and the Orks.'
"Indeed. They searched the cosmos, finding two races with potential. Such as they saw it. One they took and made into beasts, nothing but soldiers- the Orks. I can't be certain, given that those events predate- well, humanity- but I suspect the Orks were barely even sapient when they were forcibly uplifted. And the Eldar…contrary to the Orks, I think they were in the earliest stages of civilization when the Old Ones took them and artificially evolved them. Along a very specific path."
'Just like the Old Ones, an entire race of Psykers. Less powerful, but far faster reproducing.'
"Exactly. A servant race, or an heir, I could never decide. Regardless, the Eldar were uplifted. They gained knowledge, power, technology, civilization. They took the devices of the Old Ones and raised their own gods, even. They survived the war, victors by default, and they lived through the Enslaver infestation that followed and the twisting of the Immaterium, becoming masters of reality itself, a race at it's very peak, arguably the most powerful mortal race to ever exist. They had everything."
'And with all that everything, they built themselves an empire.'
"It might not have been too bad, to begin. The Eldar do not strike me as a cruel species by their very nature. But over the years, as their power continued to grow and their species became fewer and fewer in number, children rarer and rarer, they began to succumb to depravity. It largely escaped my attention, I admit. By the time I was born the Eldar Empire was reaching its nadir, all I knew of them was the occasional raiding party venturing into the solar system. I dispatched them with ease, of course. It was a simple matter to twist their engines and send them into the Warp, rather than into the Webway. Once I realised how, of course."
'Naturally. And their Gods?'
"A reflection of the Eldar of earlier times. I could feel them in the Warp, even speak to them. They were largely dismissive of me, but not entirely unpleasant. Isha was reasonable enough, and Cegorach…I think Cegorach realised that I was stronger than any of them, just as he saw the end of the Eldar Empire coming before any other. Asuryan was distant, as was Khaine, and I rarely encountered any of the others. But they still tried. They kept the souls of the Eldar from the grasp of daemons, they were prepared to work alongside me against the Ruinous Powers, or even the Ork Gods. But there was very little they could do to alter the course of their Empire. The only Eldar interested in contacting their Gods had already realised what course the Eldar were upon."
The Emperor huffed aloud.
"But I am prevaricating. My hate. Do you know, Taylor, what happened when Slaanesh was born?"
'The coalesced energy of depravity finally attained critical mass, tearing the Warp apart and finishing it's transformation. The maelstrom that raged was sufficient to tear through the very fabric of reality, cracking into realspace at the nearest weakpoint in the barrier. The Eldar homeworld.'
"Precisely. An entire Segmentum, to use the Imperium phrase, was consumed by the Eye of Terror, along with every single Eldar within. Every Eldar, Taylor, screaming in terror and pain. Can you even imagine the number? The Eldar Empire was vast, so vast. The number who perished reached far beyond billions; their death scream was unutterably vast. It tore the void like nothing before or since, I would not be surprised to learn that it was that very scream that drew the attention of the Tyranids to my galaxy. But more than that, the psychic wake of those deaths swept over the entirety of the human worlds. Almost every human Psyker died or went insane, the only survivors were those precious few with the strength to resist it or those in protected areas- or both, in the case of my friend Malcador. I resisted it, of course, but I still heard it. I heard all of it, not an endless scream but the individual agonies of the Eldar. Their torment at the hands of the god they had spawned. It nearly drove me mad. And then the Warp twisted and tore and everything went wrong, even more than it already was. The Eldar escaped to the Webway and left the galaxy to the nightmare they had created, re-emerging only after the worst of the devastation had passed."
Taylor ceased her work and leaned back on her haunches, listening more intently. The Emperor sounded bitterer than ever, his voice acid with spite.
"And when they returned, what did they do? Did they work with others, to try and heal the damage they had caused? Did they even attempt to make reparations? No, they continued as they always had done. They locked away their emotion and they lived lives of asceticism and they continued to sacrifice any and all they came across. They incited wars and destroyed lives and ruined entire planets to save the lives of a handful of their kind. All they learned was that they shouldn't indulge in the sorts of depravity that surpass even the most devoted worshipper of Slaanesh, as though that needs to be taught to anyone with any sort of basic morality. And still they act as though they are unimpeachable, as though they are always right. Do you know why I never attempted to gain Eldar aid in the construction of the human Webway? Because I knew they would sabotage it. They would doom an entire race to forcing its way through the horrors of the Warp, doom me to eternally maintaining the Astronomicon…to a horror that even I am horrified by, even now. Merely because they are so selfish that they could never imagine allowing a lesser race to use their technology. Because they would never allow access to a mon-keigh- to one who must be exterminated."
Taylor was silent for a while, before she spoke.
'I have to say, that was a lot more in-depth than I expected.'
"So is my hatred of the Eldar." The Emperor responded, before he let out a mirthless laugh.
"Do you know, Taylor, what the final plan of some of the Eldar was? Not the Dark Eldar, cowering parasites that they are, the Craftworld Eldar?"
'I suspect you're about to tell me.'
"They thought that, when the last Eldar died, a new God would be birthed. A new God, empowered by the souls of every fallen Eldar, formed of death and vengeance who could wreak their revenge upon all their foes."
Taylor was, for an instant, struck utterly dumb by the sheer stupidity of it.
'Excuse me? They- let me get this straight. After they murder-fucked a god of raging depravity into existence and hid while it proceeded to eat almost all their people and pantheon as a prelude to giving the entire shit-forsaken galaxy the sort of skull-fucking that even the most depraved porn websites would be reluctant to host, they decided the only answer was to do it again?'
"That was entirely the case. Apparently they believed it would be an Eldar God, rather than another of the Ruinous Powers."
'Could they not see the state of the Warp? Were they absolutely stupid? And how the fuck does it help them if they're all dead anyway?'
"Ah, they thought that it would defeat Slaanesh and take back the souls of every Eldar, resurrecting their race in new and perfect forms. And if it didn't? Well, they would be dead regardless, and in the grasp of something presumably less likely to torture them for all eternity than the Dark Prince. As for the rest of the galaxy? Well, as you would likely say, the rest of the galaxy could get fucked."
'Fuck me with a chainsword. That's the dumbest fucking plan I've ever heard of.'
"Mm. Apparently, Eldrad Uthran was actually attempting to bring it to life prior to the obliteration of his race. I at least have to give him credit for his proactivity. The worst thing is, if there was any chance of succeeding I might have even helped."
'Helped?'
"Even my hate must give way to practicality. I wish only annihilation on the Eldar, Taylor, but if using them and their gods could save humanity I would do it in a heartbeat. Though I hope you are never forced to make that choice."
'That makes two of us.' Taylor grumbled, rocking further back and sitting down.
'Now I really hope Coil isn't an Eldar. I just don't have the patience to deal with that level of dumb-fuck.'
"No, there's quite enough of that in your normal life." The Emperor observed, apparently regaining his good humour. Taylor sniffed in disdain but chose not to comment.
'Speaking of dumb-fuck, I need your opinion on something. I think we can both agree that we've got something of a poor track record regarding actually capturing villains, and we've no idea what powers this Raijin guy actually has. If he turns out to be a teleporter or something, it could all go to shit.'
"I would think that the odds of three teleporters being in Brockton Bay all at the same time are slim."
'Yeah but that's the sort of thinking that leads to us fucking up. So, instead of my original plan- which, for the record, was to get hold of Raijin and beat him until information came out, like some kind of fact-filled pinata-'
"Imaginative."
'Thank you. But as I was saying, rather than punching him until the words come out or he goes into a coma and I can ransack his brain, do you think we can do it a bit more subtle? Drop some kind of compulsion to run to his boss and some kind of psychic tracker on him, then follow him to the big cheese?'
"The big cheese."
'The big cheese, who I will proceed to make into the Swiss cheese. But seriously, do you think it's possible?'
"The compulsion is easy we've done it before and will almost certainly do it again. The tracking…hmm. It's not something I've really done before."
'Because you've almost never met a problem you couldn't brute-force your way through?'
"More or less. However, I think that we could, possibly, attempt something tangentially related to a soul-binding. While an actual soul-binding ritual would be far more involved and probably end in a grisly death for Raijin, using the basic principles we could attach a sliver of our power to him, dormant. We can then track it, rather than him."
'Question. Will that run the risk of making him a Psyker? Because I'd really rather not take that risk.'
"No. The ritual of soul-binding does not really empower Psykers, it allows them to…lean upon my presence, as it were, enabling them to use more of their own power. Unless he is a latent psyker already- and the gene was not present in any relevant numbers until the end of the twenty-first millennium- there will be no effect beyond a miniscule reduction in our potential power."
'Which doesn't matter unless I snap again and go for an all-out, self-sacrificial play. Ok. But we test it first. I'm supposed to meet Glory later, we can use her as a test maybe. It won't hurt her, right?'
"I will ensure you do it right, Taylor. She will be unharmed."
'Great. Just what I like to hear.'
Taylor sighed and stretched out her powers, returning to her armour. This had been a busy night already, and there was still more of it to go. She actually found herself hoping that her bi-weekly patrol with Glory was quiet. She grinned to herself.
'Can't believe I thought that. I must be getting old.'
Taylor didn't want to boast, but her idea had been absolutely perfect. Admittedly the actual mechanics of it had been the work of the Emperor, but the initial idea was hers and it worked like a dream. Her test on Glory Girl- unethical as it probably was- had gone without a hitch. Taylor was able to easily follow the person she was tracking, gain a general sense of their emotion even without being near to them and even influence them more easily. All at the low, low price of a sliver of power so faint she couldn't even tell she was missing it. All in all, it actually looked like this plan of hers was going to work.
"And just like that I know that something will go horribly wrong."
'And just like that there goes all my confidence. You're a real drag sometimes.' Taylor riposted, getting an amused chuckle in response. She wrinkled her nose under her helmet, peering into the dimness. It was getting dark, the sun setting in crimson display, and there was a chill wind out here. Marque and Raijin had elected to meet somewhere Taylor did not expect: on the landward outskirts of the city, in what she thought was an abandoned truck stop. It made quite the change from the Docks or a warehouse at first, but she could appreciate that it had the same ambiance.
Also nobody would expect it, so there was that as an advantage.
Ambiance aside, Taylor didn't entirely appreciate being forced to lie at the side of the road, among spiky grass and thorns, but she was at least well hidden by her powers and could watch as the participants in this little shindig arrived. Marque had arrived first, alone. He was a slender man, average height, in a fashionable suit and a full-face theatre mask, two large eyes the only feature on it. Taylor amused herself by pondering the specifics of his power and marking the positions of all the Merchants he had brought along. Unexpectedly, they looked nothing like normal Merchants, dressed similarly to Marque himself and heavily armed.
And yes, she used the word 'unexpectedly' ironically. One more strike against Marque being some bold new trigger.
But she wasn't here for Marque. She had far more interesting prey. She just needed him to appear, and the dull roar of an approaching engine made her stir from her position, propping herself up on her elbows. The big car that was approaching was disappointingly average. Matte black and keeping to the speed limit, it looked like something a well-off suburban mother would drive, incredibly non-descript.
Come to think of it though, 'something a well-off suburban mother would drive' was probably pretty suspicious out in the Bay. Maybe Raijin wasn't quite as slick as he thought, Taylor mused as she waited. The car pulled to a stop and four men got out, all of them ABB, though not regular goons. Every man wore a katana and a metal mask, and Taylor fancied that they might be wearing vambraces and body-armour. The overall effect was…sort of ridiculous.
'Someone's been reading too much cyberpunk.' She noted as a final man exited the car. He was surprisingly tall and broad, not quite as massive as Lung but still intimidatingly large. He wore what Taylor would call stereotypical Samurai armour, complete with fanged mask and twin swords. In her opinion he was taking the cosplay a little too far. From the thoughts of his men it was just enough to make him seem heroic. Raijin strode across the concrete, his armour reflecting weakly in the dim streetlights, until he stood opposite Marque. The Merchant inclined his head.
"Raijin."
"Marque."
Taylor tried to listen to the quiet conversation, but for the most part she devoted her attention to her power, wrapping it around her in a shroud of nothingness as she slowly rose into a crouch and began to edge through the shadows. Ideally, she wanted to approach from the road, cutting Raijin off from his vehicle. It should be possible with her shroud, but she was always aware that something could go wrong. She scuttled across the ground, making sure to stay low and keep her senses alert for any sign of alarm. Her passage was unremarked, however, the guards of the two Parahumans too busy squaring off to look for the miniscule traces that might indicate her presence. She reached the ABB car, slipping around it and moving to the doorway of the truck stop, disguising herself in the shadows and waiting. Marque and Raijin were currently making wary small-talk, slowly edging towards what she guessed would be some sort of agreement in regard to smuggling. Guns, drugs or people, she wondered. She assumed drugs, though. Guns were more Coils style, and people…she didn't understand the allure of people smuggling. Seriously, the chances of someone who was being smuggled Triggering and exsanguinating half the gang must be a lot higher than in any other criminal enterprise.
In fairness, the ABB wasn't much for smuggling, as far as she understood. Brothels under duress, yes.
She would have to do something about that. But later. For the moment she had a meet to crash.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Taylor purred, stepping from the darkness and letting her shroud collapse as she moved into the light. The minions whirled towards her, reaching for guns and swords, but Raijin barely moved. Marque turned to face her.
"Circaetus." He said, his voice surprisingly deep for such a slight man. "Your reputation for being where you are not wanted is not unwarranted, I see."
Taylor smiled, setting her staff on the ground and leaning on it.
"Is that what people think of me? Charming. Oh well, I don't really value the opinion of criminals. But smile, Marque, I'm not here for you."
Marque stood quite still, his hands folded behind his back.
"Oh? Are you suggesting that I might simply leave, unmolested?"
"I'd prefer that you left the entire city, Marque. But like I said, I'm not here for you. I'm here for Raijin, so you can just take your clones and scram."
Marque gave a brief, genteel chuckle, glancing at Raijin. Taylor considered that, delicately plucking at the strings of his thoughts. Definitely not a Merchant, though she didn't have time to look more deeply at the moment.
"How very generous of you, Circaetus. My deepest apologies, Raijin, but I find I must take such a benevolent offer."
Marque offered a brief bow, to which Raijin merely nodded.
"Of course, Marque. Completely understandable."
In contrast to Marque, Raijin had a voice that fit his hulking frame perfectly. Deep and gravelly, it boomed and rolled. Marque tilted his head at Taylor and made a swift retreat, leaving Raijin and his men alone with Taylor. The ABB guards had spread out to flank Raijin, swords drawn. The villain cape himself turned slowly, facing Taylor.
"Circaetus. I'm pleased that you have come to me." He said. He took a measured step back, his fanged and savage mask inscrutable.
"Kill her."
The four men gave savage shouts as they surged towards her, swords raised and gleaming in their hands. Taylor sighed.
"Really?" she asked, before she shrugged. "Well, if you insist."
Taylor went to meet them, springing towards the two on her right. Her staff lashed out, catching the closest in the chin and knocking him down before she turned on the second, ducking the clumsy swipe of his sword and slashing her fist into his chest, sending his spasming to the ground with electricity rippling through him. A turn, left arm coming up to catch the katana of the third on her bracer, her boot coming down on his foot before she slid her hand to his chest and tossed him away with a snapping whip of telekinetic force. The last was more cautious, his blows more measured and precise as he closed, sword whipping in a triangular series of blows. She stepped away, avoiding the keen edge of the blade before gesturing. The man doubled over as a fist of telekinetic force rammed into his stomach, dropping his sword to clutch at his abdomen before she slammed her staff into his temple. She walked away as he toppled, moving to clear the space. Raijin merely followed her with his eyes.
"As shameful a display as I expected. You are very brave when facing the weak, aren't you?" he said. Taylor stopped, facing him. She let her amusement fill her voice.
"Facing the weak? That would be you and your boys, cosplayer. I went up against your boss on my own. Come back and talk when you've done anything like it."
"Ah, yes. Your fight against Lung, that made you the vaunted vigilante. How proud you are of a losing battle." Raijin grated. Taylor just continued to smile, her posture loose and relaxed. She wasn't going to let herself be baited by some half-baked sword lover.
"Victory is in the eye of the beholder. I was back on the streets within weeks. Remind me, how long did it take for Lung to recover?"
Raijin stiffened.
"Would you like to know, vigilante, how I came to this power?" he asked, resting a hand on the hilt of his longer blade. Taylor shifted slightly, preparing for any sudden rush, but kept her voice light.
"I don't see why not. I'm always up for a good story time."
"A story time? Just as I would have expected of you, selfish and irreverent." Raijin spat, his voice thickening with fury. Taylor raised an eyebrow and waited.
"I was a normal person, well protected. I paid my tithes and I lived safely under the wings of the dragon, murderer."
'Murderer? That's an odd choice of words. Do you think he knows?'
"No. This is something else."
Raijin continued, his voice rising. Taylor wondered if he was declaiming to some camera as though to an audience.
"And then you came. You cursed the Dragon, interfered in his work until he was forced to turn his attention from his subjects. And worse, you fought him, caused him to withdraw from his duties as he contemplated the pleasure of a true challenge. But while the Dragon slept, the Empire came. Can you even imagine what they did, those barbarians? They came to my house as I slept and they took my wife, my daughter. Defiling them before me, killing my wife and my son! I slew them with the power that my anger gave me, but it was too late. My daughter killed herself mere hours afterwards!"
There was hate thick and vile in Raijin's voice, his harsh tone lifting to a rasping shout and his fingers clenched tightly around the hilt of his sword.
"And then I went to Lung, and I pledged myself to his service in return for a boon. For I had realised, murderer, that it was not just the Empire who had killed and tortured my family. It was you, murderer. It was you who drew the Dragon away. It was you who stole the protection of the Dragon from us. And it is you, vigilante, who I shall watch die, screaming and gasping. Just as my family did."
Taylor narrowed her eyes, though a tremor of uncertainty ran through her. Could he be telling the truth?
"He is lying. Can't you feel it?"
'Bit busy focusing on his intent to cut me in half. That one's there, all right.'
"True enough. He's playing a role, but that it all."
Taylor noticed that the Emperor made no mention of the possibility that Raijin was telling the truth, just not for himself. She had paid little thought to the effect that the ABB being almost out of commission would have on the civilian populace. She would investigate later, but for now she had other business.
"While I can't say I fault your motivation, I can't let you do that. So put the sword down and give up quietly. Nobody has to get hurt, Raijin."
"Nobody has to, murderer. But somebody will!"
Raijin sprang across the space between them, faster than he looked, his sword drawn in a lightning slash aimed for her stomach. Taylor leapt back, her staff swinging at his head but Raijin was just as fast and drew his shorter blade, blocking her staff as he reversed his first slash and stabbed at her. Taylor flung out her left hand and pulled, one of the fallen katana of Raijin's men slapping into her hand just in time to parry the thrust at her stomach. They struggled there for an instant, strength against strength but Raijin was slowly overpowering her. Taylor gritted her teeth and flicked two fingers from her staff at him, directing a ripple of power that send Raijin skidding away from her.
'Maybe brute force won't work.'
Raijin was upon her again, his swords hissing through the air. Taylor skittered away from it, staying out of the range of his shorter blade but the long one was slicing faster and she met it with her own stolen blade, hoping to knock him off-balance.
The blades met with a discordant shriek and her stolen sword fell to pieces in her hand utterly sliced through. Taylor stumbled back, cursing in shock as the keen edged blade whipped past the front of her helmet. She wasn't quite shocked enough to prevent her from slamming her staff into Raijin and hurling him away with a forceful push, but the fractional delay was enough that his second blade reached her arm, slicing through her vambrace and drawing a thin, burning line in her flesh. Sparks showered from the cut, where it had sliced the power line to her right gauntlet. Taylor grimaced and diverted some of her power to the line, catching the electricity and letting it ground itself harmlessly, cutting off all supply to the gauntlet and letting the sparks flutter away. She didn't cut the power entirely, however. Not yet. Raijin had landed on his feet, his blades a swirl of silver in the dusk, and Taylor reached out her left hand, gesturing. The three other katana left lying on the ground rose and swept towards her, hovering around her until she flicked her hand and sent them swooping towards her foe. Raijin planted his feet as they swept around him, slicing and moving, his every move calculated and precise.
'He's looking for one good blow, so he can shatter them.' Taylor surmised, eyes sweeping the truck stop in an attempt to find something else to throw. She wasn't eager to close with someone whose power seemed to be being extremely good at cutting things, and she needed to make this look believable. Even as she looked, though, she gathered a sliver of power to tag Raijin with.
Raijin burst forwards, blades swiping and leaving one of hers broken on the ground. Taylor twisted her wrist and curled her fingers, the two others slicing in from left and right but Raijin solidly blocked them, the force shearing through the metal and leaving him undeterred. Taylor glanced behind her, reaching back and making the briefest pulling motion. A shelf in the abandoned pint-stop store of the truck stop came crashing through the window, hurting at Raijin and Taylor closed her eyes and looked for the future.
Raijin leapt into the air, his swords cutting through the cheap metal, his progress unimpeded. He landed smoothly, his swords snapping up and descending, a diagonal cross-cut that would cleave her in half. Taylor stepped back, a faint pounding starting in her skull as she avoided it. The blades came in a whirlwind of blows, neither one matching the other, slicing to maim and cripple. She met them all, splinters shaving off her vambraces and her staff as she parried and parried, Raijin rapidly tiring of the game, his temper fraying quickly. Taylor caught a thrust on her left vambrace, pushing his arm wide and Raijin dropped his sword, curling his fingers around her wrist and raising his second blade. Taylor stepped and ducked under his right arm, twisting around so that he released her and pressed her hand to his back.
The push that followed hurled him through the air and the broken window of the truck stop, crashing to a halt in a clamour of metal. Unseen, she added the sliver of power to it, feeling it anchor itself to his soul. Taylor let the threads of the future drift away and smiled.
"You know, that was some pretty Star Wars stuff you did there, the blocking and slicing through the shelf." She called as Raijin rose, less fluidly than before but with his sword still tightly in his grip. She tossed her staff into her left hand and brought her right arm up, hand pointing at Raijin with fingers splayed open, dragging on the electricity running through her severed power cable.
"I've got some tricks along that vein myself."
A flood of lightning poured from her fingertips, slicing through the air towards Raijin as he stood. The storm of white electricity, tinged with the faintest edge of purple, tore ravenously across the air and fell upon the villain cape with terrible force. Taylor laughed aloud, intoxicated with the force of it as she cut off the attack.
"I wouldn't laugh yet." The Emperor warned. Taylor narrowed her eyes and peered into the darkness, mentally cursing the loss of her night vision.
"A good attempt." Raijin rasped from the darkness, "But not enough."
The darkness was suddenly dispelled by a burst of white energy and Raijin was outlined, his frame covered in crackling power. Taylor stared, momentarily paralysed in shock as the electricity rushed across Raijin's form and raced down his sword, mere moments before he sliced the blade through the air and a curving line of power howled towards her.
It was faster than she could react, too broad to avoid. Taylor met it with her staff, gritting her teeth and it burst across her, running through every limb and every vein, her head tilting back in a silent scream, sparks dancing across her vision. She forced herself to focus, called on the Warp and felt it ripping through her, catching the electricity and bending it to her will with a straining effort. The electricity grounded, flashing out of existence into the dirt and Taylor fell forwards, sinking to her knees on the dirty asphalt as her head rang and shivering twitches ran through her body. She heard the crunch of boots on glass as Raijin stepped out of the shop and forced herself to rise, using her staff as a support. The shaking was already receding, the sparks purged from her system as she pushed energy through her frame to repair the minor damages caused.
"That's it. You're not some kind of swordsman, you can control electricity. That's why your swords are so sharp, and how you gave Assault those burns."
"I have been blessed by the storm, Circaetus. Suitable, I believe, to destroy a pretender such as yourself."
"Pretender?" Taylor rasped. She let out an ugly chuckle, the familiar anger rising in her chest.
"You've got some balls, I'll give you that. We'll see who the pretender is soon enough."
Raijin settled himself, his sword in a two-handed grip, straight up before his face. Taylor brought her right hand up, holding her arm horizontally across her chest. Power rippled in her and electricity ran from the split and cut end of the power cable, swelling and swelling until her whole arm was sheathed in a gauntlet of crackling energy. Taylor slashed her hand towards Raijin and the lightning was swallowed by a wall of conjured warpfire.
Raijin shouted in alarm and dismay as the purple-red flame washed over him, not hot enough to burn but sticking to armour. He teetered back, arms swatting at it as Taylor charged, crossing the narrow space between them before Raijin could recover himself. She whipped her free hand at him, telekinetic force curling from her fingers and wrapping around his sword arm, forcing it to extend so that she could deliver a harsh blow to his wrist, his fingers snapping open and the sword falling. She drove her knee into his stomach, the armour not absorbing all of the blow and the telekinetic force abandoned in favour of driving the edge of her right hand into the gap between Raijin's helmet and breastplate. The man choked and Taylor sneaked a boot between his feet, locking her leg around his own before she let her staff fall from her left hand, curling her fingers into a fist and driving it into Raijin's face. He tottered, reeling back and caught, tripping over her leg and crashing heavily to the ground. Taylor disentangled herself and raised her foot, bringing it down into Raijin's chest with a heavy blow. He jerked at the impact, hands curling across his stomach. Taylor stepped back a moment before he pulled a small blade from inside his armour and chopped at her leg.
"Come on, Raijin. Get up. Back up those brave words." Taylor told him, her voice dripping contempt. Raijin grunted, a snarl hoarsened by spittle leaving his mouth. Taylor pulled her staff back into her hand and laughed mockingly.
"Look at you. Down and defeated at my feet, just like the others. Where's that bold talk now, Raijin?"
"I don't…"
Taylor leaned down a fraction, her hand rising against the edge of her mask as though cupping an ear.
"Hmm? What was that?"
"I don't need talk!" Raijin raged, launching himself to his feet with electricity coursing along the knife in his hand. Taylor caught his wrist and kicked his knee from under him, electricity crackling uselessly.
"Seems to me that just isn't the case." She told him, just before she tapped her staff against his chest and flung him back into the shop. For a moment she wondered if she was overdoing it, but she could still sense his anger and his determination. His thoughts were already beginning to turn to flight, however, and she was easily able to twist that to fleeing to his boss as she advanced upon the shop. She paused as her ears picked up a faint noise, quickly growing louder. A car engine.
A car engine attached to something that was moving extremely fast.
Taylor spun on her heel, turning to face the road a moment before a beaten-up sedan came howling over the slight rise, bouncing on the road and skidding right at her. She flung herself to the side, boosting her jump with a jolt of power to carry herself clear. She landed without elegance, bouncing slightly on the hard ground before springing to her feet. The car slid, leaning over before it toppled and crashed down on its side, screeching along. Blood splattered the windscreen, but as Taylor looked more closely she realised there wasn't a driver.
"Would you look at that? Dodged it, can you credit it?"
The voice was rough and somewhere in the middle range of tones, neither deep nor high pitched. Taylor swivelled her helmet to face its origin point and found herself looking at two figures in mismatched costumes, bristling with spikes and spines, blades and points. Taylor thought she could see broken bones and shrivelled eyes worked into the outfits, along with an alarming number of teeth.
Somehow, she thought she knew what gang they belonged to. The costumes were no doubt supposed to inspire dread. To Taylor, flickering memories of the Legions of Chaos and the Ork Horde running through her head, they were unimpressive. They managed to avoid looking primitive, but it just made the overall effect even more ridiculous. Still, she couldn't underestimate them.
"I didn't know that the Teeth were in the Bay." She said mildly. She could sense Raijin rising to his feet and moving away, out of the truck stop. She made no move to stop him, instead focusing on the Teeth. Two directly in front of her and one more, further back but approaching. Two women, one man. She really wished that she knew the roster of the Teeth better. The only one she really knew of was the Butcher, who had a smorgasbord of powers. She was reasonably certain that none of the three in front of her was the Butcher, though. The leader of the Teeth had a unique look. Samurai really was in this year, apparently.
"Well, we've just arrived, Darlin'." The man told her, his grin visible through his headpiece. It mostly covered the top of his head, but from the nose below it just had bars. Taylor stretched her shoulders and mentally plotted an escape route.
"Well if you've just arrived, you can go right ahead and leave again. Bay's full, no vacancies."
The man guffawed.
"Aw, little miss. I'd heard you were a funny one. It'll be a real shame to see you go."
The third Teeth…the third Tooth, Taylor decided, had joined the others. The woman was only a little shorter and slimmer than the man, her natural appearance augmented by plates of thick armour. It was red-brown in colour, scabbed across her form. Blood, Taylor thought. She thought she vaguely remembered that the Teeth included a… a haemokinetic? Was that the word? Fuck it, a blood-bender. Question was, of course, how far her powers extended. She had a short, curved blade in each hand, made from the same material as her amour and with wickedly jagged edges.
"What are we stalling for? You know she's gotta go." She growled. The man shrugged.
"Yeah, that's right. Ah well. Sorry, Darlin', but business is business. Besides, you gotta admire the stir your body'll cause when we dump it outside the PRT HQ."
He slid his foot back and five duplicates burst from his chest.
Taylor whipped her hand forwards, a searing wave of flame leaving he fingers and swallowing them with insatiable hunger. They howled and staggered, beating at the incorporeal fire as it clung to them but there were more behind and Taylor turned to flee. She only got thee steps before she slammed into something hard and rebounded, sharp edges catching her clothes and scraping on her armour.
'Oh fuck.'
Some kind of forcefield, penning her in for the clones. Sharp too. Decent tactic, she detachedly observed. Use the clones to crush your target, or shred them. Whichever came first.
Well, that could get fucked.
Taylor turned on her heel and took her staff in both hands. Time to see what the Teeth were made of. The first one launched itself at her with a slurred roar and caught the staff in the chin. A shift of her shoulders and a diagonal blow to the skull. One hand off the staff, punch to the throat, staff brought around to crack the knee and then thrust backwards into the groin, ignore the keening wail of pain and step into the fifth, crush foot with a stomp, grab the collar and telekinetic push to hurl it into three others. The Tooth with the blood came in fast, blades slashing down but Raijin had been better. Taylor turned into her, too close for one knife and brought her helmet into the skull. The Tooth reeled back and Taylor stepped back, swung her staff to crack a clone across the head, grabbed the Tooth by the arm and sent a hammer of electricity through her. The woman spasmed and a blade rammed into Taylor's armour, close enough that Taylor let her go and hurled her away. A clone leapt at her and Taylor slid to her right, a tilt of her fingers and a pulse of force knocking the clone into the forcefield and the spray of blood tainted the air as she tried to find space and the next two clones rammed into her and knocked her backwards.
"Fuck!" Taylor spat, headbutting one and bringing a knee into the groin of the second, her back hitting something hard. She could feel the grating blades pushing into her coat and the pressure from the front was increasing and the Tooth with the blood was rising unsteadily, more blood running from a cut on her face and streaming down her arms to join the axe that was forming there and Taylor reached inside herself and pushed.
The wave of psychic force that rippled out manifested as a rolling pillar of force, pushing to the front. It hurled the clones away, crushing more than a few in the mess and Taylor snarled aloud, following with a crackling wall of lightning. Her head was starting to hurt again, her Dampener warm on her chest but she had freedom. She caught a glimpse of the Teeth, the man still producing clones and the other woman watching with a superior smirk and Taylor's already abused temper frayed even more. She tightened her grip on her staff and thrust it forwards, a spear of lightning leaping from it towards the Teeth but it was intercepted by half a dozen clones, bodies spasming and jerking from the power and Taylor grinned, the beckoning shake of her hand lost in the mess.
The shelf from the store hit the Tooth woman like a heavyweight sucker punch. The impact swatted her off her feet, knocking her to the ground and Taylor felt the forcefields vanish for a moment. They began to return immediately, clones surging forwards, the blood-bender charging and Taylor raised a hand.
"You guys should lighten up." She said aloud, a moment before she closed her eyes and clicked her fingers.
The spark of electricity she had gathered and imbued with power burst in her fingers, a momentary warmth bathing her hand. Even through her helmet and eyelids Taylor saw the brightness of the burst she had created, like looking into the sun. The cries and yells from the Teeth were certainly gratifying, but they wouldn't be out of action for long and Taylor could feel more approaching.
'Perhaps discretion is the better part of valour here.' She concluded, cracking the forcefields behind her and bolting for the darkness behind the truck stop. She diverted a fraction of strength to the streetlights, stones flicking off the ground and shattering them even as she drew on her powers once more and wrapped a shroud of invisibility around herself.
"Quite likely the better choice, in this case."
By the time the Teeth were in any condition to search for her Taylor was gone, on her way back into the city.
'You think I should call that a win?'
"I think you should call it to be continued."
'Yeah, you might have a point.'
Taylor returned to her lair, making her way there carefully. She was starting to tire, but she at least had time for a nap.
'You know, I really don't appreciate the Teeth being here. I could do with a bit more time. Can I even go after Raijin now?'
"Do you know where he is?" The Emperor asked. Taylor leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and focusing. She had taken off her mask, but her armour remained in place. It was battered, but at least it was fairly comfortable. Raijin was a spark in the dullness of the city, one she homed in on despite the tingling at the base of her skull it caused. He wasn't moving, she noticed, and she could feel more people around him. Most normal, but several had the odd flatness that she had come to associate with Parahumans. Five of them. That more or less ruled out the ABB, though the Parahumans seemed familiar. As though she had known them once, long ago, half remembered. As though in a…dream.
"The Travellers."
'The Travellers. Who work for Coil. But there are five around him…maybe Coil himself is nearby.'
That would be a hell of a prize. But could she really risk it? Taylor couldn't help but feel that the Teeth were the greater threat.
"If you pursue the Teeth now, then Coil and the ABB will still be free to do as they please. If you defeat Raijin and the others, however, that will leave Lung with no powered underlings and Coil gone. That will force Lung to remain in his territory, and the Empire has agreed to a truce. That will give us free rein to deal with the Teeth."
'Hmm. Yeah, I guess you have a point. But how are we going to deal with Butcher? We still don't know what would happen if we kill her.'
"Well…there are more ways to deal with someone than killing. Besides, we still have some of the grenades we took from Bakuda. A time-lock will remove the Butcher from play quite easily. But before we do anything else, there is something important for us to do."
'Tell the Protectorate that everything's about to go to fuck again?'
"And enlist their aid in case we require it against Raijin and his fellows."
'Yeah. First thing tomorrow, then. And then maybe things will start to calm down again.'
Taylor determinedly ignored the shudder of foreboding that ran down her spine at those words.
And there we go. If you hated Raijin and want him gone, let me know- I don't really have any plans for him, but I can make some. And...that's all, really. I probably had some incredibly witty statements to make, but I've long since forgotten them. At least, that's what I'll always maintain.
As always, I'll make the same promise to update more regularly and completely fail to hold to it. But more seriously, reviews are always welcome, and thank you for taking the time to give this a read. I'll see you all next time.
Whenever that is.