Overture 12.1
"I told you that Vista could be a problem," Amy grumbled into the empty corridor.
Taylor could tell that her complaining was just out of habit, though. Amy had fun, even if she would never admit it. She wouldn't have agreed to play support and flex her power otherwise.
Despite Amy's deep-seated issues on the subject, they both wanted to experiment with her powers more. A low stakes brawl with the Protectorate seemed like as good a time as any, and it would either increase Taylor's threat level or make it clear that Amy wasn't just sitting on the sidelines, depending on whether or not the PRT actually realized that the biological abominations were Amy's doing.
"I never disagreed with you," Taylor grinned down at her and kissed the back of her hand as they strolled through the Labyrinth's infinite hallways. "And I certainly appreciate you lending me a helping hand. Messing with the heroes wouldn't be half as much fun if they actually caught me."
Amy rolled her eyes dramatically at the pun and Taylor's smile widened.
Taylor hadn't expected them to utilize Vista against her. The PRT must be desperate for a win if they were willing to risk deploying their high-tier Ward against a murderer.
Ironically, Taylor had no issues being stymied by a kid with a badass power. It was significantly more fun than getting beaten by someone like Armsmaster or Dauntless.
Maybe it was just the knowledge that countless adults were currently swallowing the unavoidable pill that they had to rely on a twelve-year-old to save them from the monster in the dark. It was funny, in a schadenfreude kind of way.
Taylor stared at Amy contemplatively while they walked, in the purple-white glow of the lantern light. Her face was… soft, in a way that Taylor couldn't help but find entrancing. It contrasted perfectly with the intense emotions behind her expressions, regardless of whether it was the acid or fire or pain.
"What?" Amy demanded.
Taylor realized that she had been watching her for a lot longer than normal. Without her superhuman dexterity, she probably would have tripped a while ago.
"Do you want to go on a date?" Taylor asked.
She wasn't sure exactly what prompted her to ask, but the idea was suddenly extremely appealing.
Amy narrowed her eyes.
"Is that a euphemism for killing someone?"
"You know, my dad asked the same thing when I told him about our double date," Taylor laughed. "But no, I mean like, get coffee and walk down the Boardwalk, or something. Or a picnic. Whatever normal people do; I don't have a huge sample size."
Amy just stared at her.
"We're wanted criminals. We just beat the shit out of the Protectorate, like, literally five minutes ago," Amy said, as if she was explaining something painfully obvious.
Which, of course, she was. But Taylor already knew that. She'd been there, after all.
"Yeah, I know. And now they'll know better than to pick a fight with us in the middle of a civilian area. I'll let Rachel borrow the lantern so she can bust us out on the off chance that they sic Vista on us again," Taylor said.
Amy was still looking at her like she was crazy.
That was up for debate, actually. Taylor was starting to think maybe she was the sane one, and it was the world that was crazy.
"They'll know what your face looks like. And… and…" Amy seemed to be having trouble finding the right way to explain why that was a bad thing.
Taylor tugged her to a stop and took her other hand, looking down and resisting the urge to get lost in her worried eyes.
"I realized something, while I was playing my role out there," Taylor said. "Unless we hide in the Workshop forever, my identity is doomed. Your face is already known, and you're mine. The whole charade with Anne, the secrets, the lying… it only applied while our connection stayed hidden. They know you're with me, and they know your face. The only way my face stays hidden is if I always hide it when I'm with you, and I don't want to do that."
Amy blinked.
"We're working to carve out a place for ourselves, and I don't want that to be somewhere we have to hide. So…" Taylor grinned. "Fuck it. Let's go for a fucking walk down the Boardwalk, and dare them to mess with us. We might as well strike while the iron is hot, before they forget that I let them live, tonight. I told them that the city is mine, and we'll go where we please."
Amy's expression transformed slowly as Taylor spoke until a familiar mischievous spark appeared.
Perfect.
"You're right… there isn't really anything they can do, is there?" Amy slowly started to smile. Her grin was still a bit crooked, but Taylor could see the genuine happiness somewhere deep underneath. "We're safe. The only shitty thing they could feasibly do is snipe me in the head or something, but if they do… well, it suddenly won't be my problem anymore, will it?"
Amy's runes were potent, but not quite enough to make her bulletproof all on their own.
The idea of losing her like that was horrifically painful, obviously, but there would always be a slight risk any time Amy stepped out of the Labyrinth. It had been a risk before, as part of New Wave. No matter how tempting it was, Taylor wouldn't keep Amy as a prisoner for her own good. Still, she was reasonably sure that the heroes wouldn't be stupid enough to kill Amy outright. They must know that Taylor would rip them apart and wouldn't stop until the world drowned in an ocean of blood.
Although, maybe she should inform Colin, if it ever came up. Just in case.
In the meantime, she wanted to enjoy as much time as she could get with Amy without letting herself become scared of every shadow.
Everything ends… except for me.
Taylor shook off the morbid thoughts and matched Amy's smile.
"They're such big fans of the rules, let's see if they stick to them," Taylor said, even though she obviously flaunted the supposed rules constantly. Although, she hadn't technically attacked anyone while they were in their civilian identity. Except for Dean, but no one except Amy knew about that, so this was one part of the rules she could sort of stick to. "I'm not going to hide in my city."
"Our city," Amy corrected her. "You're mine, so what's yours is also mine."
"Obviously," Taylor laughed. "So… Date? With me? Tomorrow? We'll buy ridiculously overpriced coffee and pastries with Coil's money, then take a walk and see if anyone notices?"
"You're going to get coffee?" Amy asked skeptically.
That was fair.
"Fine, I'll probably get tea, even if they don't have the good stuff. Whatever. It's the idea," Taylor replied.
Amy shook her head but her smile didn't budge.
"Fuck it," Amy said. "Yeah, let's go on an actual fucking date."
Taylor's chest felt strangely light. Getting coffee together was objectively trivial compared to the… everything else about their relationship, but…
The idea made her happy, and she was too selfish to deny herself the little things. Like she told Dinah, they were important. Taylor had more than enough time to make up for, after the hell she went through at Winslow.
And no idea how much time was left. She needed to check in with Dinah.
Not that she could bring herself to regret any of it now, though. Not when Amy leaned against her and pushed herself up on her toes for a kiss.
Amy pulled back, and Taylor was still lost in the freckles and chocolate and the way her lips curved up sardonically at the corners and-
"Even if this works and the heroes ignore us, I'm not going back to school or anything stupid like that," Amy said.
Taylor laughed and released all but her hand so they could resume their walk home.
"No, something tells me that we're never going to be missing out on any opportunities due to the lack of a diploma," Taylor said.
Actually, Anne might have a high school diploma already. Huh.
Her mother would probably disapprove, but she would also probably disapprove of all the murders, so…
Sorry, Mom.
She wasn't going to stop, though. Or go back to school.
What the dead didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
"Maybe Carol will get arrested for truancy," Amy muttered darkly.
Something about that was illogically hilarious to Taylor, and her laughter echoed in the empty Hospital as they walked.
…
"What the hell happened out there?"
Colin stood calmly in front of Director Piggot's desk and prepared to lie through his teeth.
Luckily, he was the only one with an accurate lie detector.
"Hunter happened," Colin said. "Unfortunately, this may have been the most favorable outcome we can hope for in direct conflicts with her. We forced her to retreat without any fatalities, which is better than most of the alternatives."
"You think I don't know that?" Piggot snapped, leaning back and pinching the bridge of her nose.
Colin remained silent and let her mull over the events.
"Did you at least manage to gather some new information while she was making fools of us?" The Director asked in a tired voice.
"Hunter displayed two new abilities in addition to increased physical strength and durability. She's now able to activate a short-term Breaker state, temporarily turning her body to ash. While in this state, my halberd, Assault's kinetic manipulation, and Dauntless' arc lance had no noticeable effect," Colin said.
"Oni Lee."
"I assume so. There was also, of course, the…"
Even Colin wasn't sure what the enormous hands were. Of course Hunter would decide to pull out an ability like that without consulting him. He didn't know why he expected anything else.
"...Shaker effect, for lack of a better description," Colin said. He would have shrugged, but he doubted that the Director would appreciate the levity. "The constructs mimicked living flesh, and she dismissed her initial creation after I damaged it with my halberd. It seems… anomalous, but it's possible that she acquired the ability from Lung."
The Director hummed in general disapproval.
"I can't help but notice that she used that ability sparingly. She never tried to contain you, and chose to disable Militia, Triumph, Velocity, and Battery with her sedative rather than the… Shaker… effect," Piggot said flatly.
"She was holding back, and she wanted us to know it," Colin said. He didn't have to fake his frustration. "My prediction software and weapon allowed me to counter her Mover and Brute abilities. I was able to cut through her constructs, but I have no way of knowing if my armor would hold up against her Blaster powers. At best, I can keep her at a stalemate as long as she doesn't utilize her purely lethal abilities."
It went without saying that none of the other local Protectorate heroes stood even that much of a chance.
The Director sighed and leaned forward again.
"Alright. I'll get Image on the line and we'll spin this as positively as we can. Have you been in contact with New Wave?"
The change in subject caught Colin off guard.
"Not since last week, why?" He asked.
"Lady Photon still hasn't replied to our request for information regarding Panacea, and she hasn't been seen at Brockton General since the mess on Saturday. Get Photon and Brandish here tomorrow for the update on the Hunter situation and figure out what the hell is going on with Panacea."
Colin was also curious about that. He may have to ask Hunter the next time he saw her, just so he didn't cause more problems for them by accident.
Panacea was clearly involved with Hunter, given their conversation about her blood vials and the… incident… on Saturday evening.
But, in the meantime…
"I'll take care of it. Additionally, I submitted the necessary forms to bench Dauntless for the foreseeable future. Footage of his misdirected attack does not reflect positively on the team, even compared to the other blunders tonight. Between his long-term potential and current public opinion, it would be better to let that specific incident fade into the background," Colin said.
"Agreed. His current abilities were ineffective, anyway," the Director said distractedly. "Do you have anything else for me this evening?"
Colin was about to reply when an urgent message pinged in the corner of his visor.
He quickly read the summary and resisted the urge to sigh heavily.
"I just received an alert," Colin reported. "A total of twenty three bodies with suspected Merchant ties were found in a burned warehouse. It looks like Hunter's work, but…"
"Hunter was obviously otherwise occupied," Director Piggot's expression matched his.
"She's expanding. We already knew she was recruiting, but it looks like she's been successful. Unless Hellhound took on the Merchants alone," Colin mused. "I'll head to the crime scene now."
It looked like neither of them were going to get much sleep tonight. Colin hoped that Hunter was pleased with herself.
He should have expected this, as well. Taylor Hebert obviously wasn't above using him as a distraction when it suited her.
It didn't mean he had to like it.
…
Taylor heard the crying before she and Amy actually arrived back in the main atrium.
Hopefully no one got seriously hurt fighting the Merchants. Taylor trusted her hunters, and they deserved a chance to stand on their own.
They walked through the side door to find the rest of the Hunt waiting, along with a few corpses and one unexpected guest.
They all smelled like smoke, and burnt plastic.
"I wasn't expecting visitors," Taylor said, glancing between them. They all still had their masks on, so she couldn't make out their expressions. They seemed tense, though. "How was your hunt?"
"It was a night to remember," Regent said. "Not that many of the Merchants will."
"Who's our guest?" Taylor asked.
She ran her eyes over the crying woman on the floor. It was… a bit pitiful, honestly.
"Squealer," Spitfire said. Her voice was conflicted, even behind the mask. "She gave up, and… I couldn't… I didn't want to…"
Taylor had been wondering if any of the Merchants were salvageable…
But Squealer looked too broken for even Taylor to fix. She wouldn't be a good fit for the Hunt.
Taylor took a deep breath.
There was a frighteningly large part of her that wanted to just kill the pathetic mess of a person in front of her and be done with it. Her blood would probably be more useful to the world in Taylor's hands than it was in her body.
"You are weak."
Taylor straightened her spine. Just because she had committed atrocities in the past didn't mean she had to be defined by them. Morality wasn't a weighted scale; it was a series of choices that never ended. She could choose to be better, when the opportunity presented itself.
Maybe not every time. But sometimes.
She was strong enough to have a choice, now.
"I'm not a good person… but I'm working on it."
"Spitfire," Taylor said seriously, ignoring the nervous energy in the room. "Squealer was your prey, so I'll offer you the same choice I once offered Amy. There are no wrong answers, and no right ones. I can end her life as painlessly as possible, and give you her power as promised, if you don't want her blood directly on your hands. Or, we let her go, and let the pieces fall where they may. But I won't take the choice away from you, unless you want me to."
Emily was silent for a long moment.
"You decide, please," she said quietly.
Taylor nodded. Choosing to avoid the burden of choice was also a choice, in a way.
"Squealer. Look at me, please," Taylor commanded.
It took a while for the broken woman to stop shaking long enough to look up, but she got there eventually.
"I can leave you with the PRT, or at a bus station with enough money for a ticket somewhere else. If you continue to operate as a villain in my city, I won't give you a choice next time. Do you understand?" Taylor said coldly.
"...yeah, I… um… bus sounds… good," Squealer choked out.
"Are you sure? The Protectorate need Tinkers, and would probably offer you a probational deal. Help you get your shit together," Taylor said.
Not that she could really judge. She had slept on a cold lab table in an abandoned hospital for weeks rather than join the Wards.
"Naw, I don't… can't do that shit," Squealer said.
Taylor shrugged. She tried.
"Suit yourself," Taylor said, turning to Regent and Grue. "I take it your hunts were also successful?"
"Yup! I'd like to trade in one corpse for one new power, please and thanks," Alec gestured at the body wrapped in trash bags at his feet.
Brian just nudged one of the other corpses with his toe.
Huh.
She hadn't been sure if Brian would actually kill Mush or not. Good for him.
"I'll get right on that," Taylor grinned. "Spitfire, take Squealer over to Lisa's base on your way home and tell her to have Dimitri drop her at the bus station with a ticket and some cash, please."
Emily nodded and made her way over.
Taylor let a hand fall on her arm as she passed.
"You did well, Emily. We need hunters who know when to stop, too," Taylor said quietly, so only she could hear. "Not everyone is like me, and I don't want you to be."
Even through the costume, Taylor saw her relax slightly.
"Thanks, Boss," Emily said. Her voice came out strange, through the mask.
Spitfire's apparatuses had been fun to tinker with. They were a modified version of the flamesprayer, but with several key changes.
The most important of which was that the hoses, fuel tanks, and mouthpiece were all lined with living, replicated flesh based on Emily's esophagus.
It wasn't exactly pretty, but powers were messy like that sometimes. Amy had even managed to make a bacteria that would consume small amounts of the napalm gel and produce the necessary sugars for the living linings to survive indefinitely, as long as Emily refilled them regularly.
The tanks weren't very big, but Emily could refill them easily mid-combat, so Taylor wasn't concerned. It was a much more efficient device than her original flamesprayer, and Amy had a good time making it, even if she wouldn't admit it.
Emily could even select whether to fire the goop directly, or ignite it as it exited the barrel for the classic flamethrower effect.
Taylor was just a little bit jealous, but she could live with it.
Spitfire left with her temporary prisoner and Taylor glanced back to the others.
"Good job, tonight. That's one less organized group with parahuman firepower, and more blood for us. Although, "organized" doesn't exactly apply to the Merchants," Taylor said. "We'll meet later to discuss our own patrol routes and initiatives, but for now you're free until the new vials are done processing."
She knew that the hard drugs, illegal guns and all the other nasty crap was still going to be pretty rampant; this was Brockton Bay, after all. But that was outside her scope of practice. She wasn't about to start hunting the random people selling drugs out of their shitty apartments or whatever. It was about keeping a lid on the parahuman organizations.
Maybe, without the other parahuman gangs strangling everything, people like her dad could actually make some headway.
She wasn't one of those people, though.
Besides, if Dinah's predictions panned out…
It wouldn't matter all that much in the long run, anyway.
Alec gave her a jaunty two-fingered wave and strolled away. Brian just nodded and followed.
Rachel met Taylor's eyes for a long moment.
"You good, Boss?" Rachel asked.
Am I?
"Yeah. Thanks for the backup, Rachel. Sorry you didn't get to join in any of the fun," Taylor said.
She'd wanted to give the others a chance to fight their own battles, and the dogs would have gotten out of hand with the Protectorate, so Rachel had been stuck watching from the sidelines.
"Smart. No worries," Rachel grunted.
Taylor shot her a not-smile.
"Get the dogs ready for some patrol routes. I want everyone to know that we aren't going anywhere," Taylor said.
Hopefully, the people of Brockton would grow to fear and respect the beasts that prowled the streets at night. The right balance of the two should keep the remnants of the gangs from doing anything too stupid, and the overall image would make out-of-town villains think twice before moving in.
Rachel nodded and walked away without another word. It might seem rude to anyone else, but Taylor knew it wasn't. Rachel respected her, and didn't need to pad her ego with platitudes.
The adrenaline rush of the fight was finally fading, and Taylor suddenly felt more tired than she had in a long time.
It was just her and Amy now, alone with the omnipresent heartbeat.
"I'm going to hang these up to drain, and then… bed?" Taylor glanced at Amy.
"Please," Amy sighed, slumping slightly.
Taylor threw Skidmark and Mush's corpses over her shoulder. She took Amy's hand, and they headed back through the double doors of their Workshop together.
…
As she made her way over to Kurt and Lacey's, it occurred to Taylor that she should talk to Dad about risking her identity.
Although, it might not actually be that much of a risk, to him. Anne Callahan was a real person, for all intents and purposes, while Taylor Hebert was dead. Even if she still thought of herself as Taylor.
Once again, Colin's attempt to blackmail her actually worked in her favor. He held the only copies of anything that would tie Hunter to Taylor Hebert, and he had covered his own tracks to avoid discovery. It would give away the game if anyone else at the PRT found the same evidence he had, after all. Lisa had already confirmed that her photos and the evidence of Sophia's bullying had been removed from the Winslow system.
Taylor Hebert didn't have a driver's license or a passport. She highly doubted that facial recognition would have anything to find, especially not when Anne Callahan was the obvious suspect.
It was entirely possible that she could keep her Anne identity active purely to avoid putting pressure on her father.
She still needed to give him a heads up, though.
Taylor arrived at the Labyrinth door and unhooked her prosthesis. No reason to risk damaging Kurt and Lacey's floors.
She opened the door and hopped through into the cozy kitchen. Dad looked up from where he sat nursing a cup of coffee at the rickety table.
"Morning, kiddo," he grinned easily at her. It was quite the change from the storm clouds that always haunted him, even just a few months ago. "I saw the news. You had an eventful night, from the sounds of it."
Taylor smiled back and swung herself over to start the water boiling for tea. She also grabbed a to-go mug to bring some coffee back for Amy.
It was still early, and Amy would probably want to sleep in. Sometimes, 'sleeping in' meant 10:00, and sometimes it meant 2:30 in the afternoon. They'd get around to their date eventually; Taylor wasn't in any rush.
She didn't judge Amy, either. It seemed like Amy hadn't gotten to make any choices for herself in a long time. Maybe ever. She was free, now, and Taylor wanted her to enjoy every second of it.
"I have to make sure the heroes don't get too confident, every once in a while," Taylor said. "Go too long without showing off a bit and they start forgetting that I'm keeping the kid gloves on for their benefit, not the other way around."
"And the Merchants?" Danny asked.
"That was just a warm up for my hunters. They needed prey that was closer to their level to help get them ready for the big leagues," Taylor said.
Plus, more blood for her and less drugs on the streets. Win-win.
Her father nodded idly and took a sip of his coffee.
"I've been meaning to ask, did we get any updates on the house?" Taylor said, sitting down with her tea across from him.
"Oh, yeah, the insurance payment handled the mortgage and I put the rest away in savings. I… um… let the bank take possession of the property, though," he said.
Taylor raised her eyebrows.
"Really? You aren't going to rebuild it or anything?"
Danny shrugged.
"There's not much left, so it would be pretty much the same as building from scratch. I thought a new start wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, and… it doesn't sound like you're going to be moving home anytime soon, so…" he trailed off uncertainly.
"So, what? You're just going to live here?" Taylor asked.
The toaster popped and Kurt wandered in from the living room.
"Hey, Taylor," Kurt said as he passed. "I guess you could say he's got an open invitation."
He clapped her father affectionately on the shoulder as he headed back into the living room with his breakfast.
Huh.
Taylor decided not to ask.
"Right. On a related note, I have a date later today, and I need to check in with you about some stuff," Taylor said.
"Oh! That's great; is it the same girl from a couple weeks back?" Her dad asked, seeming a bit relieved for the subject change.
"Yeah," Taylor said. She wasn't sure how much he knew. "Um, did you see anything about the fight on Saturday night?"
"I saw the stuff about Lung and Oni Lee on the news, but that's it," he raised an eyebrow.
"So, my girlfriend is… um… well, she was Panacea," Taylor said. "Amy Dallon, you know, the healer?"
Danny's eyes widened for a moment, but then his expression sparked with recognition.
"That explains how she helped with the arrows! I should have guessed. Wow, that's… do I even want to know how that happened?" He said incredulously.
"I stole cigarettes for her and she threatened to kill me a few times, then she kissed me," Taylor shrugged.
"Right," Danny snorted. "Well, whatever works, I guess. Do I get to meet her any time soon?"
With Amy's issues surrounding parents and her general aversion to doing anything she found unpleasant, probably not.
"It's complicated. She just ran away and joined the Hunt to get away from her life and her adopted mother, so… I don't know when she'll feel up to meeting you. I told her how supportive you are, but the pressure is still difficult for her to handle. I don't want to push her to do anything she's uncomfortable with. She gets enough of that from everyone else," Taylor said.
That sounded about as close as she was going to get to summarizing Amy's issues without giving away her secrets. Not that they really had that many secrets, anymore.
"That's fine, kiddo. You know where to find me if you want to introduce her," Danny said.
"So, the other thing is that Amy's an unmasked cape. If I'm seen in public with her outside of my Hunter getup, everyone is going to know who I am. It's not exactly hard to see the one-legged girl who's dating Amy Dallon and make the connection to Hunter," Taylor rambled. "But I don't want to be stuck hiding constantly, so… we're thinking about just going public. That was one reason for the fight last night, to make sure the heroes know the consequences of provoking me."
Her dad's eyebrows slowly climbed the longer she talked.
"Wasn't that what Armsmaster was threatening, though? Not that I wouldn't be willing to take some heat, but I thought we wanted to avoid that?" Danny asked.
"Well… I kind of made a new identity that I never got around to telling you about," Taylor said a bit sheepishly. She wasn't sure what her father would think about Anne. "It was an accident originally. Amy's sister found me in her room, and it was easier to explain without revealing that I'm Hunter, so I gave her a fake name, and then it just sort of spiraled from there. Anyway, I got one of my associates to fabricate an entire identity with all the documents to back it up, and now… well, in addition to being Taylor Hebert, I'm also Anne Callahan?
Danny blinked and just stared at her for a long moment.
"That's… actually amazing, Taylor, or Anne, or…" he shook his head in amusement. "I'm just… I was really worried about you, giving up your real life and throwing everything into being a villain, and just… you went and made a new life, all on your own. That's awesome!"
Taylor hadn't been expecting that.
"You're not… I don't know, not mad, I guess, but… I thought…"
"Taylor, I just want you to be able to have an actual life," his voice dropped to a more serious tone. "After dying, and everything… This sounds like the best case scenario. You get to live, without the weight of everything that tore you down before. As long as you don't forget to come visit your old man every once in a while… I'm happy for you. Really."
Taylor realized her eyes were a bit damp. When had that happened?
"Okay, yeah, um…" She wasn't sure what to say to that. "Thanks? I guess? Anyway, I'm going on a date with Amy this afternoon, and we're going to see how the heroes respond. I don't think that they'll try to capture me surrounded by civilians, but sometimes they don't follow the script. And I don't think they'll connect my face back to Taylor Hebert, but it's not impossible. So I just… thought you should know?"
This whole conversation was an awkward train wreck, even if it was going better than she expected. She wanted to go back to bed and reset.
"Don't worry about me," Dad said. "Worst case scenario, I'll call you from jail and you can come bust me out. I'm sure the guys will think it's hilarious."
They both sipped their respective beverages in silence for a few long minutes.
"What's Amy like?" He asked suddenly.
That was a hard question to answer, actually.
"She's… difficult to describe, I guess. When I first met her… I don't know, it seemed like she needed something, even if I didn't know what it was, and I couldn't make myself stop going to see her. Talking to her… it always feels like it's special. She's not… actually very nice, overall. Prickly. She's like… roses, and briars. Beautiful, but dangerous. I can't stop going back, though, because her thorns can't actually hurt me and… She's selfish, but I like it? I don't know…" Taylor blushed and trailed off. She hadn't really gotten to talk about Amy to anyone, and it felt… good, even though it was awkward as hell.
"Everyone needs different things out of a relationship," her father shrugged. "What's perfect for you may not look that way to anyone else, but you're the only one who gets to decide that."
That was… surprisingly insightful.
Taylor wasn't sure what else to say.
"I have a feeling you can take care of yourself," Danny reached across the table and squeezed her hand briefly. "But I'm here if you want to talk."
She might have to actually take him up on that, in the future, but for now… this conversation had used up her entire quota of awkward embarrassment for at least a couple days.
"Thanks, Dad."
One less thing to worry about.
Taylor sighed to herself. She should probably visit Dinah before the blood vials were ready and Amy woke up.
Dinah would know she was coming, obviously. Probably long before Taylor herself knew she wanted to check in.
It still made her a bit sad, that Dinah got forced into this life. Not that any of them really had a choice, but the precog had even less than the rest. Her fate was sealed the moment she triggered.
Taylor bit her lip.
"This is totally unrelated, but… do Kurt and Lacey have any board games I can borrow?"
…
Colin came very close to making Shawn run the presentation, but ultimately decided that doing so might take credibility away from his more reasonable justifications for discrediting Dauntless.
He was doing the Protectorate a favor, honestly. Power without the accompanying knowledge and awareness was as much a hindrance as a help.
The atmosphere in the room was significantly more reserved than usual. Ethan was still unconscious, and the rest were understandably frustrated. Everyone who got injected with Hunter's sedative had spent the night in M/S confinement.
Even Lady Photon and Brandish seemed much more tense than usual, but that was most likely due to Panacea's involvement with Hunter.
Colin needed to remember to question them after the presentation.
"Good morning, everyone," Armsmaster started. "I know that we all had a long night, but it's important to make sure everyone is up to date so we don't miss anything important. We won't belabor any of the more frustrating portions of last night's conflict."
Not that they wouldn't be obvious, regardless.
"Hunter has increased her profile significantly. Rather than remaining content as a solo vigilante, she has officially formed an organization known as the Hunt. It appears that she absorbed the Undersiders under her umbrella following the conflict with the ABB on Saturday," Colin said. He pulled up an image from the crime scene at the Merchant warehouse. "The few survivors of the Hunt's actions last night described an assault by a team of three parahumans. They were led by a teenager who fits Regent's description, although he supposedly displayed Mover and Brute abilities that don't fit Regent's current profile. However, Grue's ability is much more distinctive. Finally, there was a Tinker or Pyrokinetic who burned the warehouse to the ground."
Colin noticed that Brandish's frown became even more pronounced as he spoke. Interesting.
"The timing definitely isn't a coincidence. Hunter provoked a response from us not only to assert her position in the public cape scene, but also to ensure that her gang had time to eliminate the remaining competition while we were distracted. We didn't find the bodies of Skidmark, Mush, or Squealer, so she may have several new abilities to complement her current arsenal," Colin continued.
"Great, like she needs more powers," Battery muttered darkly.
She wasn't happy about Ethan's condition or being casually knocked out by a sedative.
"On that note, let's watch the recording of our conflict with Hunter. I've spliced together my helmet footage along with Dragon's observation drone, although it wasn't in position until after the fight started. I'm curious if anyone notices anything I missed on my initial review," Colin said.
They made it even less time than he expected without an interruption.
As soon as the giant, grotesque hand rose from the pavement, Brandish stood up so sharply that her chair fell over and Lady Photon ran a hand over her face with a sigh.
"That's… she's…" Brandish spluttered for a moment before collecting herself. "That's Panacea. The living construct. It's her work, it has to be."
Colin raised his eyebrows behind the visor.
"Explain. Last we heard, Panacea was in your custody," he said.
"She left," Lady Photon said sadly. "On Saturday evening. According to Glory Girl, she went into one of Hunter's portals and we haven't seen her since. At some point, she came back to the house to get some of her things, but she managed to get in and out without anyone noticing. We hoped… well, we hoped that she was just angry and needed space, but…"
Brandish glared at her sister for a moment before turning back to Colin.
"Panacea has joined the Hunt," Brandish snapped. "And she's obviously not restricting herself to just healing anymore."
That was new information. Hunter had mentioned that Panacea helped her with the blood vials, but Colin hadn't considered that her power may extend beyond healing.
"What do you mean?" Hannah asked, cutting in before Colin could ask the same question.
"We never publicized the full extent of Panacea's powers," Lady Photon said. "We didn't want her stuck dealing with the inevitable scrutiny… but it may have been a mistake. Amy is a biokinetic, and healing is just one small part of her potential. She has complete control of any living thing she touches, which includes, well… whatever that is, apparently."
Interesting.
That was bad news… for everyone except him. Colin was more satisfied than ever with his admittedly reckless decision to ally with Taylor Hebert. He now had a connection with two of the most powerful parahumans, two of the only healers, on the East Coast, while the rest of the heroes were fumbling blindly.
He would have to thank Amy Dallon, the next time they met. She couldn't have picked a better time to jump ship.
"Are there any limits to her abilities? Size, scale, or nature of her creations?" Colin asked with faux concern.
"No," Brandish bit out. "She can't manipulate her own biology, but she can do anything she wants. Giant hands are the least of our worries. She can and will make Blasto and Nilbog look like amateurs."
Colin decided then and there that Brandish could never be allowed in the same room as the Director. For everyone's sake.
He just had to find the right way to spin this. The Hunt had to be dangerous enough to be a worthy adversary for him without being so threatening that the Chief Director decided to quarantine or glass the city.
"I will discuss the potential increase in the Hunt's threat rating with the Director, now that we know Panacea has joined their ranks. Do we know if she will still be available for healing during Endbringer battles?" Colin asked.
They were overdue for an attack, and it was putting Colin's teeth on edge. He needed to talk to Dragon about that, actually. He'd gotten sidetracked with everything else going on.
"We don't know," Lady Photon answered. Brandish looked like she was actively swallowing a lemon. Apparently, Panacea's defection had affected her more strongly than the others.
Colin hummed thoughtfully and restarted the footage.
"Is it possible that Hunter took Panacea's blood and her power?" Robin chimed in when the biological construct reappeared to disable Dauntless. "Do we know if she can do that without killing her victims?"
That was actually a very good question that Colin hadn't thought to ask Taylor during their last chat. Maybe she would be willing to make a trade for a few donations…
"We can only speculate. Her abilities are extremely varied, and they don't all match her victims," Colin said, swapping over to his ongoing spreadsheet with Hunter's stolen powers and known victims.
It was a very long list. Hunter had killed a lot of capes.
He had already added "Low-Duration Intangible Breaker State" and "Biological Constructs" to the list. He decided not to take the last one off yet, just to avoid seeming like he was jumping to conclusions.
"This is…" Miss Militia started slowly and then trailed off. "It's… juvenile, but… replay the drone footage, just after Dauntless is disabled?"
Colin swapped back over and rewound the video.
He managed not to sigh out loud.
Hunter definitely blew a kiss to someone they couldn't see.
Teenagers.
Every once in a while, he forgot he was working with teenagers.
"Given her previous… interactions… with Panacea, I think that makes it likely that she's receiving additional support," Colin said tiredly.
The only silver lining was that Ethan wasn't here to comment.
Luckily, they managed to finish the video without further interruptions.
It was silent for a while after the footage cut off.
"So… what do we do?" Battery finally asked.
"Nothing," Colin sighed, mostly for show this time. "We do nothing. I'll talk to the Director about our next steps and potentially increasing their threat rating, but… if we officially declare an active Class S threat in Brockton, the Triumvirate will get involved and the city will end up quarantined or destroyed. Not to mention the fact that they might not be willing to directly oppose Panacea at all, if she's still attending Endbringer fights. Hunter implied that they will be patrolling, but we can't rely on her goodwill to keep letting us stalemate her. Next time, she might decide to take a hero for her experiments. We did our part, and showed the people that we're still here, but… until our next operation is determined, we just keep an eye on them and step in if they actually start going after civilians."
They wouldn't, though. Taylor had gone to a lot of trouble to end up as the least objectionable villain in town. Even if she had done so by killing all the others.
Brandish didn't look happy with that answer, but Colin was reasonably sure that was her default state.
…