Bloodmoon 7.2

Amy couldn't sleep.

How could she, knowing that Taylor was going to war against the entire remaining Empire?

It was almost midnight. The full moon hung low outside her bedroom window, just like it did in her dreams.

She had finished her normal hospital rounds in a haze. It felt surreal, impossible, to go back to her real life when everything was burning down around her.

Except…

It wasn't, not really.

Her healing felt better tonight than it had in a long time. Like a cumbersome weight had lifted.

Even though she couldn't stop the voices.

I kissed Taylor.

I changed her.

And somehow, Taylor liked it. It seemed like she did, anyway.

They really needed to talk about it. If Taylor survived.

It was surreal. Impossible.

There were supposed to be consequences. Her house of cards was supposed to crumble.

But Taylor kissed her back, and kissed her again even after she changed her. She could still feel the ghost of her lips moving against her own.

Then…

And then, Amy just… finished her rounds. Vicky picked her up like always, and Amy managed to smile at her. Like Taylor wasn't about to die.

Now, she found herself staring to the north with a churning knot in her gut.

Why am I so fucking pathetic?

Everything would be perfect… if Taylor weren't about to die.

She can do it. I made her as strong as possible.

Even Amy didn't know exactly what Taylor's power was. The enigma in the stupid hat said she was a Tinker, but that didn't even begin to cover it. When the Fallen or the Nine drank their victim's blood, they did it to sow terror and raise their personal profile. When Taylor drank blood from the skulls of her enemies, she did it to empower herself and bring unfathomable creations into the world.

Taylor's tinkering was a thin veneer over something far deeper and darker, that she was only just beginning to understand.

Amy blinked as the sky over the Trainyards lit up with eldritch light.

What the hell are you doing now, Hunter?

The spiraling tower of stars flickered in the night.

It was beautiful. A shining galaxy that mimicked how Taylor appeared in her biosenses.

Purity's power, maybe? Taylor hadn't mentioned it, but she could have injected the vial tonight.

"Kill them all, and come back to me."

Hopefully, the twisted enhancements Amy had woven into Taylor's body would be enough.

"In the meantime, I'll dream of you."

Amy ran her fingers over the smooth paper of the envelope she wasn't allowed to open.

Taylor didn't ask for much. There were things she'd prefer not to deal with, like Amy calling the PRT. But she had asked Amy not to open the quickly scrawled message. Not unless it was already too late.

Amy knew she was a selfish person. She just couldn't bring herself to chastise herself for it, anymore. Even now, she didn't want Taylor to die because she couldn't stand the thought of losing her. Taylor added vibrancy to the dismal monotony, and Amy wasn't willing to give her up.

Taylor didn't seem to mind, though. Even when faced with the worst of Amy's obsessive, self-indulgent, possessive narcissism, Taylor just smiled and beckoned her deeper into the dark. It had been the same when Amy threatened to turn her over to the PRT, shut down her organs, or when she told Taylor the truth about her powers. Except this time, Taylor had kissed her.

Despite all of that, she didn't open the envelope. Maybe she didn't want to know, deep down. What could Taylor possibly have to say? What could be so important that it could only be read once she was dead?

Amy had no idea. Was it just Taylor's final words, or something more practical? Instructions on how to find her workshop?

It didn't matter. Taylor was going to survive.

She had to.

Amy was going to be so fucking pissed at her forever if she didn't.

The rain of deadly stars threw the Empire's unpowered forces into disarray. Their panicked screaming was music to her ears.

Bitch's beasts howled as they followed her into the fray.

The wind carried her through her own personal hurricane, driving her down towards her enemies at deadly speeds.

Taylor took a brief moment to plan her initial assault, then pulled the air around her into the fist of her will. It coalesced around her holy blade, condensing into a scythe of razor-sharp death.

When she was still fifty feet above the lawn and parking lots below, Taylor swung her great sword in a devastating arc.

She could feel the power of the full moon sustaining her. That single strike would have driven her to the edge of unconsciousness on any other night, but tonight she felt alive.

The wide blade of wind slammed into the earth below and ripped five men to bloody pieces in the blink of an eye, throwing twice as many more backwards like rag-dolls.

The falling stars homed in on countless more, burning searing holes into their flesh as they screamed.

The force of her attack threw Taylor sideways, but that suited her just fine. She already had her first target in mind.

Crusader could not be allowed to remain unchecked. The Empire was severely hampered by their lack of long range support, and she preferred to keep it that way. His ghosts would interfere while she hunted the others, and they would cause trouble for Bitch's dogs. Everyone knew to target the Masters first.

Unfortunately, he seemed to be expecting it, and his ghosts rose to meet her midair.

Taylor swung her holy blade again as she used the swirling air to throw her body forward, but both the blades of wind and her sword passed straight through the ghosts without noticeable effect.

Just before their spears could pierce her, Taylor quickstepped midair and briefly entered the dark. Fortunately, the ghosts didn't seem to count as solid objects as far as Sophia's power was concerned, and Taylor reappeared on the other side.

Unfortunately, Crusader had sent more while she was distracted.

Three ghosts slammed into her simultaneously, their spears driving into her chest with deadly speed.

Taylor was prepared for the crushing pain of a lethal blow, something at least on par with Cricket's strikes.

Instead, it barely tickled.

She was forced to an abrupt halt by the thrust, but it didn't even drive the air from her lungs. The spears penetrated half an inch into her chest and then just… stopped.

Taylor's mind was expanded and currently drowning in eldritch insight. It barely took a moment to put the pieces together.

Crusader's ghosts passed through inorganic matter easily, but could still pierce living flesh. She may not be able to touch them with her sword, but whatever Amy had done to her bones was a living part of her. And, apparently, it was more than up to the task of stopping Crusader's spears.

Taylor sent a silent 'thank you' to Amy. She may have suffered an immediate and undignified impalement without the body upgrades. Maybe, it would be okay to kiss her again when Taylor finished with all the murder. That could be considered a 'thank you', right?

The Nazi knight below looked just as surprised as she was.

Taylor recovered a fair bit quicker, though.

Well, if Crusader's ghosts didn't block physical objects…

"Kill them all, and come back to me."

Taylor drew her pistol in one smooth motion and shot Crusader in the head. A bloody hole appeared in his helmet and a spray of crimson coated the roof behind him. The false knight's armored corpse was slow to collapse and his ghosts winked out of existence.

One down, seven to go.

And several hundred unpowered minions. Easy peasy.

It occurred to her that it would have been smart for Othala to give Crusader invulnerability, to avoid this exact issue. Taylor wondered why she hadn't.

Then Krieg's fist smashed into the side of her face with the force of a speeding bus, and she didn't need to wonder anymore.

Fuck.

The combination of Krieg's own kinetic manipulation field and the gift of what Taylor could only assume was superspeed made the Nazi lieutenant fast enough to catch her by surprise and strong enough to knock her from the sky.

This morning, the blow probably would have taken her head off. Now, she was thrown backwards at considerable speed, bouncing comically over the cracked pavement, but her skull remained remarkably intact and her brain barely concussed.

Whatever Amy had done to her was potent. Taylor even retained the wherewithal to hold on to her hat as she tumbled.

On the second bounce, Taylor righted herself midair and locked her stake driver with an echoing clunk. She landed hard and carved two long furrows in the pavement as she skidded to a stop.

The good news was that Krieg's punch had thrown her fifty yards, separating her from the rest of the Empire's forces until they could catch up.

The bad news was that the empowered Brute was already closing the distance between them again, landing lightly and rocketing towards her over the broken concrete.

Taylor engaged the bladed spike and triggered her stake driver, bracing herself against the cold ground. With the additional leverage, she twisted and swung her holy blade as hard as her steel bones would allow.

The consecrated sword cut the air itself as it sought to bisect her opponent, but its arc was interrupted when it neared Krieg's body. The air itself warped strangely around her blade, and Taylor felt a powerful resistance that bled the kinetic energy from the weapon and brought it to a halt just inches from his chest.

Krieg lunged, and Taylor barely had time to wrench the stake driver back out of the ground before his foot impacted her chest and she was airborne once again.

Shit.

Her ribs held fast- did she even have ribs anymore?- but that still fucking hurt.

This wasn't going to work. How long did the superspeed buff last?

Too long, apparently. Even as Taylor tumbled through the air, Krieg came for her again. Maybe he wanted to get in one more hit before he raced back to Othala to re-up his supply.

Taylor took hold of the wind and righted herself midair, hanging twenty feet above the ruined street as Krieg leapt to knock her from the sky again.

She considered her options.

While Krieg was empowered with superspeed, Othala couldn't heal anyone or make them invulnerable. If Taylor could get to her now, she could take out a powerful force multiplier.

But she also needed to put Krieg down, sooner rather than later. He would continue to hound her, controlling the battlefield and keeping her occupied. Taylor couldn't afford to continue this battle of attrition while everything else spiraled. She didn't actually know how durable her body was now, and the rest of the Empire would tear Bitch apart while she was stuck dealing with lieutenant QuickDraw over here.

The silver lining was that the rest of the Empire had fallen behind. None of the others had superspeed, and Krieg had allowed himself to become separated in his overconfidence.

Arrogance that she would make sure came back to bite him.

The distance between them closed. The air distorted with Krieg's kinetic manipulation field and her wind fell silent.

Luckily, Taylor wasn't limited to physical attacks. Her eyes were wide open, and the beyond readily answered her call while the full moon's light sang in her bones and in her mind.

Krieg pulled a rippling fist back to slam her downward into the pavement.

Taylor dropped her sword.

She raised her hands together above her and called to the stars.

Instead of a spiraling galaxy raining down from the heavens, the stars originated within her and blasted from her hands. If Krieg had been farther away, he may have been able to dodge them with the gifted superspeed.

This close, though…

The shotgun blast of ethereal stars burned countless holes straight through him and his body popped as his blood boiled in his veins.

Burning ichor and shredded flesh splattered Taylor's front. That was… a bit disgusting, even by her standards. She landed lightly on the cracked concrete and shook the worst of the gore from her gloved hands, wiping her face to remove the mess from her eyes.

Aside from being unpleasant, It was also wasteful. She wouldn't be able to harvest Krieg's blood for her experiments, now. Irritating.

Still, it couldn't be helped. His power was strong, and countered most of her attacks. Without the stars, she would have struggled to defeat him. If he hadn't been overconfident, he still may have been able to put her in a difficult position.

But, sadly for him, he overplayed his hand and got popped like a water balloon for his trouble.

Two down, six to go.

Taylor locked her stake driver and pulled her hurricane to her as she picked up her fallen sword. She slid the bladed spike back and triggered the blunt impact, simultaneously taking hold of her cyclone and throwing herself back into the sky.

On the far side of the parking lot, Hookwolf grappled with Brutus in a chaotic whirlwind of blades and bones. For now, the massive beast looked to be holding his own.

The unpowered soldiers fired when and where they could, but they seemed unsure who to target after Taylor got knocked out of the sky.

Bitch's other two dogs whimpered and squirmed, impaled on multiple massive spikes of steel, but at least they were still alive. For now.

One of them had Alabaster in their mouth. It didn't look pleasant for him or the dog, but it kept him contained.

There wasn't much that Taylor could do for them at the moment, unfortunately. She didn't exactly have any long range healing options, and her air scythes would rip apart the dogs just as easily as the metal.

All she could do was keep fighting.

And her next targets were easy to identify.

Kaiser and his Valkyries advanced, Othala trailing behind them.

Taylor could guess who she had empowered, and with what. Kaiser would always prioritize his own safety, especially when he was fragile and human under his armor.

As she flew towards them, Taylor spun and sent another scythe of bladed air at the Valkyrie's ankles. She didn't expect it to do much, but she needed to assess their durability.

They barely stumbled, and both giants leapt towards her in response.

Taylor continued her spin, the air around her answering her call. She reached down to arm her stake driver and lock the sharpened spike into place once more.

A sword blade wider than her body closed from one side, and the massive spear tip from the other.

Time to put Amy's upgrades to the test.

Taylor twisted her body and gripped her holy blade in both hands, bringing it around in a brutal arc. The great sword smashed into the spear tip like a battering ram and knocked the thrust off course. The force of the blow allowed Taylor to twist herself further and brace her good leg against the wide sword blade as it passed under her, missing her by a hair as she spun.

She pushed off with all the strength her augmented body could muster, the combination of corded iron and howling wind pushing her forward and up towards her target. As she rocketed towards Fenja's face, Taylor grabbed her newest creation off of her belt.

The flamesprayer wasn't the most practical of weapons, but it was fucking fun.

A wide cone of flame erupted from the demonic watering can, burning Taylor's own blood and quicksilver to empower its cursed inferno.

Fenja reared back in surprise. The fire wouldn't actually hurt her badly in this form, but it would blind and distract her.

The Valkyrie spent just a bit too long blinking the stars from her eyes.

Taylor wrenched on the air itself and flipped, slamming into Fenja's face feet-first. Using all of her newfound strength and her grip on the surrounding air, Taylor drove her stake driver straight into the giant's left eye.

She caught one last look of shock on the Nazi warrior's face before she triggered the stake driver's piston release.

It felt like there should have been a massive explosion, but instead there was just a hollow thud as the heavy piston drove the bladed spike deep into Fenja's skull.

The giant stumbled and toppled backwards as she screamed, the sound shaking the buildings.

Still, something about growing in size must also significantly increase the Valkyries' durability. Taylor felt the stake driver sink into her skull, but it failed to penetrate through to her brain.

Inconvenient.

As Fenja fell, Taylor pushed off with her good leg and ripped the stake driver free from the giant's eye. She used her personal hurricane to spin her body out of the way of both Menja's next spear thrust and the steel lance that erupted out of the ground at an angle. She sheathed her holy blade and hung still in the air for a moment, bathed in moonlight.

They wouldn't keep her from her prey.

The cyclone wailed around her as she threw herself back down towards Fenja.

The moon's choir continued to sing in her veins, rejuvenating and chasing away the exhaustion caused by using her abilities like this.

Taylor spiraled easily around the lattice of steel Kaiser tried to throw into her path. With a final burst of speed, she lunged forward and drove both hands into Fenja's ruined eye.

Both Valkyries screamed, one in pain and the other in horror.

Taylor called to the beyond once again.

Silver light erupted from both of Fenja's eyes as the otherworldly stars burned through her supernatural durability and tore her mind apart from within.

Our eyes are yet to open.

Her screams cut off abruptly and Taylor pulled her hands from the smoking remains of her head as the giant began to shrink beneath her. By the time Taylor stood tall and faced her remaining opponents, the former giant looked strangely small and shrunken under her. It was a bit sad, honestly.

Why had so many chosen to follow in such evil footsteps? Why were they so ready to accept Kaiser's poisoned words?

Was it really so easy, to blame others for their problems?

"Jessica!" Menja's scream was broken and aghast.

"Kill them all, and come back to me."

Did they not know that death was all they would find, when they decided to hunt her?

Three down, five to go.

Taylor quickstepped to avoid a spire of steel that exploded from the ground under her feet.

Kaiser glared at her with burning hatred from under his iron mask.

"You will pay for that, in blood," Kaiser hissed. His previously smooth tone was raw and ragged. Had he actually cared for his Valkyrie?

It was a pity that he led her, and everyone else, to their deaths.

"Yes," Taylor agreed readily. Her smile was long gone, now. The joy of the hunt had faded into the cold melancholy of this necessary evil. "But not my own."

She quickstepped again, and the dance began.

Kaiser summoned spike after spike of jagged metal to either catch or box her in, but he just wasn't fast enough to hit her as she flitted into shadow over and over.

The rush was exhilarating. Without the moon's radiance she would have collapsed long ago, but on this night she was unstoppable.

Taylor quickstepped to avoid another spear thrust and swung her holy sword at the back of Menja's ankle. The holy blade was designed to counter large and durable threats, but it couldn't completely overcome whatever resistance Menja's powers afforded her. Still, it cut deeply into the Valkyrie's tendon and forced another roar from her lungs as she stumbled.

Leaping from underneath the staggering giant, Taylor spied Kaiser reaching out to Othala. His invulnerability must be almost gone.

She couldn't get there in time to kill him before the buff took effect, but she could take advantage of his distraction.

Taylor brought her hurricane to bear and rocketed down towards Menja. She screamed, and let the beast empower her roar as it shattered the night.

Razor-sharp wind spiraled around her holy blade as she gripped it tightly in both hands.

With all the force that her empowered muscles could leverage, Taylor stabbed the twisting cyclone of bladed death into the back of Menja's neck.

Giants have a lot of blood.

The brutal chainsaw of air and consecrated steel ripped through the Valkyrie's flesh and tore apart the bone underneath.

Her massive body collapsed like a puppet without strings while she screamed.

Taylor landed heavily on the cold pavement as the corpse slumped and shrank behind her.

Four down, four to go.

She could hear the screeching of metal and Hookwolf's blood-drunk laughter from the next street over. Apparently Brutus and Bitch were still holding up, and Hookwolf was having fun.

At least someone was enjoying themselves.

Kaiser certainly wasn't.

He left Othala behind and strode towards her. Taylor matched him step for step.

"Do you feel nothing, at your atrocities?" He called. "You took Kayden, and now Nessa, and Jessica. You're a monster."

As if his opinion of her mattered. It was laughable, but she was tired of this farce. He had brought this doom upon himself, and he would not live to see the morning.

"I am the Hunter," Taylor said with the finality of a death knell, the full moon shining overhead. "And if that makes me a monster…"

Taylor unsheathed her silver sword and drew her pistol.

"...so be it."

The dance began once again, but now there was nothing to distract her. Nothing to keep her from her true prey.

Again and again, Taylor dove into the shadows. Her intangible steps kept her one step ahead of the spikes Kaiser summoned to impale her, always just a split second behind. She worked her way unerringly towards him, enhanced senses and dexterity ensuring that the speeding shards of steel never touched her.

He changed tactics, and brought up a great wall to block her from closing the distance between them. She took hold of the air and launched herself over it before swinging her silver sword wide to send a deadly scythe of razor-sharp wind towards him.

For the first time, he was forced to dodge. Conjuring a pillar of metal underneath his feet, Kaiser pushed himself up and away from the deadly hurricane.

Taylor caught a brief glimpse of red and black, slinking forward.

Did Othala think she was safe, even fifty yards away? She should know better.

Although, it might not be her fault. The Empire probably didn't know that Taylor could see in the dark.

Taylor threw herself down towards her enemy, finally closing the distance between them and stabbing forward with her silver sword.

It cut deeply into Kaiser's armor, but stopped dead when it hit his invulnerable flesh.

"Did you really think-" Kaiser started to laugh.

Taylor tossed her sword aside and drew the flamesprayer from her belt in one hand.

With the other, she raised her gun and shot through the metal cover where she knew Othala hid. She could hear her breathing. The consecrated quicksilver bullet tore through both the steel and Othala's head like tissue paper.

Taylor opened the flamesprayer's valve as wide as it would go and poured its entire payload of bone marrow ash, blood, and quicksilver into the hole she just cut in Kaiser's armor.

Unholy fire roared through the inside of his suit and superheated the metal. Even as he tried to close the hole in his armor or grow more to escape the blaze, it just burned right along with the rest.

Kaiser screamed as he burned alive inside a brazen bull of his own creation. The flames exploded from the eye sockets and mouth grill of his helmet like a demonic parody of a jack-o'-lantern.

His screams were music to Taylor's ears, but she wasn't in the mood to laugh anymore. This much blood was starting to cling to her, and she was tired.

The moon's light continued to rejuvenate her body, but even its calm embrace did nothing to soothe the weariness in her soul.

A Hunter must hunt.

It was just… hard, sometimes.

Taylor retrieved her sword and stood over the burning corpse of Kaiser. She took a deep breath, turning to survey the battlefield.

Any unpowered soldiers that survived the starfall and Bitch's dogs were long gone. Countless bodies covered the lawn and the road.

The dogs still whimpered atop their spikes of steel.

Taylor walked over and freed them with wide swings of her silver sword. Bitch would want them to come first.

"Fucking shit-"

Oh, right. Alabaster was still alive.

Taylor took a moment to consider her options.

She couldn't easily pin him down. She needed her holy blade to kill Hookwolf, and using it as a makeshift stake to hold Alabaster still was a waste.

Instead, Taylor reached down and grabbed his broken body roughly by the back of his neck before he could reset. With a heave, she unceremoniously tossed him over the threshold of her Labyrinth.

He could wander in there until she got around to hunting him down. Unlike the rest, hunger or thirst wouldn't kill him before she had a chance to find him.

Immortality could so easily become a curse.

Taylor let her head fall back and took a long moment to enjoy the moonlight on her face.

Seek Pale Blood to transcend the hunt.

She didn't know what that meant, but she would find out, one day.

But first, she had one last enemy to kill.

Seven down, one to go.

It was time to put Hookwolf in the ground, once and for all.

It wasn't exactly hard to follow the path of destruction and howling.

Taylor and Bitch's two smaller beasts landed on a rooftop overlooking the brawl below.

Hookwolf and Brutus tore at each other with primal savagery, but neither looked terribly worse for wear. Hookwolf's blades didn't seem to be doing any significant damage to the massive beast, and Brutus couldn't rip metal off of his enemy faster than Hookwolf could generate it.

Rachel was slumped against a car yelling commands to her pet monster. She looked alright, aside from her left leg. Taylor was reasonably sure it wasn't supposed to bend that way.

She knew that the formality was a bit silly, but it was traditional, at this point. Hookwolf may be a Nazi bastard, but he was a worthy opponent. He deserved his moment of drama.

"HOOKWOLF!"

The melee below quieted as Brutus jumped backwards at the force of her roar.

Hookwolf looked up at her, and Taylor smiled. This was her preferred kind of fight. Hookwolf had described it nicely, at their first meeting.

"You and me. No bullshit," Taylor called down to him. "Like fucking warriors of old."

She could have sworn she saw him smile.

Out of the corner of her eye, Taylor noticed Rachel slowly hauling herself onto Brutus' back.

Good. Taylor could heal her later.

For now, she had one last beast to put down.

Taylor slid the silver sword into its sheath and drew her holy blade.

No more words were needed.

Taylor primed her stake driver and summoned her hurricane. The edge of the building crumbled away behind her as she rocketed down towards her enemy. The metal beast leapt to meet her in turn, claws leaving long furrows in the cracked concrete.

She twisted to the left as she flew, bringing the great sword around to carve a deep gash into his right flank as she tore past him.

The consecrated steel cut through his churning mass of blades like butter, and she felt it cleave through something dense and heavy in the center of his chest.

Taylor landed hard on the other side of her prey, stake driver and steel bones sending up a shower of shattered pavement before her.

Behind her, the metal wolf became a man once again.

Hookwolf's body fell to the ground in two pieces, cut cleanly down the middle.

Eight down, zero to go.

Familiar heavy footfalls approached, and Taylor looked up at Bitch's ragged face.

"You okay?" Taylor asked. It felt… anticlimactic.

"Leg fucking hurts, but I'll live. You?" Bitch said.

Taylor looked up at the moon. Her body was already rejuvenated again, but her spirit was failing.

"Yeah. Just tired," Taylor answered.

She tossed Bitch a blood vial. Her friend's leg straightened with a sickening snap.

Taylor's enhanced hearing caught the sound of heavy, metallic footfalls on a rooftop several blocks away. She and Brutus both turned their heads towards the noise simultaneously, and Taylor smiled despite herself. She felt a strange sort of kinship with Rachel's beasts, and it occurred to her that they seemed to follow her without question, even though she hadn't been the one to train them.

A worry for another time.

"We got company," Taylor said. "Probably the Protectorate."

"We gonna kill them, too?" Bitch asked. She didn't seem opposed to the idea.

"Not if we can help it. I have no desire to hunt heroes unless I have to," Taylor said.

Bitch just shrugged.

"Hang back, please. I'll take care of it, and I'll call if I need help," Taylor said.

Bitch nodded once, although she still stared down the street with a stiff spine.

Taylor wrapped herself in her cyclone and leapt for the rooftop in question.

She landed lightly across from a tall man in dark blue power armor. He was definitely familiar, even though she had never met him before.

"Armsmaster," Taylor greeted calmly. She really didn't want to fight the Protectorate tonight. She had told both Amy and Assault that she wouldn't kill the heroes, and that would complicate things if they tried to take her in.

"Hunter," he replied in a flat tone.

It was silent for a moment, as the moon hung calm and serene overhead.

"Are you going to fight me?" Taylor asked bluntly.

"Not tonight," he answered. She couldn't tell if he was happy about that or not.

"Good," Taylor nodded.

"You killed them, didn't you? The Empire," Armsmaster said.

"Yes."

It was quiet, for a while.

"You can mimic powers with your Tinkering," Armsmaster said. It didn't sound like a question.

That was as good an explanation as any, and it wouldn't remain a secret for long. Let them think it was all Tinkertech, rather than an expansion of her being.

"Yes. That's why I take the bodies," Taylor said. A lie of omission, shrouded in a veil of truth.

Armsmaster nodded.

"What now?" He said, as if she knew what the hell she was doing. Maybe it seemed like that, from the outside. As if she hadn't blown up her house in a fit of paranoia less than a month ago.

"This changes nothing. I will hunt the monsters and beasts that stalk the Bay. You will try to stop me. You will fail. Do not enter my Hospital if you want to keep your sanity intact," Taylor said. A bit of an exaggeration, but maybe they would actually listen.

"Right," Armsmaster sighed. He seemed unhappy about her ultimatum, but resigned. It was preferable to righteous indignation or rage, though.

"Have you tested my blood vial, yet?" Taylor asked out of idle curiosity.

"Yes and no. We ran an extensive test battery on it, but…" Armsmaster actually smiled under his visor. "Dragon said it was like using plutonium to make ibuprofen."

Dragon analyzed her work? That was… flattering.

"I need blood to make them, but there's no reason I couldn't make more, if I had… donations," Taylor said.

Armsmaster regarded her warily for a moment.

"I'll… pass that along," he said slowly. "Until next time, Hunter."

"Until then, Armsmaster."

The azure hero turned around and launched a grappling hook with practiced ease, zipping away over the ruined rooftops of the Trainyards.

Taylor finally let her shoulders slump.

That had gone… well. Better than she had expected, despite Assault's attitude. She knew that the other shoe would inevitably fall eventually, but the longer the Protectorate played nice, the easier things would be for her.

For now, though, she had a phone call to make, and a lot of bodies to clean up.