The streets of Brockton Bay were as quiet as they ever got, the overcast sky making the night darker than usual, and making it much easier for the figure jumping from rooftop to rooftop to remain unseen.
Taylor luxuriated in the feeling of freedom that came from being able to run and jump with ease and precision, the agility and dexterity of the Ninja filling her as she made her way to the docks for her first night out as a cape. This was something she hadn't been able to truly experience since her trigger, her fear of being discovered and exposed prompting her to avoid actually using the full capabilities of most of her archetypes at all, even within the confines of the warehouse she'd found herself using for physical training and conditioning.
Not to say her focus on those things had been for nothing, if the flat, tight belly and muscled limbs she was developing were any indication. She was sure that her powers were having some sort of effect there too, because she doubted that the few months since her trigger would have been enough to have that much of an effect, no matter how much she exercised nowadays.
And those results could be rather obvious, considering how much her power given costumes could sometimes show her off, much to her embarrassment. At least her Ninja outfit didn't expose her body as much as some of the others did, being a black, soft, full body stocking covered with some kind of chainmail mesh which itself was covered by tight, dark purple cloth pants and a chest piece of the same kind that covered her chest. The stocking even included a cloth portion that reached part way up her head to cover everything below the eyes without obstructing her breathing at all, hiding her identity rather well. Her hair was kept in a tight, high ponytail, and best of all, she could see beyond 20/20 even without her glasses. Rounding things out were a belt and bandoleer of pouches full of tools and throwing weapons, along with wicked daggers strapped to each hip.
Much better than some others, like the Monk. Or, god forbid, the Dancer.
Stopping on another empty rooftop in the docks area proper she crouched and looked around, able to somehow see more than she realistically should be able to in the dark. Something she attributed to her skills as a Ninja, even if she had no real clue how it worked. Scanning for any criminals to deal with she didn't find anything, so she began traveling again, this time at a more sedate pace, but still hiding herself with instinctive ease.
She frowned under her mask as she continued making her way through the dilapidated area where she'd expected to have an easy time finding some small time crooks to cut her teeth on. Nothing was going on. No drug deals, no thefts, not even a prostitute or two. That was… off, from what she knew of the docks.
A flare of light caught her attention, and she dashed towards it in complete silence before perching on the edge of the roof above it, looking down at a group of ABB gangers gathered around, the light having been one of them lighting a cigarette. Taylor narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, considering this. They didn't seem to be doing anything obviously illegal, yet her instincts, some of which were likely from her Ninja archetype, were telling her something was going on. So she stayed in place, observing.
Her patience was rewarded when more ABB began to gather around the original group a few minutes later, and her enhanced eyes caught sight of weapons. A lot of weapons. Mostly pistols or imitation katanas, though one or two had semi-auto or assault rifles hanging from straps.
This was a lot bigger than she thought, and she was already considering the best way to take them all out when a car arrived, disgorging another group of gangers before one last man got out, one that made Taylor freeze in place.
Lung walked calmly towards his mass of subordinates, unhurried and demonstrating total dominance of the scene. Despite the chill in the air he was shirtless, leaving his muscular upper body and, perhaps more importantly, his many tattoos of eastern dragons, quite visible. His eyes roamed along the gangers gathered before him from behind his metallic dragon mask, but he didn't notice Taylor, even when he happened to glance in her direction.
"Lee has tracked the little thieves down and is keeping them busy till we arrive." Lung said, and Taylor could hear the snarl in his voice. "When we find the children, just shoot. As long as you hit them, it doesn't matter where. If they're already lying on the ground, shoot them again, and then again. They get no chances to get lucky. Understand?"
Taylor's breath caught as she heard the gangers vocalize their understanding. It was now imperative she find a way to take the entire group out as quickly as possible, because a prolonged fight with Lung in the equation was not an option, as far as she was concerned, but neither was just letting him and his men get away after what she heard. She went through all her available abilities, looking for something that would incapacitate as many as possible in a single strike. Of course, she had several possibilities, but most of them were out of the question due to being far too likely to result in severe injury or death. That was not something she needed to deal with when just starting out, even after what she'd heard.
She was going through all her archetypes when one stood out to her. She took as long as she could to consider the option from all angles before she was forced into a decision when the group began to move down the road. Moving back so the coming small flash of light wouldn't be obvious and taking one last deep breath she closed her eyes and whispered. "Green Mage."
In an instant her outfit changed, becoming an orange dress with a hem trimmed in gold that ended halfway down her thighs, green boots that reached her knees, a green mantle over her shoulders covering her upper body, and a green beret on her head, her hair now free and large, round glasses on her eyes. In her hand she held a long mace of rather intricate design, burnished in greenish bronze with intricate filigree.
Despite the lack of mask covering her face, she somehow knew no one would be able to identify her if she didn't want them to. An inherent aspect of her powers, she thought. Which was extremely helpful, considering the varied outfits of her archetypes. That didn't keep it from being nerve racking, especially in this situation, but she'd have to find a way to deal with it either way.
Taking a deep breath she began working as fast as possible before they got too far or noticed her, since she was no longer able to make use of the Ninja's stealth abilities. She was just grateful it was very dark with few electric lights in the area, and that they were facing away from her.
Focusing on her powers she shaped them in the manner she instinctively knew she had to in order to get the result she wanted before breathing out softly. "Sleep."
Another reason to be thankful for the darkness, as none of the group noticed the cloud of green energy that descended on them before it was too late, the spell sinking into them and making them all stop in their tracks. Most of them let mumbled exclamations of confusion or surprise before slumping to the ground, fast asleep.
Sadly, as she'd expected but hoped to be wrong about, not all of them were affected. Of the twenty or so gang members, four managed to shake the effect off before beginning to look around warily with their weapons at the ready, no doubt deducing with ease that this was the result of a parahuman power. Unfortunately, one of them was one of the rifle wielders. Even more unfortunately, however, Lung was also able to ignore the effects. And he was already beginning to change in response to the threat.
She'd known this was a likely result of her attack, however, so she'd already formulated the next step of her plan, as five men was a much more manageable threat than over twenty, even if one of those five was Lung. She stepped back and focused once more before speaking again. "Monk."
Another instant, another flash of light, and she was once again different. Her hair was once again bound in a ponytail, this one slightly more elaborate and not as high, and her glasses were once again gone. Her lower body was covered by slightly loose, sturdy white pants reaching a bit below her knees, her feet in supple yet sturdy black leather shoes, with a bronze greave covering most of her left leg, her other leg unprotected. At her waist was a red sash over a short skirt of what appeared to still furred leather from what might be a jaguar or similar cat, longer in the back than the front. Over her upper body was just a short black vest that didn't close completely and had more fur trim on the parts that covered her shoulders, lined by black feathers along the collar, so that most of her upper body was bare but for bandages bound tightly over her breasts, showing off her very toned form. On her arms were long black leather gloves with trimming similar to the skirt, continuing the theme of the outfit, with the backs of the hands and the knuckles armored in black metal trimmed with gold.
Her enemies' attention was drawn by the flash, but Taylor was already moving to attack, knowing she had to take them out before they could react properly. She focused on the four unpowered members first, so she wouldn't have to worry about being shot in the back while dealing with Lung.
Dropping from the roof of the building she'd been on she launched herself at the group the instant her feet touched the ground, reaching them in a single leap even as her body spun around in a flying kick that impacted against the head of the ganger holding the rifle before he could bring it around, launching him away, unconscious before he'd hit the ground. She used the momentum from the impact to twirl in the air, once again launching herself as soon as her toes even began to touch the ground, fist coming around for a punch that knocked out a second thug with ease. Continuing the movement she whirled around behind her latest victim to the next, the back of her fist impacting with immense yet nonlethal force against the side of the third's head, sending him to lala land as well. That left one, and before he'd realized what was happening she threw herself into a backwards flip, her foot snapping up with the motion to hit him in the chin, launching him back, just as unconscious as the others.
Landing with grace that would make an Olympic acrobat sick with envy, Taylor turned to face Lung, bouncing lightly on her feet with fists up and ready, eyes narrow and focused as the self control of the Monk kept her heart from hammering like a rabbit's.
"Mother fucker!" The Dragon of Kyushu growled, voice more animalistic now, his body continuing to change, quite a bit of it now covered in metallic scales. Even better, he was starting to set himself on fire.
Taylor knew she needed to move him away from his subordinates. She couldn't fight here among them, partly because any pain or injury could wake them up, but primarily because she doubted Lung would worry about hurting them, focused as he already was on Taylor. She did not want, and definitely did not need, to have the gangers become collateral damage in this fight.
With that in mind Taylor launched herself at Lung and rocked his muscular torso with a series of punches and kicks strong enough to crack concrete. Lung grunted and tried to fight back, but he was being forced to slowly backpedal, bit by bit.
Not that Taylor was having it all her own way. He was on fire, after all, and even though the impacts were quick enough that she barely noticed the heat, it was still having an effect on her. She needed to force him away faster so she could switch to another archetype that could handle him better.
Grimacing, she slammed an open palm against his chin, forcing his mouth, which had been open to roar at her, to snap shut with the audible sound of breaking teeth and bone, his metal mask twisting and denting with the force. He stumbled, off balance despite his already considerable toughness, and she quickly took hold of one of his large arms, yelling in pain as the flames licked at her body, before turning and throwing him at least twenty feet away, the gang leader hitting the ground and rolling for another several feet before finally stopping, slowly getting to his feet with murder in his glowing eyes.
Taylor knew she needed to recover at least a bit before switching, as her physical condition didn't change overmuch when she did so, though she could be tougher or more fragile depending on the archetype. The Monk was pretty sturdy, but not her sturdiest. Thankfully it had some tricks to make up for that.
Regulating her breathing, Taylor focused intently, ignoring Lung for the moment in favor of her own body. Then she focused the internal energies she could access in this form in a manner that was instinctive to her while she was the Monk and spread them throughout her body.
The result was rapid healing that undid most of the damage she'd endured due to the flames and Lung's few successful counterattacks. Once she was done she opened her eyes and refocused on her opponent, who was roaring as he changed further, the flames covering his body climbing higher.
She needed to deal more damage with her attacks, and being a bit more sturdy wouldn't go amiss either. So, with that, she let out another breath before speaking again. "Dark Knight."
Another flash of light, and she changed again, this time into what seemed like the archetypical dark or evil knight that would appear in media. Her entire body was encased in heavy, black armor which was adorned with spikes and edges that made her look suitably menacing, and her fully enclosed helmet even had curved horns rising up from it to give a suitably demonic appearance. Even her hair, which emerged from the bottom of the helmet, was wild and untamed, adding to her appearance.
In her hands she had an almost comically oversized bastard sword. Almost as long as she was tall, it was more like a huge slab of metal that tapered to a point and had sharpened edges, being a couple of hands wide at the base, and thick enough to be structurally sound. It did have some ornamentation, mainly an understated but rather pretty guard and red jewels inset at the base of the blade that glowed softly yet menacingly.
Lifting her sword up she set it on her shoulder, the strength of the Dark Knight meaning she didn't didn't sag or bend under the immense weight, doing her best to look strong and unintimidated as Lung roared at her again from a repaired jaw, continuing to grow. Something which was easier than one would expect with the silent confidence of the Dark Knight filling her.
She'd noticed while experimenting with her powers that all her archetypes affected her mentally in one way or another. The Ninja was focused, concerned with completing her objectives as best as possible. The Green Mage always looked for weaknesses, either to exploit them or shore them up. The Monk was all about self control, of mastery of the self.
And the Dark Knight was built around the concept of defiance against tyranny. Of bringing those who abused their power down. Lung used his strength to inspire fear in others to get his way. He didn't even really do anything with his power. He had once fought Leviathan on pretty much equal footing, but he'd refused to join any Endbringer Battles since. The atrocities the ABB committed, particularly against women, were all to build his dragon horde, and nothing else.
In the form of the Dark Knight, she could feel herself itching to teach him a lesson. To show him that not everyone would bow to his whims, or leave him unmolested.
Considering her history with her bullies and the authority figures that should have protected her, with those that used their power to abuse others, was it really any surprise that of all her many archetypes, the Dark Knight was the one she resonated most strongly with?
She was brought out of her brief reverie when Lung, now eight feet tall at least, let out another roar and started charging at her, apparently not impressed with her attitude of supreme unconcern. His large, bulky form moved with surprising swiftness despite the metallic scales now covering the entirety of his form, an impression that was enhanced by the fact that he was still wreathed in flames.
Stepping forward to meet his charge she gripped her immense blade in two hands, tensing, before swinging it down with deceptive speed at the bulky, scaled arm aiming to claw into her helmet. The huge slab of metal went through the attacking limb with ease, sending it flying as Lung continued past, unbalanced by both missing the attack and the fact that his arm was now detached.
He stomped the ground in order to stop his momentum, cracking the asphalt as it began to soften due to the immense heat he was putting out. Turning to her he let out another roar of rage even as his arm began to regenerate, flesh bubbling sickeningly as it reknit itself.
Taylor frowned behind her helmet as she saw that, not having expected Lung's regeneration to be so quick, his arm almost completely whole after what seemed like a handful of seconds. She'd been hoping she'd be able to overwhelm his healing with large chunks of continuous damage, but she should have known better. If he was that easy to deal with, he wouldn't have the reputation he did.
She'd have to use some of the Dark Knight's more 'mystical' abilities if she wanted to bring him down before he ramped up too far. Lung had apparently decided to be more methodical in his attacks rather than charging in now, as he approached her slowly, still growing, which gave Taylor a chance to activate the ability she planned on using. Letting out a breath she brought her blade up, holding it up above her right shoulder, the tip pointing forward and down so it was at about a 45 degree angle to the floor or so. "Ashura." She growled, gritting her teeth as she felt her own health and stamina take a hit to empower her sword with an aura of sinister dark purple energy.
That was the downside to the Dark Knight. Its most powerful attacks required that she sacrifice her own body to activate them. Still, they could be worth it, considering how powerful they were.
Whatever else he was, however, Lung wasn't stupid, and he stopped approaching when he saw the shroud of energy envelop the huge sword in Taylor's hands. After a moment he apparently decided on another approach, beginning to hurl fireballs of considerable size at Taylor.
With a 'tch' of annoyance at Lung playing it smart she decided to charge him herself. She swung her sword with ease to destroy several fireballs as she ran, destabilizing them as she approached her target. When she got close enough Lung stopped launching fire and moved to attack in return, his size and reach meaning he had a better chance of getting her before she could.
Taylor pivoted surprisingly gracefully considering the bulky armor she was wearing, taking off Lung's arm again before he could hit her. This time, however, rather than begin regenerating, the stump became shrouded with the same energy enveloping her sword, which appeared to be preventing any healing. Lung was at least lucky enough that that same energy was keeping him from bleeding out.
The Dragon of Kyushu reared back, caught off guard by the negation of his potent regeneration, which had always been one of his more important trump cards since it, alongside his scale armor, allowed him to focus on offense without worrying about protecting himself.
Taylor didn't give him time to recover, following up the first attack with another that disarmed him further with the same effect, leaving him without any way to attack. He tried to step back, but she didn't give him a chance, continuing the original movement in order to lop both legs off at once, leaving Lung's now delimbed torso to fall to the ground with dark power clinging to the stumps.
She didn't like doing this. In point of fact she was pretty sure she was going to hurl everything she'd eaten in the last week the instant she could. But she also wasn't too concerned, as Lung should be able to recover completely once she ended the extra effect of her attacks. Hopefully by then he'd be in a nice cell rather than at large to try to get revenge on her.
Still, watching Lung squirm and thrash, still on fire, she decided to making sure he wouldn't be able to try anything else, either against her or against whoever the PRT sent to pick him up once she figured out a way to contact them, and after a judicious application of blunt force trauma to the head, backed up by eldritch dark power, Lung was finally unconscious and beginning to shrink to regular size, though Taylor made sure to keep the regeneration inhibiting power active for the moment.
Once she was sure Lung was out and none of his subordinates were in any condition to cause any trouble either Taylor allowed herself to sag, planting her sword into the ground to help support herself. Her Dark Knight abilities had really taken it out of her, to the point she thought she could taste blood in her mouth. She'd need to switch to White Mage and make sure she was completely healed before she went home.
After a minute or so of recovery she stood back up, though she left her sword planted in the ground. She needed to figure out some way to contact the PRT to have them pick her catches up. The realization that she probably needed to get a cell phone, even if it was a burner, made her purse her lips in irritation.
Before she could follow that train of thought further however she heard the loud growl of a motorcycle approaching, and she turned to see what appeared to be Armsmaster making his way onto the scene.
Well, that made things simpler. Pulling her sword out of the ground and once again hefting it onto her shoulder she waited for him to reach her.
This should be interesting, if nothing else.
Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers.
It's been far longer than I expected since I added another concept to this collection, but here we go.
So, essentially, Taylor's power here is to be able to shift between various Final Fantasy jobs. It was inspired by the FFXIV Shadowbringers trailer, where the WoL shifts between all the jobs he's been in previous trailers before landing on Dark Knight. Except, as might have been noticed, I'm pulling jobs and abilities from all of Final Fantasy rather than just FXIV, and the jobs won't all work or look like they do in that game. For example, Machinist and Alchemist could be considered some of her Tinker jobs, where she can build things to take out on patrol with her, or for other people to use. And Archer and Bard will be two separate things. Having Taylor switch to Beastmaster when around Bitch's dog would be interesting too.
In any case, I hope everyone liked the idea. I don't think there's much else to say, so I'll go ahead and provide my usual reminder.
I am, as always, truly grateful for those of you who are willing to send a buck or two my way out of the kindness of your heart. I relied on all of you when I wasn't working, and it definitely still helps even now that I'm gainfully employed. Thanks to you I have more of a cushion to get things I still need or pay essential bills. Like caring for my new kitten. Her name is Rin, and she's a little hellion that I love and adore.
I used to have a poll on what to update there to incentivize donations, but I recently realized that part of the reason I have trouble motivating myself to write is that I've been letting others dictate what I write, so that's no longer a thing. I apologize, but as of now, I don't have anything to really reward patrons with other than my gratitude.
If you'd like to send a few cents my way anyway, I'm at Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. However, if you'd rather donate a one-off amount rather than a monthly sub, I also have a Ko-Fi. That's ko-fi dotcom /athanmortis78653 .
That's all for this chapter. Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, and till next time. Bye.