Note: Just a quick FYI. I'm handling the realization power level differently than the normal EGO power level. Taylor can almost use HE but can't just yet, so I toned the power levels of higher-rated EGO down. Technically it's possible; in Library of Ruina, Fairy Festival was just about as powerful as Snow White's Apple, and that's a WAW vs. ZAYIN. I also made a Twitter account. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I put a link in my bio.
-The Light of Brockton Bay-
- Victoria's POV
The cracks in my vision widen as I feel the world around me both crumble and resolidify at the same time. I try to float back to the ground, but my sense of direction is messed up, and I land tilted. I feel around on the floor for a moment, trying to stand up. I can feel the smooth surface of tiles beneath my hands. The cracks slowly shrink before fading entirely. I'm now in a school hallway I don't recognize, not that I was expecting to recognize it.
The floor has pristine, mostly white tiles, with some coloured ones making decorative patterns. Perfectly clean blue lockers line white walls with an odd green tint. Panels above provide light to the hallway itself. It's a perfect school hallway. It has no marks, no litter, not even dust. The PRT heroes seem a little better off compared to the first time the scenery changed. We're still going good, Battery has a minor cut, and Armsmaster's equipment is looking a little beat up, especially his shoulder guard.
Everyone is on guard for obvious reasons, but Da'at is nowhere to be seen. There are a couple of doors in the hallway that are closed. Armsmaster takes the lead. "Dauntless and Battery take the rear guard. Glory Girl and I will be the vanguard. We don't know which direction Da'at will be coming from. Velocity will scout ahead."
This gets a nod from everyone. We all take our positions as Velocity speeds off to check the hallway and doors one by one.
"Miss Militia." I turn to the person in the middle of our formation. "I wasn't as forceful about it before, but after fighting whatever the fuck Da'at just was, I'm going to ask again." I glare at her while turning up my aura. "What exactly happened when Da'at was visiting the Wards? Armsmaster's tone is always a perfect neutral, so it's impossible to tell he's lying, but you looked ashamed when I mentioned Sophia."
"Glory Girl. I understand the situation is stressful, but I will not tolerate you assaulting a member of the Protectorate with your aura." I want to punch him so badly, but I'm smart enough not to. I lower my aura, for now at least. "Just remember, I will find out after this is done."
Velocity arrives back to the group. "Uh, I found Da'at, but it's weird. Here, just follow me." He beckons us forward. "The hallway just goes around in a square; every door leads to a classroom. I didn't find any exits either."
We are led to the only non-standard classroom door, covered with bright rainbows and suns and children's drawings. "You're so funny, Emma." I flinch at the voice before taking a peek inside. Inside is what seems to be a preschool. A puzzle piece mat takes up most of the room with a bunch of toys strewn on top. Paper snowflakes hang from the ceiling from long pieces of string. In the middle of the room is Da'at and... someone else?
Da'at looks like a giant stuffed bear. Her arms were brown, round, smooth, and thick, with giant metal claws at the end. Her torso had the same texture as her arms, but there was a section down the middle that had a thick fuzz like her paws with a stitched-on heart in the center. The lower part of the outfit transitioned into a frilly dress. Her eyes were mismatched, one green and one blue. She also had a pair of teddy bear ears near the top of her head that would've made me chuckle in any other circumstance.
Sitting across from her was someone who I had never seen before. She had her back turned to me, but I could see she was a redhead, with a grey shirt and blue jeans. She felt... off, though. Something about her just didn't seem right. I'm just going to call them Emma since Da'at did. Apparently being a stuffed bear came with a good sense of smell, because Da'at sniffed in the air before jerking her head to look directly at the door we were behind.
"Get behind me!" Da'at jumped up and got between us and the new person. Emma suddenly backs up behind her, giving me a good look at her face. It's not a person. It's a living, stuffed doll. With a quick closer inspection, I can faintly see the fabric that makes her body. The main thing that gives her away is the button eyes. "They're going to get me." It turns out the stuffed doll can speak and is a bitch too, because I can see her sport a devious smile. "I think they're going to hurt me. Could you please stop them, Taytay?"
Taylor puts on a wide smile and briefly looks back at Emma. "Anything for you." I can see Emma briefly put on a scared expression when Da'at looks back at her, only to put on her smile again when unobserved. The team of PRT heroes that have been looking through the door all jerk backward. "Into position!"
Da'at rams herself through the doorway, her thick arms a little too wide to fit normally. The concrete wall around the doorway gets obliterated into pieces. She slowly walks towards us with her arms dragging behind her. Emma follows closely behind her. Miss Militia opens fire with an assault rifle down the hall as Armsmaster and I flank Da'at on both her sides. The bullets pelted into Da'at, but the wounds quickly closed over, leaving little stitches.
Da'at swipes forward with both her arms at once. Armsmaster uses his halberd to cut the incoming arm off, and I try a retaliation punch. Armsmaster's counterstrike gets completely overwhelmed as the clash wins in Da'at's favour with no contest. I can feel my punch collide with something soft but unmovable, and my shield gets shattered. We both fly a few dozen feet back. I stop myself with my flight and grab Armsmaster before he can land. His chestplate has a decently sized dent in it.
"That was great, Taylor; you're my best friend." Da'at's name is Taylor? I feel bad that she isn't mentally stable enough to know she's outing herself. "I'm just happy to be wanted." I really don't like the smirk on Emma's face. There was a large cut on Taylor's right hand from Armsmaster's halberd. I can see it stitching back up, but the scar doesn't go away.
Assault takes the initiative by punching a locker door off its hinges and throwing it at Taylor. Taylor jumps to the side and swipes the locker door away with her arm. She quickly regrets doing so because it gave Miss Militia an open line of sight to shoot at Emma. In the blink of an eye, the spray of bullets gets quickly intercepted as Da'at moves to block them with her body. A single bullet makes it through and strikes Emma in her arm. "AAAAH!"
Da'at runs up to her. "Emma, are you hurt?"
Emma looks at Taylor with a scowl. "You idiot! Can't you block one attack?" I'm not sure how, but Emma takes an oversized nail and drives it through Taylor's arm. "Be stronger than that!
Unlike the hits from before, Taylor winces as the nail pierces her near the elbow of her arm. "I promise to do better. I know you care about me."
I turn around and speak with a quiet voice. "I think I know what to do. Da'at cares about the Emma puppet. Assault and Velocity should loop around and harass from the other side."
Armsmaster nods. "I agree. She hits harder than the previous fights. Stay away and stick to attacks with range."
Assault and Velocity race off down the hall behind us. Taylor has started to walk towards us, albeit a little faster now. "I forgive you; I deserve it."
Me and Armsmaster are standing on either side of the hall. Miss Militia and Dauntless are harassing Taylor to no avail. The previous stitches had faded as if they had never been cut or pierced. Even the one on her hand was gone. Taylor uses her claws to rip off an entire locker from the wall and hurls it at us like a baseball. I block it with a punch, but my shield still flickers off and on.
It only took a few seconds for both speedsters to reach the other side. Assault wastes no time and throws another locker door while Velocity runs up to attack Emma. Taylor gets a panicked look and jumps toward Velocity while annihilating the metal door mid-jump. Bullets make their way past Taylor's defence, and Dauntless' arclance burns Emma's fabric.
"I'm being hit over here!" Emma swipes at Taylor with a nail, leaving a large gash on the side of her stomach. Stuffing pops out, but no stitches appear. Emma isn't even reacting to being hurt anymore and is solely focused on hurting Taylor. After a few more seconds of Taylor running back and forth to protect both sides, she looks roughed up. Every cut from Emma doesn't heal like normal, and numerous nails are stuck into her body.
"Ugh, that's it. You're so weak I don't even want to bother." Emma scoffs as she turns towards a door beside her.
"NO! WAIT! I TRIED MY BEST! PLEASE! WHAT DID I DO WRONG?" But it was too late. Emma steps through the door and slams it behind her. The door fades, and Taylor bangs on the wall where it once was, leaving large indents in the wall. "Don't forget me too." Fuck, this is sad. Why can't this be like a regular breakdown where you knock them out like normal and talk later?
The walls start to become marked with various stains, cuts, and graffiti. The ceiling light goes from a pristine white to a slightly sickly yellow. Parts of the lockers rust, and their paint starts to chip. The hallway, once pristine and perfect, changed into something you would find at a much lower-income school. Probably something like Winslow High.
Taylor turns to us with arms open wide. "I need a hug. Please. Anyone?" Taylor lunges for me in an attempt to hug me. I quickly retreat, and everyone opens fire again. Taylor slowly gets back on her feet and starts sprinting into the rain of bullets. Stitches are no longer healing any of her wounds, and her burns are no longer fading. What I did not expect was for her to turn on a dime and rapidly increase speed with her arms stretched.
Velocity just barely twists his torso out of the way, but Taylor managed to hug his arm. "A nostalgic embrace." I heard the arm snap, and Velocity screamed before using his power to slide his arm out. The bone of Velocity's bicep was broken. I think it was called the humorous? His arm was bending at a point it shouldn't.
"EVERYONE STAND BACK." Miss Militia screamed as she held her arms in front of her like she was about to brawl. A fucking rocket launcher manifested in her hands. I didn't even know she could get one of those. I feel my heart race in panic as it dawns on me that there is only one reason she would bring it out. She shoots the rocket, and it races towards Taylor.
Taylor barely has a moment to turn before the rocket hits her and explodes in her face. Dust fills the hallway and my ears are ringing. A few small pieces of debris hit me after my shield went down, but nothing major. I look back to find everyone dazed but standing. The dust settles, and I start to worry we may have gone too far.
Pieces of cotton are strewn about on the ground. Taylor's left leg is completely blown off, and most of her left arm is gone as well. An eye is cut open, and I feel bad to think this, but I'm glad that stuffing is coming out and not... something else. "Go on. Forget about me. Just like everyone else has."
I'm about to say something, but I stop when I hear a loud cracking noise. Behind Assault and Velocity, I see something turn around the corner. Both of them decide to take their chances and sprint past the maimed Taylor. I can see Velocity taking some deep breaths as he stands still beside me, holding his arm.
What turns around the corner is Emma, but she looks different now. She's filled with rough patchwork that barely looks like it's holding her together. Red strings are tied around her arms, fingers, legs, and just about every other place I can think of. "Emma! You came back for me?"
Emma scowls. "I wouldn't come back for someone so weak. I'm just here to put you out of your misery. I'm strong now, and I wouldn't hang out with a weakling like you."
I see the strings move as another figure comes into view behind her. I can feel my heart sink as I see someone I actually recognize. It's an unmistakable Shadow Stalker doll. It has her black cape, her body armour, and even her signature crossbow. All it was missing was her mask, and while it was still made of fabric, the black, slender face looked very real. It started to speak. "C'mon Emma, enough talking; the locker's ready."
Shadow Stalker tossed Emma a crossbow bolt that looked like a large nail before weirdly moving her arms. That was when I saw the strings around her arms, pulling various parts of Emma's body to catch said bolt. Everything in the hallway was beginning to fade as Shadow Stalker moved Emma to throw the bolt at Taylor. It pierces the stitched heart in the middle of Taylor's chest, and she screams.
The hall is now empty of decoration except for a single locker beside Taylor. I want to stop this, but I can't. I feel like something is suffocating me and I just can't move my body when I try to. Emma and Shadow Stalker start to walk up on the unmoving but sobbing Taylor. Shadow Stalker opens the locker; I can smell it from here, and I can see it filled to the brim with disgusting filth. "Have a good time, Hebert," Shadow Stalker says, pulling her arm up, causing Emma to kick Taylor forward.
Taylor tumbles and lands inside the locker. "NO! NO! PLEASE! NOT AGAIN! ANYTHING BUT THIS AGAIN!" But it fell on deaf ears. Shadow Stalker laughs along with Emma. "That'll teach her to think twice before coming back to school again." Words can't describe how disgusted I feel. I want to beat those two to a pulp, but I know they aren't real. I have a feeling that the PRT will try to say this was all a delusional story from Taylor, but it's just too... vivid.
The two walk around the corner, out of sight, and I feel like I can move again. We all just sit and stare in silence. I know we can all move, but I can't think about anything right now, so I just stare at the one remaining locker. In fact, everyone is just staring at the locker too. Wait, this feels weird. My thoughts are interrupted when I hear the screeching of metal on metal.
The locker shakes and the metal bends. "All you do is just stand and watch. Does it make you feel good? Do you feel better knowing my life is worse?" The slits at the top of the locker warp and change. "I could have dealt with it all. The bullying would have been fine. But it was the fact that they derived such enjoyment from it that hurt the most." I began to feel the pressure in the air rise; the fabric of space wore thin. "They always looked at me with eyes filled with glee."
"I just wish they would look away." Cracks filled my vision as the room darkened.