Atonement 13.3
The tense standoff lasted for only a moment in the heat of the ongoing battle.
Plasma engines roared overhead and blue trails followed the autonomous payload towards its target.
The Simurgh spun the enormous greatsword easily and intercepted the incoming missile barrage with a precisely angled sweep of her new blade.
A blinding beam of moonlight erupted from the weapon, and the Cawthorne exploded in a cacophonous fireworks display.
Taylor was already well aware of just what her weapons were capable of, but seeing it in action made her stomach twist.
Hopefully Colin was still alive. The armband didn't announce his name, at least.
Taylor slung her cannon onto her back and released the Rakuyo's locking mechanism. The two halves of the weapon separated and she gripped the heavy dagger in her left hand, the long saber still in her right.
She pushed off the broken edge of the angel's impromptu forge and took to the sky. The remains of Downtown hung still and silent in the empty air, like floating islands of brick and metal in a translucent sea. The endless layer of flat gray clouds extended in all directions, lending the city a surreal atmosphere.
A massive shape approaching from below caught her attention.
Is that… Medhall?
Sure enough, the top half of the glass-sided Medhall skyscraper soared towards the pitched battle like a glass aircraft carrier, although it didn't look like the angel's doing. Taylor could see multiple different power effects keeping it aloft and steady, forcefields and spatial distortions rippling underneath the enormous mass of steel and windows.
Strider teleported onto the glass surface. along with a familiar face. Not that she could see his face.
Clockblocker crouched down as soon as they appeared and froze the building in stasis, locking it in place and creating an indestructible surface below the aerial conflict, still hundreds of feet from the ground. The skyscraper was angled, but not so steeply that they were at risk of falling. The glass windows became a long floating platform for as long as the time-lock held.
The Simurgh swung her holy moonlight sword and a great swath of silver light arced towards the new arrivals.
Eidolon teleported in between Strider and Clockblocker, and space warped around them.
The same kaleidoscope power he used to multiply Legend's beams also worked in reverse, apparently. The wave of silver death hit the edge of the spatial distortion field and condensed into a single thin beam that Eidolon casually leaned sideways to avoid.
Taylor adjusted her trajectory and aimed for the new battlefield.
Eerie green light leaked from under Eidolon's heavy hood, and the most powerful cape in the Protectorate raised his hand imperiously.
Gravity bent to his will. The angel fell into the stasis-locked glass with a thunderous crash.
Taylor landed hard, but the windows beneath her feet were far stronger than steel while gripped in Clockblocker's power. Her stake driver didn't even scratch the glass.
That was convenient.
It was difficult to get the necessary leverage when the rest of the world was so fucking fragile. Pushing off of empty air didn't allow her to bring the necessary level of force to bear. Not against an enemy like an Endbringer.
Some calculating part of her mind idly kept track of Eidolon's current power set. He usually had three or four powers active at a time, and no one really knew how quickly he could rotate them. The kaleidoscope shield, gravity manipulation, flight, and teleportation. Maybe he needed an anchor point for the gravity well to work correctly? It had barely pulled the Simurgh off course before, but now she seemed unable to take off properly.
Taylor wasn't complaining. As Amy was so fond of pointing out, she couldn't actually fly. If the angel was grounded, she would be much easier to counter. Especially now that she had a deadly blade at her disposal.
Strider disappeared, presumably to get the next group of reinforcements. Eidolon stood tall but seemingly stuck in place, utilizing his current powers to contain the Endbringer and guard Clockblocker so he could continue keeping the battlefield stable.
They were on a time limit, though. The song would corrupt Clockblocker if he stayed too long.
Taylor would just have to take advantage of all the time she could get.
I have to get that damn weapon away from her.
The moonlight was lethal, and amplified the Simurgh's arsenal significantly. Especially when combined with her precognition. It had to go.
Easier said than done.
Taylor raced across the indestructible glass, her legs blurring as she drove her enhanced muscles and steel bones to their limit.
Music continued to play, both in her mind and from the music box.
The angel dragged herself to her feet.
The gravitational effort forced her to hunch slightly under the weight of her oppression. She used two of her primary wings in addition to her actual legs to force herself upright.
Her expression was as empty and impassive as ever. Taylor purposely avoided looking at her eyes. It was easier, that way.
The Simurgh lunged forward with the holy moonlight sword, a lightning fast stab that almost ended the fight then and there. Even under Eidolon's gravity manipulation, she was so much faster than any foe Taylor had ever faced before.
Taylor twisted and skidded on her stake driver, slashing the Rakuyo's dagger across her body just in time to deflect the tip of the blade. The greatsword continued past her to the left like a freight train and Taylor brought the saber up to brace against the back of the dagger, the crossed swords forming a guard to push the heavy blade and the angel's strength aside.
A brilliant beam of concentrated moonlight shot out of the greatsword's point.
Strider teleported in with another group of capes, just behind Eidolon's distortion bubble. Unfortunately, the capes at the edge of the group didn't land at quite the right angle to be fully protected by the kaleidoscope.
In the same instant they appeared, the moonlight enveloped them. The attack was launched before they even appeared, and its trajectory somehow accounted for Taylor's deflection.
Fucking precogs.
Brass Jackal deceased, CD-8. Shadespan deceased, CD-8. Kid Win deceased, CD-8.
Shit. If the Simurgh was dead set on killing Wards, she could at least kill Dean and save Taylor a future headache.
Taylor pushed off her good leg and closed the last of the distance between her and her enemy. She pivoted midair with the help of her cyclone and swung the Rakuyo's saber down towards the angel's ivory wrist.
One of the multitude of golden wings intercepted her. Taylor's shining, ethereal blade still cut clean through the feathered limb, but the resistance knocked her off course and she was forced to spin away in order to avoid being shredded by yet another wing from her right.
The Simurgh got to keep her hand, and her sword, for a little longer. Unfortunate.
Taylor landed amid a shower of golden feathers. She didn't pause to admire her handiwork, instead immediately throwing herself forward into a roll that carried her out of the angel's reach.
"Hit and run, don't stick around and listen to the music."
Her caution was vindicated when she felt the moonlight greatsword sing just inches above her back, its horizontal arc slicing the air overhead as she tumbled across the Medhall windows.
Taylor righted herself and suddenly, she wasn't alone in the chaos anymore.
The rest of the capes converged, and the battle got messy again.
Taylor spun on a dime just in time to see Victoria rocket past and land a heavy punch straight to the angel's perfect face. It was mildly satisfying to see that happen to someone else for a change.
The rest of New Wave followed behind her. Multiple multicolored beams peppered the Endbringer while Shielder played defense. Manpower and Brandish moved forward to engage the angel directly, plasma weapons and massive fists raised high.
Flashbang hung back with Lady Photon and Laserdream, launching carefully placed concussive bombs. It wasn't like the Simurgh could be blinded.
Despite their differences, Taylor rushed back in to join them in the assault.
There was no time to think. The Simurgh was still impossibly fast, even while grounded, and her blade was deadly.
Taylor quickstepped through the traitorous moonlight and took another slash at the angel's arm, but she was just a hair too slow. Her Rakuyo missed her target and glanced off the time-locked glass at her feet.
Huh.
Apparently, Clockblocker's power could withstand even her multidimensional strikes. Interesting.
She'd think about that more if they survived.
Spinning to avoid another wing, Taylor stabbed with her dagger and took some small satisfaction at the jagged gash she opened on the Endbringer's leg.
The Simurgh tried to kick her, which was almost funny. The raw brutality clashed violently with the angel's ethereal ambiance. Taylor turned to ash to avoid the blow.
She swung again, and Lung's power roared its approval in her blood.
Still, she knew better than to lose herself to the bloodlust. Something itched in the back of her mind.
This felt too easy.
Was the Simurgh baiting them?
Taylor launched herself backwards in instinct and craned her neck to take in their surroundings once she was no longer in danger of being bisected.
There were a lot of buildings floating around them, still held in the Simurgh's power…
Fuck.
Of course, as soon as Taylor noticed, the wide cyclone of flying metal and concrete shot towards the brawling capes with deadly speed.
"Incoming!" Taylor yelled in vain, letting the Beast enter her voice to get everyone's attention.
A lot of them were too slow. Too many of them.
Hundreds of tons of broken buildings, chunks of pavement, and unidentifiable debris converged on the Endbringer's position.
Taylor had less than a split second to make a decision.
Victoria would probably survive. Her forcefield could take some pretty heavy blows, and she could fly fast enough to avoid the majority of the incoming improvised missiles.
Shielder was still turning. His own personal forcefield would probably hold, but it didn't look like he would be able to put his wider shield up in time. He had been focusing on protecting against the Endbringer herself, not an attack from behind.
Which left Lady Photon, Flashbang, and Laserdream exposed. Taylor had no idea if their forcefields would be strong enough to weather a million pounds of high velocity rubble, or if they would even be able to turn fast enough to use them.
Out of the three of them…
Taylor didn't have time to think.
She threw herself forward with all the power her hurricane could provide while simultaneously quickstepping rapidly. The distance between her and Amy's family closed in the blink of an eye.
Taylor caught a very surprised Laserdream in a bear hug and pulled Amy's cousin against the indestructible glass, twisting midair so her back was facing the approaching onslaught. She also shifted her cannon around to her arm so it wouldn't get crushed into her spine on impact.
Deafening thunder echoed around them and dust filled the air.
Even with steel bones, being smashed into an unmovable surface by a fucking building was… unpleasant, to say the least.
Laserdream's panicked screaming didn't exactly help, either. Right in her fucking ear, too.
Lady Photon deceased, CD-8. Flashbang deceased, CD-8.
Oh. Amy was going to be sad.
The music box still played its mournful tune from within her coat. Taylor was honestly surprised it hadn't broken, yet.
At least Victoria survived. It was a shame that Carol did, too. Can't win 'em all.
Maybe she was losing her mind.
Priorities.
"Laserdream," Taylor said as calmly as she could, given the circumstances. "We need to-"
"Mom!" Laserdream yelled helplessly into the surrounding rubble.
Fuck. Way to stab me right in the repressed memories, Laserdream.
Taylor didn't have time to break right now. She had things to do.
This building was really fucking heavy.
Amy's enhancements and her power upgrades may have made her strong, but there were still limits to the amount of raw force she could apply without any leverage. Apparently, deadlifting who knows how many tons of bricks and metal beams wasn't in her toolkit.
"Head in the game, Laserdream. Can you cut us out of here without killing us?" Taylor asked. It was a bit awkward, speaking just inches from a stranger's crying face. Dust stuck to the tears in gray paths across her cheeks.
Amy's cousin blinked rapidly for a moment and managed to calm down enough to focus on Taylor's face. That somehow made it even more awkward.
"I don't know-"
"Crystal!" A deep voice called from surprisingly close by.
Oh, right. Manpower and Victoria were still out there.
Dim light filtered down on them as a piece of rubble shifted, and the weight currently attempting to bend Taylor's bones suddenly lightened considerably.
Taylor forced herself to one knee and stood, tossing the remaining debris off of them and rolling her shoulders.
The formerly flat battlefield was a fucking mess. Chunks of buildings and broken roads covered the angled glass.
Crystal hacked out a cough, still on her hands and knees. Manpower knelt down next to her.
Taylor didn't listen to their hushed conversation. It felt… private.
Victoria floated overhead, her face a haunted mask. She didn't look at Taylor.
Brandish slowly cut her way through the massive pile of rubble that covered the area where Lady Photon and Flashbang had previously stood.
This isn't fun anymore.
Taylor took a deep breath to center herself.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Legend and Alexandria harassing the Simurgh from the air. Hopefully they could keep her attention for a second.
Manpower and Crystal hauled themselves to their feet.
The massive, muscle-bound man looked down and met her eyes. His stare was… dead. Empty.
"I'm sorry," Taylor said softly. There wasn't really anything else to say. "I couldn't..."
"I know," he replied. "Thank you."
His broken tone made her chest ache.
"All combatants," Alexandria's voice emanated from all of their wristbands, making Taylor jump. "Rotate engagement. Groups 1 and 3, regroup in section AB-2 for decontamination."
Taylor closed her eyes for a long moment, then turned back to face her enemy. She didn't want to watch the remnants of New Wave leave their dead behind so the angel didn't consume their minds.
An hour ago, she might have wondered if she could get away with stealing the corpses. Now, though…
The weight of the battle was straining her soul. The hopelessness was seeping into the cracks. She was… tired. Weary.
Taylor watched in silence as an enormous wave of shining moonlight struck Legend across the chest, high overhead.
He just… disappeared.
Legend deceased, CD-8
What?
How?
Just like that?
Legend was the hero. The one in the commercials. The leader of the Protectorate. Even if he was part of Cauldron, he'd fought in every Endbringer battle and kept a relative level of peace in the country for years. He was supposed to be invulnerable. His body was made of energy and light, he couldn't…
But Taylor's phantasm struck in multiple dimensions simultaneously. The tapestry was thinner than any but she knew. The eldritch moonlight was more than capable of ending even someone like him.
And the Simurgh hadn't had access to that option before now.
What have I done?
Taylor was numb. It was all too much. Too much for her. Too much for anyone.
What the fuck am I doing?
This wasn't like fighting the fucking Protectorate. She didn't have to pull her punches. She wasn't a fucking hero. Why the fuck was she still playing with kid gloves on?
Maybe some part of her was just waiting for the music to end.
How many more would die while she waited? How many would die anyway, because good people like Legend and so many others were gone?
Taylor felt the world crumbling beneath her, piece by bloody piece.
She'd been biding her time, and her enemy had used her inattention to create a weapon of mass destruction with her own fucking power.
No more.
Taylor dropped her cannon. It would only weigh her down. She gripped her Rakuyo tightly, iron knuckles white against the dual blades.
Bloodlust thundered through her veins, and she let it tinge her vision red with sanguine hunger. Anything was better than being numb.
She called to her hurricane, and leapt.
The angel turned to face her as Taylor hung in the empty air over the broken buildings. Alexandria was nowhere to be seen.
"We are naught but ash, and to ash we shall return."
She wasn't afraid to die.
But Death would have to earn her, first.
Suspended over the glass field, Taylor crossed her arms and slammed both blades of the Rakuyo through her own heart.
Let my blood be the kindling that sets the world ablaze.
The burning pain helped her focus her fury, chasing away the last of the cold apathy that threatened to end her.
Taylor drew her swords free of their bloody sheath, the ethereal edges now extended and coated in jagged, crystalized ruby.
The song scraped at her mind.
She shot down towards her enemy like a bullet, the hurricane howling around her as she flew.
The Simurgh parried her first strike with a casual slash of her greatsword, but Taylor's rage was relentless.
She hacked at the angel's ivory flesh with reckless abandon. She twisted and turned to ash in order to avoid a flailing wing. She cut again, the strength of Lung and the Valkyries flowing through her bones as the crimson crystals sliced deep gashes into the Endbringer's otherworldly flesh. The blade of holy moonlight swung back around, but Taylor ducked under it and brought both sanguine blades down on the angel's forearm with all of her enhanced strength.
In this state, she was only capable of feeling a brutal sense of satisfaction when the ivory hand fell free.
The Simurgh looked almost surprised, despite her lack of expression. The Endbringer reached down and caught the holy moonlight sword in her left hand before it hit the glass.
Taylor quickstepped through another wing, but was forced to leap backwards to avoid being skewered as the angel lunged.
Still. The Endbringer could be damaged. Even if she couldn't be killed, she could be incapacitated.
A crimson blur streaked into her field of view, and suddenly the Simurgh was tumbling across the sea of rubble.
"Hot damn, Yosemite. You really were sandbagging hard last week," Assault bounced on his toes and rolled his shoulder. "I haven't felt this incompetent since Armsy tried to teach me how to play minesweeper."
Taylor blinked, but something about his stupid commentary lightened the weight on her iron heart.
Apparently, the Protectorate ENE had been part of the group switching in.
Battery, Miss Militia, and Armsmaster landed in a loose circle.
Taylor briefly locked eyes with Colin, through his cerulean visor.
She liked to think there was an understanding there. A brutal, violent respect. They weren't the same kind of hunter, but today they shared their quarry.
They advanced on their prey as one, stalking across the broken battlefield.
The angel righted herself, still held under Eidolon's gravity distortion. Her empty eyes bore into Taylor's mind.
There was no time to think.
She was a living weapon, and she drowned in her beautiful bloodlust.
Taylor vaulted over a horizontal ray of silver light and cut clean through a wing that attempted to impede her carnage.
Colin threw himself into a low roll and came up at the angel's feet, hacking at her knees and forcing her to use two of her wings to support her drastically increased weight.
Miss Militia hammered their enemy from behind the remains of a shattered building, a heavy grenade launcher kicking in her capable hands.
For a long moment, Taylor lost herself in the violent dance.
Slide. Ash. Cut. Step. Leap. Slash.
All the while, the haunting melody sang in the background.
Taylor idly wondered how long the battlefield would hold steady. Had Clockblocker retreated with the last group? Where was Eidolon?
When the choreography inevitably broke, it did so with jarring abruptness.
The Simurgh parried a cut from Colin's greatsword and sacrificed one of her remaining wings to Taylor's blade.
Battery punched Assault in the back, and he rocketed forward for another pass.
Before he even started moving, the angel spun her moonlit weapon with impossible speed.
No.
Taylor saw the impending collision approaching, but she wasn't fast enough to stop it.
Assault's own momentum drove his body directly into the point of the massive blade. Whatever protection his kinetic manipulation allowed, it didn't help when pitted against the interdimensional weight of Taylor's weaponry.
No!
The silver point of the moonlight greatsword entered the center of Assault's chest and exploded through the back of his spine. He hung suspended midair, limbs falling limp.
He looked down at the shining sword now sprouting from his sternum with a perplexed expression.
"Anyway, Hunter, it's lovely to make your acquaintance. I'll get right to the meat and potatoes here."
"ETHAN!" Battery screamed in horror.
Oh. So that's his name.
Ethan.
It suited him, somehow.
Taylor wished she'd learned it sooner.
"Ah," Ethan's tone was mildly disappointed. Like he'd just dropped a plate by accident, or something. "Well, that sucks. Sorry, pup-"
Silver death pulsed down the length of the holy blade, and he disintegrated.
Dust floated in the still air.
Assault deceased, CD-8.
She couldn't move. She couldn't even blink. Her steel muscles locked, as if that would protect her against the pain.
"Why do you think you should renounce your villainous ways and defect to the side of glorious heroism?"
Something in Taylor's chest shattered. A thousand shards of broken glass ripped her apart from within.
She could still hear him.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill any of my friends."
Why?
"Why bother? I mean, I know why, but I kinda want to hear it from you. Call it an old man's proclivities."
Assault… Ethan… was the only hero she'd ever met who actually lived up to the name.
He was so fucking good, in the face of a world that didn't care.
Why wasn't life fucking fair?
The world was an objectively worse place without him in it. Darker. Heavier.
His carefree smile mocked her, dancing in the edges of her vision.
The fog threatened to overwhelm her.
"They didn't give me time to finish my PowerPoint presentation."
God. Fucking. Dammit.
Would things have been better, different, if she'd listened to him?
Probably not, but she'd never know, now.
Rage flared deep and hot in Taylor's bones.
The anger she thought she'd felt before was a pale comparison.
Not just today, but ever. Selfish, useless shades of gray.
Emma. Sophia. The Empire.
They were nothing. Pathetic specks of dust. A minor irritation. A passing frustration.
Nothing compared to this unendurable fire.
How dare she. How dare she?
It was easier to scream than cry.
Tears leaked from the corners of Taylor's eyes anyway.
The stasis holding the Medhall building aloft ended.
Taylor screamed, and the sea of windows shattered underneath her.
She didn't know where Battery, Armsmaster, or Miss Militia were. She didn't care.
All that mattered was her, and the pain.
The Rakuyo ignited, voracious flames fueled by her hate engulfing the crystalized ichor.
Taylor threw herself into her enemy.
The angel would die.
Taylor smashed the holy moonlight sword aside and slashed her burning blades across the Simurgh's stomach as she flew past at blistering speed. The heat of her blades warped the air.
She stabbed her flaming dagger into a wing and used the anchor point to whip around and drive her saber into the Endbringer's back and out through her chest. A reverse mockery of what the monster did to Ethan, even if it wouldn't actually kill her.
Lung's power surged within her.
Die.
Taylor ripped her blade free and phased through another wing. She deflected the next rapid slash of the moonlight greatsword with her dagger.
Die!
She swung her saber and cut clean through the angel's left leg. An ivory foot fell away along with the broken remains of Medhall.
DIE!
Taylor flipped over a horizontal sweep of deadly light and hacked another wing off with brutal, bestial ferocity. The unholy bloodflame lit the angel's face ominously from below.
Why won't you fucking die?
The holy moonlight sword swung back around.
Taylor dove forward and brought both of her flaming blades down onto the Simurgh's one remaining arm.
The sanguine fire cut through the angel's inhuman flesh with surprising ease, and her porcelain hand fell free.
The residual momentum of the massive greatsword sliced Taylor in half horizontally, just below the ribcage. The metaphysical moonlight sheared straight through her iron spine and augmented organs like they were made of wet cardboard.
Taylor blinked.
Well… shit.
Then she, her lower half, and the holy moonlight sword were all falling, together.
She caught one last glimpse of the angel's empty face, staring down at her impassively.
The music still played.
Wind whistled in her ears as she fell. She idly wondered how long she could survive without most of her organs. Amy must have built in quite a few fail-safes.
She missed her. Chocolate and roses swam in her hazy vision.
For some reason, she thought dying would hurt less. Wasn't the brain supposed to throw up a bunch of endorphins to make up for the extensive trauma?
At least hitting the ground didn't really hurt, by comparison.
She wished she could see the stars.
A new door opened, and a rough hand grabbed her coat's collar.
"Look like shit, Boss," Rachel grumbled as she dragged Taylor's torso into the Labyrinth.
…
There wasn't anything else to do, so Amy just kept healing. A thin tendril stretched from the doorway and kept her connected to the Heart.
She tried to watch, through the Messengers, but the city was falling apart. The doors were moving as the Simurgh ripped the buildings to pieces. It gave her a headache, trying to keep track of everything.
The triage center was strangely quiet compared to the rest of the city. Just endless beds and curtains, with staff rushing about and speaking in hushed voices. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead.
Amy was numb. Empty.
Legend was dead. Assault was dead. Aunt Sarah was dead. Mark was dead. Carlos and Chris and so many more.
She should probably care more than she actually did.
Taylor was still fighting, somewhere out there in the gray fog.
At least Victoria was…
Rachel stepped out of the Labyrinth holding the top half of Taylor's body.
The Messengers had somehow missed that. She'd have to give them a stern talking to. Or take away their hats.
The stress was obviously getting to her. She was a bit delirious.
Amy's stomach clenched and her brain short-circuited at the sight of her girlfriend's shredded organs hanging-
"Fix her," Rachel commanded.
What?
Amy fell to her knees next to Taylor's head. It wasn't a conscious choice.
Too much.
She couldn't fix this.
"Where's… the rest of her?" Amy asked blankly.
Like it mattered. She couldn't reattach dead tissue.
Too much.
Taylor's blood ran across the white tile floor. Her own little crimson lake.
"Didn't see where her legs landed," Rachel shrugged.
"Oh. Okay."
Too much.
Amy touched Taylor's cheek, and beautiful black eyes blinked blearily up at her.
The stars in her blood were as entrancing as ever, even if there was a lot less of her, now.
Should she just let Taylor die? She would come back whole, right?
There wasn't enough mass left to put her back together again, anyway.
All the King's horses…
She was definitely delirious.
"Attention, all combatants," Alexandria's voice echoed from Taylor's armband and the overhead announcement system. "The quarantine perimeter has been established five miles from the city limits. Withdraw immediately. All personnel still within the quarantine zone when lockdown occurs will be confined indefinitely. T-minus five minutes. Repeat, all combatants withdraw immediately…"
Amy tuned out the ongoing announcement. She wasn't leaving, anyway.
Taylor's augmented heart stubbornly continued to beat.
Glory Girl down, AB-2.
Ice water flooded Amy's veins.
Everyone else was withdrawing. No one would be there to save Victoria.
Too much.
She couldn't see her sister, even through the Messengers.
Taylor was dying.
She wanted to scream.
Despair threatened to drown her, but Amy was nothing if not stubborn. She'd been drowning for years, and she was still here.
No.
It couldn't end like this. It wouldn't.
The rules weren't fucking real.
Amy took hold of Taylor's fading biology and twisted.
Hunter deceased, EE-1.
All she needed intact was her brain. Everything else was irrelevant.
What remained of Taylor's body melted away under her touch. Her lungs were restructured and began to passively filter oxygen from the surrounding air. Her girlfriend's heart reformed into an autonomous circulatory network to keep oxygen flowing to the brain while Amy worked. Her remaining skin, bones, and other organs were repurposed to form a temporary housing
.
Her creation definitely wouldn't survive without her constant touch, but it didn't need to.
Hopefully, Taylor wouldn't mind being an eyeless, earless, limbless slug for a minute. She'd fix her when she was done.
Rachel raised her eyebrows. Amy ignored her.
She kept what was left of Taylor alive while she reached into the enormous reserves of living biomass within the Labyrinth.
The tendril that connected to her grew, and then formed a new bud like a tree sprouting in springtime. Except, of course, a whole lot more bloody and generally disgusting.
Amy sculpted the amorphous mass of flesh, compartmentalizing and diversifying it. The work went quickly. Her desired form was one she was intimately familiar with, after all.
She had already twisted and adjusted every part of Taylor's body. If there was any organism she could remake from scratch, it was her.
Taylor's blood was unique, so Amy couldn't replicate that. This version of Taylor would only be as augmented as the unpowered mercenaries, but it was better than nothing.
Amy lamented the loss of her stars. Hopefully Taylor would get them back.
After she was done saving Victoria.
The front of new-Taylor's empty skull opened like the world's grossest suitcase to admit the slug… temporary resuscitation chamber… that contained Taylor's brain.
Amy redistributed the excess mass from the containment unit back into the Heart before separating her creation from the Labyrinth. Then, she hooked the living body's new nerves up to Taylor's original brain and hit the metaphorical 'on' button.
Taylor's new eyes flew open and she sat up so quickly that she almost headbutted Amy in the nose.
"Holy fuck," Taylor gasped, chest heaving.
"Welcome back," Amy said with a surprisingly casual tone, given the overwhelming, unstable storm that still spiraled just under the surface of her skin.
"...quarantine perimeter is established five miles from the city limits. Withdraw immediately. All personnel…"
"What'd I miss," Taylor asked. "Also, where are my pants?"
"Probably still on your legs."
"Oh. Fuck. Right."
Amy threw her a set of black scrubs.
"Having two feet is weird," Taylor muttered, almost to herself.
If things had been different, Amy would have laughed.
"Victoria's hurt," Amy said in a broken whisper. "She's still in there."
Taylor looked over at her as she pulled the borrowed clothes on.
"Please," Amy was somehow dissociated and painfully present at the same time. The words didn't feel like her own. "Please, Taylor. She's… I love her, so, so much. It's not fair, but I can't… Please, save her. For me."
Die, for me.
Amy hated herself.
Taylor loves me, anyway.
It was suicide, and Amy didn't care.
Taylor could come back. Victoria couldn't.
"Okay," Taylor said.
Sometimes, one word was enough.
More than enough.
An unnatural wind howled in the rapidly emptying triage center.
Taylor reached into her ruined coat and picked up the music box. She grabbed a quick injector and the lantern from Rachel with calm efficiency.
The strange melody still played, somehow. Despite everything.
Then Hunter's feet left the ground and she rocketed into the Labyrinth, leaving an eerie silence behind her.
…
Taylor's mind wandered as she flew.
What am I?
This was not her body.
The dysphoria was weirdly muted but somehow pervasive at the same time.
At least it separated her from the pain, a bit.
It was not her own blood that pulsed in her veins.
And yet, she lived.
Her powers did not abandon her.
I am more than this prison of flesh.
A strange sort of serenity overtook her as she flew. The exhaustion of the hurricane seemed very far away, somehow.
Everything was far away, when her existence was this vast.
Her mind was expanded, and her insight was deep. She was lost, amongst the stars.
Take me to Victoria.
The Labyrinth warped under her will, and a door opened for her. Taylor flew out into the dim twilight of the broken Bay.
The brick buildings were crumbled and upturned. Strewn about like a toddler playing with blocks.
Taylor had lost her coat, and her hat. Her weapons were gone, somewhere amid the shattered toys.
The angel hung high overhead, just watching, but Taylor ignored her.
Victoria's unconscious body lay peacefully on the cracked ground. Her arms were stretched over her head in a mockery of the Hunter's Mark.
Of course.
Taylor landed next to her, and tried to administer a blood vial.
It hit Victoria's forcefield and bounced off.
Taylor almost laughed.
"We both know that all I need to do is double-tap."
Taylor punched Victoria in the face and slammed the blood vial into her chest.
Amy's sister woke up with a strangled scream.
"What-" Vicky spluttered.
"You're welcome," Taylor said. "I don't have time to explain. Take the lantern. Amy's waiting for you."
Then she tossed Victoria unceremoniously into the Labyrinth. The lantern would let her find Amy, but she wouldn't be able to see the doors without taking communion.
Taylor pulled herself slowly to her feet and rolled her new shoulders experimentally.
She let her head fall back and stared up at the angel.
They were alone, now. The rest of the capes had evacuated. The civilians were either in the shelters, twisted by the angel's song, or dead.
Taylor hadn't even thought about her father. Hopefully he was alive.
Even through the clouds, she could see the stars.
Taylor opened her eyes.
The angel's song filled her expanded mind, and she let it flood into her like a cool mountain stream.
Falling was so much easier than flying.
The Simurgh descended until she hung in the air just feet away.
Any second now would be great, Dinah.
Taylor took a small amount of satisfaction in the Hopekiller's sorry state. The majority of her wings were gone, along with her hands and one of her legs. Her body was riddled with holes and cuts.
Her eyes were still empty. They stared, in the gloom.
All of Taylor's eyes were wide open.
Just as the fallen angel poured into her, Taylor's insight leaked through the cracks.
If one gazes long enough into the abyss, the abyss will inevitably gaze back.
Taylor didn't know if she was the observer, or the abyss. Maybe both. It didn't matter, in the end.
For a single, infinite moment, Taylor and the Simurgh became one. An interconnected mind with two bodies, alien and human.
The music box stopped playing.
They smiled.
A new path suddenly opened before them, invisible until now. Hidden from their sight by their intentional ignorance and Dinah's precognition.
They screamed, but it was too late.
…
On the other side of the city, in the shell of the basement that once held Hunter's original workshop, Dinah Alcott stood before an altar.
The Hunter's Mark branded the scorched wall before her. Candles cast the ruined remains of the house in a warm, haunted glow.
A chalice, crafted from Coil's skull and filled with Taylor's incoagulable blood, sat on the plain wooden workbench.
A tear made its way slowly down her cheek. Dinah mourned the person she could have been, if things had been different. She missed a life she never had.
But, in the end, it was necessary.
The Path required it.
"Let the chalice reveal the tomb of the gods."
All across the ruined city, countless other Hunter's Marks lit with bloody, eldritch light. The runes that Taylor had inscribed over the last week, consecrated with both the First Hunter's own blood and that of her prey.
"Let blood be the Hunter's nourishment."
Dinah cut her wrist, and added her blood to the chalice.
"And let ye partake in communion."
She drank deeply, and the fires of the Bay burned ghostly white.
The doors opened.
From the shadows, the eyes just stared.
…
Their mind was both expanded and chained, locked in conflict with itself.
They strained against their binding, aching for freedom even while they held themself fast.
The world twisted and warped around them, dragging them both into their own harrowing nightmare. They tried to resist, but the chalice ritual pulled on their blood and their combined mind inexorably and they fell into the dark together.
To wander forever, alone.
For a long moment, they looked down on what they had wrought.
An infinite, broken version of Brockton Bay. The blood red moon hung low in the sky. The desolate buildings extended endlessly in every direction.
The bay itself was nothing like the lake in their dreams. It boiled and churned, wine-dark blood under the full moon.
A waking Nightmare, just for them.
Could they see, now? What they had done? Did they understand?
They couldn't help but smile, even as their mind was torn to shreds from within.
They coughed out a dark chuckle.
If they were killed here, within their own Nightmare, they would awaken, never to dream again.
But being killed wasn't the only way to die.
Taylor wrenched some sliver of herself free from the angel, and smiled in savage victory.
"I'd say 'see you around', but… I hope not," Taylor grinned up at her enemy.
Then, in her last moments as herself, Taylor focused the ruined remains of her rotted brain on the dangling, upside-down rune carved into her mind.
Her constant companion. Her security. Her last resort.
The Hunter's Mark burned bright on her forehead as she screamed.
Taylor let go, and died.
…
He was running out of time, but it was worth the risk.
Colin sprinted over the broken wasteland as quickly as his augmented body and power armor would allow.
"...within the quarantine zone when lockdown occurs will be confined indefinitely. T-minus three minutes. Repeat, all combatants…"
He vaulted a toppled building in a single empowered leap.
It has to be around here somewhere.
He'd fallen along with the others when the Medhall building collapsed and shattered, saved and extracted by Eidolon at the last moment.
Leaving Hunter to fight alone while the city was quarantined.
Then, like a falling star, it had dropped from the aerial dance.
A weapon of unfathomable power, capable of killing both Legend and Hunter.
The greatsword of holy moonlight, forged by an Endbringer and quenched in her blood.
He craved it, needed it, like a starving man catching the scent of charred meat on the wind.
There.
Colin rounded a corner and spied the spire embedded in the cracked roadway.
It no longer glowed. The opaque blade looked empty, dark and dead in the abandoned street.
He walked with slow, measured steps. His equipment scanned for traps or pitfalls.
The sword called to him.
Colin reached up and grasped its hilt in both armored gauntlets. With a sharp tug, he ripped the holy weapon free of the concrete with his enhanced strength.
Silver moonlight flowed down the length of the massive blade once again, and Armsmaster smiled.
…
A woman in an impeccable suit opened a door and stepped forward.
The basement was empty.
For once, she hadn't actually been sure if it would be or not. The paths were always convoluted this close to Endbringer encounters. If events were destined to go awry, it would be here.
She bent down and picked up a ribbon from the dusty floor. Specks of darker crimson splattered the red silk.
Good.
The Path would move forward.
"Door, please," the woman in the fedora said.
And then she left.
…
"Amy!" Victoria's voice called.
Amy's eyes snapped open and she spun towards the Labyrinth door.
Vicky floated in the doorway, looking extremely confused. Like she couldn't…
Oh. She hadn't taken communion.
Amy almost snorted out loud. Taylor had probably chucked Vicky into the Labyrinth just like she had Alabaster.
She walked over and opened the door.
"Hey," Amy said anticlimactically.
"Ames! You're… okay, I don't know what the fuck is going on, but Anne…"
Amy's heart broke a little bit more.
"She stayed, didn't she?" Amy asked, even though she knew the answer.
Rachel still leaned against the wall, staring impassively at them. Apparently, Taylor had told her to look after Amy, and, well…
Rachel took Taylor's orders very seriously. Especially now.
"I guess? What the hell was that?" Victoria glanced from Amy over to Rachel and back.
"The Labyrinth," Amy said. It wasn't like the secrets mattered anymore. "It's how the Hunt moves around the city."
"...two minutes. Repeat, all combatants withdraw immediately. The quarantine perimeter has been established five miles from…"
"We have to go before they lock everything down," Victoria said urgently, reaching out to grab her hand.
She was so fucking beautiful, inside and out.
"I'm not leaving."
"What?" Victoria recoiled.
"I can't leave Taylor. Not now," Amy said.
"Taylor?"
"Anne. Her real name is Taylor."
"I… what…" Victoria spluttered. "Whatever. Hunter's gone, Ames. It was just her and the Simurgh, last I saw. There's no way…"
"It doesn't matter. She'll always find her way back to me. She promised," Amy said.
"That doesn't…" Vicky seemed at a loss for words.
Amy understood the feeling.
"Amy, have you seen-" an urgent voice came from outside.
Carol, Crystal, and fucking Dean of all people crashed through the exterior door of the triage center.
Just what she fucking needed.
"Victoria!" Dean and Carol exclaimed at the same time.
"We need to get out of here, now," Crystal said. "They're about to close the barricades."
Victoria looked up, wrapped in Dean's arms.
Amy's chest twisted.
"Amy's not-" Vicky said.
"I'm staying," Amy cut her off resolutely.
"What? Why?" Crystal looked bewildered.
"Hunter's still here, and she's mine," Amy replied. How many times would she have to explain this?
"Hunter's dead," Carol said. "The armband…"
"I'd be a pretty shit girlfriend if I let something like a little bit of death drive me away," Amy said with a broken grin.
Rachel nodded in agreement.
Carol looked conflicted, but she didn't fucking matter. Not anymore.
Amy closed her eyes for a long moment and sighed.
She could be better, one choice at a time. For Taylor, and herself. Even if she wasn't a good person.
Amy's eyes were determined when they opened again. She marched over to Dean and Victoria before she could second guess herself.
"Dean, give me your hand," she demanded.
He did so without question.
Oh, so now he decides to follow my orders. Asshole.
Amy reached into his bones, and found the hidden shard of Taylor's blade that she had integrated into his skeleton.
It was difficult to find the edges, but she'd had a lot of practice with unusual patients recently. Compared to performing a full brain transplant on Taylor, this was child's play.
The bone shard emerged from his palm and clattered to the floor. It was strangely loud in the quiet triage center.
Dean snatched his hand away with a strangled gasp.
"What the fuck-" Vicky pulled back at looked between them with confused concern.
"Taylor and I Mastered him so he wouldn't give away our secrets. He figured out her identity after our date to the arcade," Amy summarized. There really wasn't a way to sugar-coat it.
"Jesus… shit…" Dean staggered, holding onto Victoria's shoulder for support.
"You can… what?" Victoria stared at her with horror.
"I don't have time to explain, but, for the record, I'm… sorry," Amy said. She didn't know if she was talking to Victoria or Dean.
"...T-minus one minute. Repeat, all combatants…"
Amy looked between the shocked members of her former family. And Dean.
Carol's face was eerily blank. Crystal was confused. Victoria was horrified. Amy didn't really care about Dean.
"I love you forever, Victoria. No matter what," Amy said. Truth, and a lie, wrapped up together until there was no way to tell which was which. "Goodbye."
Amy and Rachel stepped into the Labyrinth, and walked away.
The slow heartbeat in the deep was soothing. Their footsteps echoed along the endless halls. The Messengers followed their progress with childlike curiosity.
"What now?" Rachel asked.
"Taylor isn't gone. Even death won't hold her for long," Amy said. She pulled her black hood over her head as she walked, the Hunter's Mark proudly emblazoned on the crown.
If she said it enough times, maybe it would be true.
Amy straightened her spine.
I can do this.
Taylor was counting on her, and she wouldn't be a pathetic mess who fell apart without her everything. Not anymore.
"We have work to do."
…
Death was not the end. Not for her. It hadn't earned the right to keep her, yet.
The moon is bright, tonight.
Taylor left her prison of flesh behind. A soulless husk with a shattered mind, trapped in a broken world.
A silver isle, in the endless dark.
The tranquil presence sang to her, drawing her from the Nightmare like poison from a wound.
I'm coming home, no longer lost.
She was dead, and yet she lived. She was awake, and yet she dreamed.
I am the First, and the Last.
Taylor abandoned her Nightmare, and returned to her Hunter's Dream for the very first time.
And I do not fear the Old Blood.
…