0.7


Taylor made her excuses in a single, breathless snarl.

It wasn't a very good attempt at slipping away from a girl she went to school with, but the sheer rage bubbling up in her gut threatened to make her vomit. A deep, sudden, and bitter hatred washed over her mind like ice water, turning her usually impassive face into a hideous snarl of pure loathing as her thoughts turned towards Oni Lee - towards the ABB, the Empire, the Merchants, all the leeches mutilating the city so they could get fat off the backs of people they abused.

It was them.

It was always them who ruined everything.

Even now, after she'd spent all her free time trying to improve the city, trying to clean up the mess, getting rid of the biggest thorn on the people's side. Somehow it all went down the drain the moment one of those scumbags decided they had enough toeing the line.
'People are gonna be scared again.' Her mind turned to that night in the shelter. She could already imagine them huddling together, shaking with fear and uncertainty.

Immigrants, refugees, day workers, union men, lawyers and bankers.
It didn't matter who you were, so long as this place was infested with criminals who only knew how to terrorize and bully them to get their way, they might as well be nothing more than pawns to be exploited by men with delusions of power and strength.

And they were indeed delusional..

They did not have power, they were not strong! But Taylor was. And she would correct this slight.

"I'll see you later."

Marching out of the coffee shop, she broke into a jog, not quite sprinting down the road in the opposite direction of the flood of traffic. Perhaps it was her mood, perhaps it was her face, perhaps it was some facet of her powers, but people moved out of the way. They fled to the side, some walking, some running, a few screaming, and she crossed the boardwalk letting this cacophony stoke her fury even higher.

It was at that crescendo of rage that she reached the road, devoid of traffic as everyone moved away from the distant sounds of explosions and gunfire, and broke into a flat sprint.

Moving with a speed she'd never displayed before, not at school and not during her physical training under Focalors's supervision, the teenager launched forwards.

Her feet slapped pavement at a rate that should have winded her, had her panting and gasping even with her recent exercise, and instead she felt her legs turning in a dull, nearly numb buzz of pleasure as the anger and adrenaline fueled her towards her hideout.

Once inside, she stripped, changed, and downed a bottle of water in less than a minute, and was tugging on a stubborn boot when her mentor finally spoke up.

'Focus, Taylor, the material at the ankle is bent. Take your foot out and put it back on.'

"Not going to stop me? Preach patience?" She spat the words, and perhaps regretted the tone, but her mentor merely spoke with amusement.

'People are in danger, possibly dead or dying. And your father was attacked. I shall preach once you know everyone is safe. For now, make due haste and settle this matter.'

Taylor paused.

"Understood."

She took a single, deep, shuddering breath.

"Focus."

Removing her foot from the boot, she straightened it out and pushed her foot back in. Finding the task much simpler now, she rose, fully in costume, and felt another surge of boiling rage push up from her stomach to her throat, threatening to cloudher mind.

'Blind fury will cloud your senses, leave you vulnerable.'

It was good advice.

Taylor still struggled to take it.

But she was more focused, less overwhelmed. Part of her wanted to scream, to stamp her feet, to send a tidal wave crashing down on her enemies. But that would cause more harm than good. She had to be precise, had to hit the Asian Bad Boys where it really hurt.

And that was their ego.

"How do I do this? Give the idiots a spanking?" Having a bubble of water lift her up and out of a broken skylight, Taylor reveled in the freedom of flight for a moment her awareness spreading through every pipe and drain, every single person blooming in her mind's eye as she felt them evacuating and others drawing closer to the edge of the docks.

Before zeroing in on the group that stayed behind.

"Found them!"

'Defeat them effortlessly, show that they are petulant children, that they are no real threat. And then hand them over, trussed up like a hog, to the gendarmerie. That should bite the most deeply.'

Taylor grinned wolfishly. She liked the sound of that.

And today was the day she finished off one of the two biggest problems in the city.


Robin must have done something horrible in a previous life.

There was no way the past few weeks could be anything short of the universe making him pay some sort of karmic debt. Not only was he forced to take on far more stressful duties than before, leaving him with much less free time than he was comfortable with, there was also the fact that the city itself was steadily speeding towards the edge of a cliff.

Rampaging dragons.

Endbringer false alarms.

Dozens of ships being stolen in broad daylight in front of the city.

Somehow it felt wrong to hope that things went back to the way they were before an overpowered teenage girl decided that she was going to put the city on notice. Velocity didn't even hold that much of a grudge against Fontaine, not when he could understand the frustrations of doing things according to the letter of the law and protocol.

He left the military for that same reason.

'Even so… there had to be a better way to go about it.'

One that didn't involve making him and his colleagues run around like headless chickens as one of the gangs declared war and started a shoot out in the middle of the day, complete with Oni Lee's delightful explosions. For the most part, the criminal elements of the city kept to their territories, but this marked the first time in a long, long while that a major group moved out en masse to attack the public.

And that wasn't even their biggest concern.

"Has Fontaine made contact yet?" The director's voice was terse.

"No, no sight of her." His was professional and braced.

"She never gave us a number to work with?" Tension, but not anger, was clear in the woman's voice.

"Unfortunately not. She's been calling us through landlines." Because somehow the most dangerous teenager on the entire continent also just happened to be the one not addicted to using a cellphone.

What were the odds?

"What's the situation looking like downtown?"

"Some officers reported seeing Empire capes, but so far they haven't moved out, they're just standing around waiting. Kaiser probably wants to avoid coming in too strongly, let them come to him so he can kill them and plead self defense."

"The Merchants?"

"About the same, they are holed up near the abandoned Trainyard. Some folks claimed to see a large parahuman moving around but there is nothing but fuzzy videos and cellphone pictures to work with."

And that was another problem.

Another new cape? There was the possibility that they had only seen Mush. But it wasn't the correct place for him. Unless Skidmark called the guy to prepare for an all out brawl.

"Coil?"

"Just his mercenaries. Way fewer than usual. He probably went to ground and recalled them in case it really turns into a fight."

Great. Just great.

Not just the other gangs, but every single parahuman in town was looking at the docks, expecting something to happen, anticipating some kind of response to what was happening. And the reason for it was obvious.

Fontaine.

For the past few weeks, the city had been walking on eggshells around the hydrokinetic, not knowing what would set her off. Not knowing whether she cared enough about the other criminal elements of the city or if Lung had been a one time thing.

'No one was brave enough to cross the line.' And Velocity had hoped things stayed like that a little longer.

Only now Oni Lee and the remainers of Lung's lackeys decided that they wanted to get revenge for what happened to their leader. And depending on how the overpowered kid decided to respond that could mean all sorts of problems for them, the city, and everyone else.

"How is the evacuation?"

"The police established a secure perimeter. We also called New Wave to let them know we might need Panacea. We were lucky it was too early in the day for the boardwalk to be full. There have been some close calls already and at least two dock workers were shot and a dozen others assaulted."

Velocity's feet tapped the ground impatiently.

He didn't like this.

Didn't like having to wait, at all?

"So are we moving out or not?" He could run over water. And if he got there fast enough, maybe they could deal with the ABB before Fontaine decided that flooding was an acceptable method for problem solving. "Are we really going to let those idiots start a fight that risks the whole town?"

Director Piggot sighed.

"We haven't received permission from Director Costa-Brown yet." Because apparently, the mandate of non-interference with Fontaine meant that the areas where she operated were effectively quarantined unless they were given the green light.

It was asinine.

It was obstructive and contrary to the very reason the Protectorate existed.

'But if something horrible happens they are just going to pin the blame on Fontaine.' Maybe that was what the higher ups wanted, a reason to openly disapprove of her. A reason to point at her and say how her presence somehow made things worse for the city.

As if she hadn't spent the last few weeks fixing problems that lingered for years in Brockton Bay.

'Even if she did break more than a few eggs for that omelet.' Their superiors were just as skittish about the girl as the gangs, telling them to stay back until they had confirmation of Fontaine's presence or not.

"We have permission. Go."

The director's orders were clipped and they complied. Conflicts between the PRT and the Protectorate's hierarchies aside, it was very, very well known that Costa-Brown's orders were backed by the Triumvirate themselves.

But all of them had been waiting for those very words. Velocity sat next to a fat, secure, mobile phone line in case they needed to redirect a call from Fontaine to him, while Assault and Battery raced off, and every other non flier in the local branch stomped into the reinforced van right after him.

It took a heartbeat for the driver to slam on the gas and they were moving.

Precious seconds ticked by, now nearly a full minute since they'd been deployed, and for once the rest of the team looked just as frustrated as he did. Armsmaster, one of the few heroes who had been on patrol at the time, had actually been recalled to base and Militia, who sat at the edge of her own seat, seemed ready to jump out of the window if it meant getting faster to the ongoing shoot out.

Docks or not, they couldn't afford to let something like this go on.

Not with civilian casualties already confirmed.

"Movement! We have movement in the water." Colin spoke, his head beant as he listened to the radio integrated into his helmet.

Robin grunted.

He just had to jinx it, huh?

"Is it Fontaine?" The Director called from over the hero's line, the command center audible even to the men and women in the truck. And their driver fidgeted with nervous energy as a man on the radio hurriled confirmed something, a picture of the bay area appearing on their department issued phones, each of them looking at the text message they received. And the warning attached to it..

"Buoyancy sensors detected abnormal movement. There has been a complete stop near the docks. It's like the whole area is frozen."

Then it shifted to the cameras and just as described, the water near the boardwalk had gone completely still. Like the surface of a mirror, it reflected the sky overhead and the plumes of smoke rising from the buildings damaged by Oni Lee's bombs.

"Screw this."

Velocity was out of the back of the van in two steps, ignoring any protests, and jogged right over to the edge of the bay in less time than it took the speeding vehicle to blast through a single closed off intersection.

It wasn't just the docks.

The bay area as a whole had gone completely still. Even the waters around headquarters went completely still.

And then they started to move again.

Angrily. Erratically. Like a glass of water shook and rippled when something heavy passed it by, the unnaturally calm seat now churned, trembling in fury as droplets were tossed out of the surface and into the air. As if the sea itself was boiling around them, Robin dropped back into normal speed just in time to catch a squawk over his own radio.

"We have a visual! Fontaine has moved into the bay!" A voice called through one of the open lines. It was hard to hear them though over the roar of a crashing wave and the faint echoes of gunfire.

"Director!" Militia didn't waste a second, her shouted declaration a clear request.

Nor did Piggot.

"I acknowledge the emergency. You are permitted to engage the-"

Armsmaster didn't wait for the Director to finish, cutting off the woman the second the moment the order left her lips. His orders were rapid fire and specific, clearly trying to prepare for the worst.

Velocity wasn't far behind.

In fact, he'd immediately zoomed away from his perch, through a window, shutting off a stove on the verge of turning into a house fire, and through the building, eyes glued to the docks as they loomed in the distance and the waters churned and vibrated erratically.

Powers were unique like that.

Sometimes they came with tells. Sometimes they acted out when the cape was in distress.

'And with this kind of reaction… she must be pissed.'

Brockton Bay had never witnessed Fontaine's rage. And if they were lucky, they would survive to tell people about it.


Taylor raced through the sky, her body being pushed back against the hard-soft water behind her by the inertia of her movement, even as the lack of atmosphere meant her body wasn't so much as inconvenienced by the grabbing wind… or a sudden splattered insect.

That, even in her haze, was a fact of flying she could appreciate not having to worry about.

But even the joy of soaring was lost quickly enough, the sounds of still continuing gunfire and violent, stuttering explosions doing enough to sour any happiness she might feel.

In the end, she found the first of them by the entrance of an outcropping of warehouses.

Perhaps halfway into the docks, the clusters of storage buildings were surrounded by gravel yards, half collapsed fencing, and signaled the beginning of the port's rot. Hardly auspicious, but the clear sightlines of the approach, multi story building, and the small convoy of vehicles - denoted by garish paintjobs of red and green - gathered out front of it spoke of… planning.

Loitering above them, she couldn't hear what they were saying but it would seem the moment the explosions started and security guards took off, the small group of gangsters took it upon themselves to trash the entrance by shooting out the windows, the doors, and whatever unfortunate cars were left behind by their panicked owners.

Taylor felt her anger ripple throughout the bay.

Laughing.

They were laughing!

"Is this a joke to you?" She couldn't help but scream as she rounded on the group, floating down and taking stiff steps towards them with clear intent.

They noticed her too late, one of the men pointing at her with a shout, the others reaching for the guns they'd left strewn about as she drew closer. Not once noticing that a hydrant behind them had immediately swollen up, the red metal warped taut by the pressure as it burst like a balloon.

The water knocked them off their feet, washing over them and driving each of the armed men to the ground.

Taylor didn't care, with a gesture of her hand the band of gangsters had been thrown onto their asses, scrambling backwards as the water rushed towards her, climbing over her body and reinforcing the protective layer she'd grown so accustomed to.

And by settling into violence, the world felt like it had grown heavier and in focus.

One of them managed to clamber back to his feet, pistol aimed at her chest as she hovered above them all. But even if the gangster could have injured her, he was far too slow to realize she, too, had 'drawn her weapon'. A single finger pointing at him as if to mimic a gun of her own.

Too late to realize she had already fired.

"Bang."

The man went down immediately with a pained yell, hands reaching for a dislocated shoulder, the impact of Taylor's shot throwing the man off his feet and leaving a hole in his shirt. She hadn't shot the man with enough force to actually draw blood, but he'd be feeling it for a good long time.

Still, Fontaine found herself terribly unsatisfied and shot the second one

He was half way to lifting up a bulky, blocky rifle, and dropped to the ground, trying to groan through a smashed jaw.

Of course, the third one tried to run away, abandoning the others. Maybe to warn any remaining gang members she was there, maybe just to save his own skin. Taylor didn't care, dispassionately kneecapping the man before he could get too far, watching him faceplant with a pained yell.

'Mass times velocity equals pain.'

It was simple math.

Water compressed down into a simple round shape, and then accelerated to the point it could knock the wind out of someone or maybe even dislocate a bone or two.

She found the latter very handy.

"You bitch!" The one on the floor turned around, finger pulling on the trigger only to find the gun out of his hands, and more than a few fingers bent at awkward, unnatural angles, a coiled whip springing up from the ground to smash the fool's hand.

"Just because I'm not commanding the water in the moment, does not mean it is outside of her power." Landing next to him, her riding boots lightly crunched against the ground and she spat the words out. "Now, will you be a big boy and tell me about what idiocy compelled you to act this way?"

Her tone was mocking, vicious, something better suited for Emma's mouth than her own. But standing there, seeing people cowering behind their cars, one woman weeping massive, fat tears as she cradled a rapidly swelling cheek.

Well… it was a small miracle she smothered the impulse to grind his broken hand into the dirt.

"Fuck you bitch! The Dragon will rape you until you-"

She kicked the man as hard as she could in the face, shutting him up, even if the move wasn't exactly flawless.

"Listen. And listen well. All of you morons."

Taylor walked past him, the mass of water trailing behind her and rippling under her feet as she stalked away from the downed ABB thugs.

"This city is not yours, it is not Lung's. You will not bully innocents any long, because I am not the PRT. I don't care about the status quo. Now, you have a choice." Gathering up their weapons into a swirling ball of water, she left the three wounded men in a small pile, staring at her as she lifted her hand up. "You can stay here and wait for the police to arrest you, or you can run. And if you run, I will hunt you down."

Clenching her fist closed, she condensed the mass of water behind her. And just like that the pistols and rifles and knives and even a katana were reduced to bent, warped scrap metal. Nothing more than a twisted lump of debris that slammed into the ground with a splash and a thunk as the mass of water behind her collapsed too.

"It's your choice."

Turning to the civilians, she opened her mouth, hoping to say something, anything, to let them know they were safe. But before words came to her, Taylor was startled as another burst of rapid fire explosions, one every five seconds, rocked the docks another mile or so in.

For some reason, as the young woman turned away, she felt a pang of shame. But the emotion was confusion and Focalors said nothing as Taylor turned from the warehouses and walked out onto the street proper.

'This is pressing. It needs to be dealt with now.'

Her thoughts went unanswered and she was left to stew with a single, burning question. Why were they still here?

Obviously the ABB idiots could have shown up, shot up the place, and left. That would have been by far the best course of action. So the only reason they were still running around, trashing the docks could only have been to prove a point.

'Payback for Lung.' Pursing her lips, Fontaine rounded the corner with purpose, steps thundering against the asphalt as the water behind her rippled and warped around itself like an angry whirlpool.

Fine.

If that was the way they wanted to play, then she wasn't above throwing an extra load of garbage out of the city. She'd been doing it all month so what would be the harm in adding more to the pile. And just that like, her sweep began in earnest.

While she wasn't a Thinker, she was flying, and few people looked up - even in a city known for having a very famous Alexandria package. Meaning there were no real fights. Each group of gangsters would be focused on one thing or another, taking great pains to stand out, and even the largest concentrations, groups that numbered about a dozen, went down before they could do anything more meaningful than pointlessly shoot at Taylor.

"Wait! Please no!"

"I can't swim! I can't swim!"

Rolling her eyes, Taylor watched as the mass of water swallowed the ABB members, struggling limbs and gargled pleading vanishing under the crushing, ice cold depths only for the lot to be spat out of the mass inside massive bubbles, floating aimlessly as she moved away and onto the boardwalk.

Really, did they think she was going to kill them?

Leaving them hanging out to dry like freshly caught fish was more than enough. Well, that and breaking a few bones. Panacea would put them back together and she wasn't hitting anyone in the chest, head, or neck, so there was no real risk of them dying.

'There are two of them behind that door.'

Did they see her coming? She turned, feeling her thoughts be nudged towards a small grocers across the road.

'Most likely.' Focalors provided. Who'd think that all it would take for her powers to be this helpful was for a literal crisis to spring up? 'Their shadows passed over the windows and one of them peeked out of the blinds.'

Not that Taylor was going to complain. Now that she knew where to look and what to look for, the young hero could appreciate the discretion of the two slightly less dumb idiots behind the convenience store's door. Huddled behind the shelves, clearly waiting for her to pass by so they could open fire on her from behind, and hoping she wouldn't notice them.

"I'm not in the mood to play."

Lifting up the blinds with her power, the duo pointed their weapons at her from inside the store, eyes wide in terror. And she shot first, startled gasps ringing from the inside as the water rushed in to snatch the panicking gangsters off the ground and into bubbles of their own. Promptly smacking them together, dragging them out of the gently opened front door, rapidly spun in circles until they vomited, and then, disarmed, sent floating away to join all the others.

Maybe if they were lucky she might hand them over to the police after this was done. Or maybe she could leave them hanging in the sky by their metaphorical underwear until someone figured out a way to get them down.

'You are surprisingly adept at psychological warfare.'

There wasn't much tactical thought behind what she was doing, not really, just a whole lot of petty teenager aggression saved up after a year long tormenting campaign. And, well, not having to be a responsible savior of the bay and treating everything with kiddy gloves felt nice.

She'd be actually enjoying it if she weren't absolutely livid with the human waste she was now being forced to clean up.

Now where were the others?

'It would appear they decided to band together at the Dockworkers' Union.' Focalors's comments underscored the violent plume of smoke now coming from that direction.

'I can see that. Are they there to try and steal something? Why the Hell would they all gather up? Doesn't that mean I can all get them at once?'

'Or simply destroy it and spite you.'

They better not!

She stole those ships fair and square!

The jog to the Dockworkers Union was quick, Taylor literally gliding along the surface of the water as it carried her like a faithful steed, head pounding with a frustration induced headache. It was all she could do to breathe in and out to try and calm down her nerves.

And then they shot at her.

She didn't know who did it, but the feeling of a bullet as it whizzed past her harmlessly was enough to determine that whoever had spotted her also decided to make the first move this time.

"But to fire from that far away…."

Could it be a sniper rifle?

That sounded way too fancy for a gang like the ABB. But it did mean that they weren't doing this to hurt the city, but actually went out looking to hurt her. Only whoever was firing that thing probably didn't have the slightest idea of what they were doing. As proven when a second shot missed her by a whole foot and splashed harmlessly against the mass of water carrying her.

'They obviously came prepared, expecting you to come find them. But the lack of effective ambush implies this might not have been originally planned.'

That made sense.

It was almost spontaneous, like they were trying to strike while the iron was hot. Taylor had made sure not to hurt Lung too badly when she hurled him out of the bay, but maybe she should have been a bit rougher with the man if he thought he could get away with starting shit.

"This almost feels too easy."

Taking aim, Taylor shot up into the sky and shot another droplet. It was laughably trivial to slam the blast into whoever was taking potshots at her in the distance. Especially when everyone else had already fled the docks. The droplet flew through the air with a shrill whistle and Taylor could feel it punch the wannabe sniper off their feet and into the wall.

'They appear to be making their move now.'

Off into the distance, out of the corner of her eye, Taylor could see something cut through the water, seafoam splashing about as a small boat raced through the bay. More importantly, she could see something mounted on the side of the ship as it drew closer to her and the barrel on the gun got larger and larger.

"Where did they even buy that thing?"

It looked like something off of an action movie set!

A massive machine gun glinted under the sun, its barrel pointed straight at her with one of the ABB men sitting behind it. There were three other men on what looked like a small, hastily converted yacht, with a tripod bolted to the front of the ship and the weapon, and gunner, clinging to it as the small ship bounced as it raced ahead. Frankly, it was impossible for her attacker to aim, so he sent a salvo of bullets flying through the air.

And unlike the sniper from before, precise accuracy maybe didn't matter quite so much when you could shoot that many bullets.

Or usually that would be the case.

Instead, a massive wall of water rose in front of Taylor, the bullets rippling as they punched into the water yet failing to pass through.

Firearms, afterall, tended to do poorly when fired into the ocean. So lifting up a barrier about twenty feet thick and just moving it to be between her and the idiot with a machine gun meant the bullets would splash into the water, drift several feet forwards, and then sink harmlessly into the ocean below.

Confusingly, the people on the ship didn't seem surprised, merely continuing to hose down Taylor's vague direction as the teenager kept her barrier in place.

'What are they waiting for?'

Her powers remained quiet, merely sending a thrum of acknowledgement across the teenager's thoughts.

'They're shooting at us.' Taylor's face scrunched up underneath the domino mask. 'I know this is a teachable moment, but I don't really think now is the time to continue my education.'

There was a moment of silence before the voice in her head spoke up.

'Dear child, these men could not have served that beast and lived were they fools.'

Taylor's eyes went wide and she threw up an inner shield, just as a man wearing a demon mask popped into being right in front of her.

He had a gun aimed at her head and a strange string coming from his chest.

A thin skin of water flickered into being in the half second things took to advance.

His finger squeezed the trigger, even as it seemed like Oni Lee's body was turning to white ash, and the string was pulled.

A heartbeat.

The line of water thickened and Taylor was violently jerked back by her powers suddenly and aggressively asserting themselves, blood filling her mouth as she bit her tongue, her teeth clicking, neck screaming in pain, and she flew backwards as the clone exploded into a blossom of fire.

Thankfully, her powers had already been swallowing him from below, directing most of the explosion upwards instead of out, and her admittedly weak shield doing enough to keep the explosion, and its shrapnel, from ripping into her.

Taylor still needed several seconds to reorient herself and reacquire her layered defense - as the ship had turned about to allow the machine gun to continue firing.

"Enough!"

Slashing her hand horizontally, a sudden wave lifted the boat up and flipped it over, spilling the men out into the sea.

'Put them in bubbles, please.'

Her powers complied, though not without comment.

'Stay focused. I'll keep the knaves from drowning.'
Which left her to deal with the murderous psychopath known as Oni Lee. The villain hadn't stopped to see if the explosion from before had taken her out, already, the man had warped into reality in front of her, hand snapping up with a pistol.

This time she reacted first, water tendrils lashing out at the man before he could shoot, wrapping around him with a tight squeeze only for him to vanish, leaving behind an explosive clone that scattered her water in a blast of steam.

He took a different approach next, shooting from atop one of the large ships piled up in front of the union.

More accurate than the first man to try, he shot precisely and quickly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Head.

Chest.

Stomach.

The water shield around her weathered the impact, but Taylor could feel the force rattle her bones before she returned fire with her own bullets, the force of the droplets punching holes into the side of the ship and blasting their way to the other side effortlessly.

But Oni Lee had already vanished.

Where would he come from next?

She knew his powers, or at least understood that he was perhaps the most slippery cape in the bay. And with all this firepower that the ABB was suddenly sporting, the man was probably armed to the teeth. And if she were a betting girl, Taylor would guess he'd come…

'From behind!'

Perhaps it was obvious, but turning around she found… nothing?

An explosion rocked her from above and Taylor was launched at the water below.

Hitting the surface of the Bay at speed, she felt disorientation, confusion, anger, but not too much pain. Whatever had hit the cape had been mostly blocked by her water echo and now, buried deep under the water, there was a moment of reorientation. Swirling bubbles and darkness were no barrier to her, though, surprisingly, she felt several small burns dotting her back.

And worst of all, the fringe of her hair was singed!

Rocketing upwards, Taylor prepared to launch up and back into the sky, her anger was dragging a column of seawater with her. However, her powers interjected.

'Taylor, stop. You're about to rush in and attack an enemy who has already outmaneuvered you twice. Think before you surface!'

Taylor let out a hiss of annoyance.

Nobody liked a backseat driver. Especially when she was the one getting tossed around by explosions of all things. Granted, they didn't really hurt her, but it was the principle of the matter!

Still, if that psychotic monster wanted to play with bombs, then she had just the right idea on how to give him a taste of his own medicine.

"Can't teleport if I make a minefield."

Rising from the surface of the water, Taylor's echo rebuilt itself around her body as she floated back to the docks. And at her back was a veritable swarm of bubbles. Yes, water bubbles all too similar to the ones she'd used to trap the gangsters earlier.

Some were as small as her head, others large enough to carry a motorcycle inside with space to spare.

They followed her, spreading over the area idly. A carousel of sparkling baubles lazily spinning around her.

Round and round they went.

Until Oni Lee showed up, a sword of all things at the ready.

"Careful with that. It's sharp."

And the moment he touched the bubbles, they naturally popped. With enough force to send the man flying backwards, skipping over the humid floor. Touching more bubbles as he skidded to a stop only for another round of pops to send the man into the air.

And with a final pop, flying into a nearby pile of crates.

It couldn't be this easy, could it?

Of course, the body she hit chose that moment to turn to ash. Disappearing in full before a sudden, violent wave of attacks slammed into her minefield.

Body after body after body appeared, unleashing a fusillade of gunfire, slashing at her with swords, detonating themselves in a fiery rain, or just kicking, punching, or slamming into her! Taylor's bubbles could capture or burst clones, either dragging them away or dispersing their ash, and her own defenses held up well enough against bullets and explosions, now that she had reinforced her echo at least, that no further injuries were forthcoming.

However, the burns on her chest and the damage to her hair hurt and stung her ego more terribly than anything else.

So when the attacks suddenly paused, she was confused.

"Come out you coward!"

Yelling, sending a spiral of water into the air, she flew over what was left of the Ship Graveyard in a rage.

And then the fight changed.

Previously, the teleporter had tried to overwhelm her through ambushes, mass wave attacks, or just simply striking from angles she didn't seem to be able to defend as well from.

Now, however, Oni Lee stood on the edge of a roof top, adjusting a new chest piece.

Unlike his bandolier of grenades or belt of knives, this was, quite simply, a chest harness. Not quite like one used to carry a child, but similar enough to be disturbing. And inside the carry section of the harness were one dozen long, dark grey tubes. Each of the tubes had a small, curving wire leading out of it, and all of those wires were connected to a blue cellphone fixed to the front pocket of the harness.

Taylor sent a long, snapping octopus tentacle of water at the teleporter, expecting him to dodge, and was unsurprised when he appeared right in front of her.

She was horribly surprised when his explosion unleashed a wall of fire, heat burning her lips, her skin, her clothes, the burning, white heat spinning out in every direction as she cried out, inhaling superheated water and being scaled by it, only to drop down under the waves.

Oni Lee, however, did not stop.

This time clones continued to appear under the water, exploding, unleashing torrents of flame, the substance burning even underwater!

And so she fled.

Upwards, flying high into the sky, hoping to use the clouds as cover and pull on the water up there to prepare to strike down at her foe.

But the attacks kept coming.

Closer and closer and closer.

Body after body after body.

Explosion after explosion after explosion.

The heat and fire formed a cocoon around her as she spiraled up and up and up.

And then the snarling face of a demon appeared in front of her.

Filling her world was that mask, less than an inch in front of her. There was nowhere to run. And as the smooth, painted ceramic touched her water echo, the teenager threw her hands up, as if to ward him off. And her powers, flowing around her, responding to her every command, answered.

There was a… pop.

A sudden screech of friction and a wall of noise.

Finally, gently, a red rain.

As that final reserve of water, what had been serving as her makeshift armor, suddenly and violently ruptured, the extraordinary pressure and speed had been unleashed on everything around her. And it had happened faster than she had even been able to perceive.

Faster than Oni Lee had been able to teleport.

She floated there, staring.

Watching the thick, tacky rain slowly stain her gloves, forming a puddle under her feet.

Then the heroes arrived.