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Rating:
Mature
Archive Warning:
Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Fandoms:
Parahumans Series - WildbowFate/stay night & Related FandomsFate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (Anime 2014)
Characters:
Cú Chulainn | LancerTaylor Hebert | Skitter | Weaver
Additional Tags:
Self-InsertCYOA
Language:
English
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Published:2023-11-19Updated:2026-08-08Words:70,172Chapters:22/?Comments:390Kudos:1,408Bookmarks:566Hits:50,259
Hebert's Hound
TheCandyManCant
Chapter 19: 19
Chapter Text
Taylor leapt between rooftops, coasting between close roofs on Cletiné, launching herself to further ones with traced spears. She was still over a mile away from where Glory Girl said the action was, but she was making really good time. Magecraft was useful for more than just fighting.
Taylor had been going through the exercises Lancer left for her when Vicky called her. The entire Empire 88 was out in force to stop the convoys heading away from the city. From what Vicky told her, there were multiple convoys. Some were dummies with no actual capes in them. Some actually held Empire capes. From what Vicky said, the Protectorate was transporting Fenja, Menja and Rune tonight with plans to transport Othala and Victor tomorrow night. There were six convoys in all. Three held captured nazis.
Three were distractions.
Taylor wasn't sure why the Protectorate thought it was a good idea to transport so many of them all out at the same time, but what's done is done. All she could do now was get there to help and make sure none of the captured capes got free. If things worked out well, she might even be able to arrest a few more nazis.
Lancer hadn't seemed happy with her decision to do this on her own, but she would be fine. She'd have the Protectorate's support and Glory Girl as backup. Maybe more if the rest of New Wave turned up. Vicky said she was going to try to rouse her family to fight.
More to the point, Taylor didn't want to ruin Cu's night. He'd spent every waking moment since she summoned him focused on her. He deserved to take a night off and relax. At first, she wasn't even going to tell him about the attack. Vicky insisted she should tell her team and, looking at it from the other side, Taylor would have been pissed if Lancer hadn't told her about something like this, so she told him what was going on. She wasn't going to use a command seal to call him back though. He was having a good time in New York, and Taylor really didn't want to use any of her command seals. Cu told her his last master ordered him to kill himself with them. If Taylor had any say, she would never use them. Cu deserved better than to be ordered around like a dog.
What kind of person would she be if she treated Cu, her only friend, like a mutt beholden to her every word and call? Emma. She'd be like Emma, ordering people around to get her way; damn what anyone else wanted. Taylor refused to become that bitch.
Taylor landed atop a tall building, stopping for a moment to catch her breath. In the distance, orange fire glowed bright against the darkening sky. Golden rays shaped like strands of DNA fired down from the clouds. Bronze lightning crackled up from the ground towards the source of the DNA light. The pop of gunfire could be heard over the low rumble of the last cars on the street as the city began to go to sleep. Taylor was close to the first convoy. She took a deep breath and leapt off the edge of the building.
More traced spears carried her closer and closer to the fighting. As she neared, the picture became clearer. Two dark vans were overturned on the side of an on-ramp leading to the freeway. Two other vehicles had run into barriers and were stuck. PRT personnel fired containment foam canisters from behind the cover of the ruined vans.
Surrounding them on all sides were gangbangers blindly firing handguns around cover. Men with shaved heads in tank tops. Men with full beards and swastikas tattooed on their cheeks and necks. Women screaming, 'Die pigs!'. Above the wrecked convoy, two figures shared a deadly dance in the sky. A beacon of pure golden light fired DNA-shaped blasts at a man in bronze, Grecian-themed armor. Purity, one of the Empire's capes, was doing her level best to blast Dauntless out of the air. Dauntless was too quick, dodging her blasts and firing back bolts of lightning shot from the tip of his lance.
Taylor landed behind the line of gang bangers and immediately got to work. Cletiné leapt from her hand as she summoned a traced spear in either hand. Taylor smacked her traced spears into the back of two gangsters' heads while Cletiné flew around her, sweeping the legs out from two others. Taylor traced more spears as the first two shattered, launching them over the convoy towards the ranks of gangsters on the other side. She spun around as the nearest nazi realized he was under attack, bending around his outstretched pistol to kick him in the ribs. Her reinforced attack sent the man flying. Taylor and her dancing spear managed to take down four more nazis before Dauntless called down to her.
"Cletiné!" Dauntless shouted, flying up and over another of Purity's beams. "Head north! Miss Militia's outnumbered! I'll handle things here! I already have backup coming. Go!" He held his shield up, absorbing another of Purity's blasts as he spun through the air, hurling more lightning at the glowing woman flying above him.
Taylor looked around. With her hitting the nazis from the flank, the ambush was beginning to crumble. The PRT troopers moved forward in tight formations, lobbing canisters of containment foam and other projectiles Taylor didn't recognize at the remaining gangsters. Dauntless wasn't beating Purity, but he wasn't losing ground either. For now, they seemed evenly matched. If he had backup coming, he should be able to hold out.
Coming to a decision, Taylor hopped over a wall and dashed to the north, swiping the legs out from beneath another nazi as she passed. She held her hand out to her side, recalling Cletiné. The golden spear struck a nazi in the head as it flew through the air to her waiting hand.
Taylor bounded between trees on the side of the highway, heading towards another road out of town where the next convoy would presumably be. Taylor knew the road. She'd rode on it to get to summer camp. That was years ago. A lifetime ago.
Rhythmic gunfire sounded from ahead. Taylor broke into a full sprint towards the automatic gunfire. Whoever was shooting was using a rifle or something bigger. The gangsters back by Dauntless only had pistols.
Taylor paused as she reached the treeline, crouching down to assess the situation. It wasn't good.
Beyond the treeline, the road stretched onto a bridge over a river. The last convoy had four vehicles. This one had five. All but one of the vans were either on their side or flipped upside down on the bridge. A small team of PRT troopers desperately huddled behind the last vehicle, shouting orders at one another. Unpowered gangsters were positioned behind concrete barriers along the side of the bridge, snapping off shots from rifles and shotguns. There were several PRT troopers down behind the van. Two troopers were face down on the road. They weren't moving.
Miss Militia was moving left away from the remaining van, ducking behind a concrete barrier as bullets skipped off the ground around her. The grenade launcher she carried shook the air with a loud thumping sound as she sent containment foam grenades into the line of gangsters.
A clash of metal drew Taylor's attention down the road. Taylor sucked in a surprised breath.
A woman in a red coat with a metal cage masking her face spun in a circle, slashing out with a pair of sharpened kamas. She clapped her hands in front of her, unleashing a shockwave that blasted through the air in front of her.
A woman in dark grey armor teleported away from the attack, appearing behind her opponent to attack with a flaming sword.
"I know I'm amazing, but please hold your applause until the end of our show." Mouse Protector quipped, teleporting away as Cricket, one of the Empire's capes with sound-based powers, struck towards her again with her kamas.
What was Mouse Protector doing here? Shouldn't she be in New York with Lancer?
Taylol's curiosity died a swift death as she noticed another figure. Drifting out from behind one of the overturned vans on currents of air, a burly man with no shirt wearing black pants and chains slashed his arm down. A current of condensed air rushed away from him, tearing into the concrete barrier Miss Militia hid behind.
Stormtiger. Another Empire cape with aerokinesis.
More shapes appeared around Stormtiger. Blue-hued, ghostly spectres rushed around Stormtiger, charging towards where Mouse Protector was fighting Cricket.
Crusader must be nearby. He could summon ghostly knights to fight his enemies. Miss Militia and the PRT troops were terribly outnumbered. It was a good thing Mouse Protector was here and that Taylor arrived when she did.
Taylor waited for an opportunity, then dashed out from the treeline when Stormtiger turned away to claw into one of the overturned vans. His wind blades dug into the armored van, peeling the material away.
A gangster shouted a warning but it came too late.
Taylor leapt over the asphalt, reaching with Cletiné. Moments before she struck Stormtiger, a ghostly apparition interposed itself between Taylor and the airborne nazi. The ghost scattered into nothing as it was impaled on Taylor's spear, but it gave Stormtiger enough time to notice the danger he was in.
Stormtiger spun around, slashing his hand through the air to send waves of condensed air towards Taylor. Taylor spun away from the wind blades, tracing spears as she moved and firing them back towards Stormtiger.
Stormtiger raised his arms up over his face, summoning a current of air to suck Taylor's spears away from him. The vacuum pulled the traced spears around him to either side, flying off into the distance harmlessly. He sent more air blades at Taylor as he flew up higher into the air.
Taylor dodged the air blades and waved her hand through the air. Runes flashed in front of her. Starving flames roared forth from her runes towards Stormtiger.
Stormtiger let out a shout of surprise, barely able to summon more wind to protect himself. When the flame faded, his shoulders were smoking.
Taylor prepared to cast more flames towards Stormtiger. Movement to her left drew her attention and had her leaping back to avoid a spectral spear stabbing towards her. When Taylor landed, she found herself surrounded by spectral knights wielding swords and spears.
"You fucked up coming here, bitch!" Stormtiger growled down at her, slashing his arms towards her. Claws of wind descended.
Taylor danced to the side to avoid the wind blades, stabbing out with Cletiné to sunder a ghost. Two more ghosts closed in, striking towards her.
Taylor tossed Cletiné into the air to cover her back and rapidly summoned spears, deflecting the ghost knights' attacks and stabbing into openings created by their poor form. The knights were lumbering oafs swinging their swords like clubs and using their spears like battering rams. It was trivial for Taylor to trace spears and dispatch them, but for each knight she slew, another emerged to take its place. Unless she found Crusader and took him down, the knights would just keep coming.
Stormtiger turned back around, resuming his assault on the downed vehicle, stripping away more and more of its armor. Taylor couldn't stop him while the knights were keeping her occupied, and if Taylor's hunch was right, she needed to stop him. He was likely trying to free one of the captured Empire capes from the van.
Taylor dragged her foot across the ground in a semicircle in front of her, leaving a string of glowing runes etched into the ground. The ghosts in front of her were skewered and blasted away as roots rapidly grew out of the earth in front of Taylor.
Taylor clambered up the roots, running over the ghosts' heads and leaping over the van the ghosts were emerging from.
Hiding behind the van, poking around the corner to look towards Miss Militia, was a man in grey armor holding a long spear. Crusader. The spear he carried looked like it was made from crappy plywood shavings. It was an affront to combat.
Taylor landed in front of the man, causing him to jolt in shock. Three ghosts split off of his body as he tried to back away.
Taylor rapidly traced spears, stabbing into the ghosts to destroy them. Crusader turned to run, coming face to face with a golden streak as Cletiné zipped through the air from the other side of the van. Cletiné's haft smacked into Crusader's helmet, knocking him to the ground.
Crusader groaned as Taylor caught her spear. She rushed up to Crusader's downed form and slammed her fist into the side of his head. Crusader's metal helmet cracked as he slumped to the ground, unconscious. The ghosts charging Taylor from behind faded into nothing.
Taylor left Crusader laying there as she scrambled back around the van towards Stormtiger.
Miss Militia and the PRT troops were still trading fire with the gangsters. Mouse Protector and Cricket were engaged in a deadly ballet of steel. Stormtiger floated down to the ground as a hand rose through a gap in the transport van's armor. The hand started to grow.
The armored van peeled open as Fenja rapidly grew to her full power-enhanced size. Her foot was still stuck in the van like a misshapen metal shoe. She was trying to shake it off. She brought her arms up to cover her chest and face as traced spears rained into her, shattering against her toughened skin, but still knocking her backwards, off balance.
"You again?" Stormtiger growled, hurling more blades of wind at her.
Taylor rolled across the ground, leaving a string of runes in her wake. Thick roots launched out of the ground towards Stormtiger.
Stormtiger blasted himself higher into the air to avoid the roots. The roots altered course, wrapping tight around Fenja. The roots wound around her legs, pinning them awkwardly together around the van still stuck to her foot, stretching further up to wind around her waist and grasp towards her arms. Fenja tore at the roots, but more kept growing up to attack her.
Stormtiger descended towards Taylor, wind blades slashing. Taylor rolled to the side, sending traced spears back towards him. A moment later, a wave of fire followed.
A traced spear shattered against Stormtiger's shoulder, knocking his flight off course moments before the fire caught him. Stormtiger screamed, falling to the ground, leaving a dark trail of smoke through the air.
That was two down. Taylor needed to neutralize Fenja then move to support Miss Militia.
"Cletiné! Behind you!" Mouse Protector cried from across the bridge.
Taylor spun around to face whatever danger Mouse Protector was warning her about. When she turned around, she saw nothing but blackness.
A monstrous roar like a lion screaming through an angry garbage disposal sounded from directly in front of her. Taylor let out a cry of pain as something heavy and strong struck her in the side, sending her flying. She skipped across the ground like a stone across a pond, painfully colliding with her back into a concrete barrier. The barrier cracked under the force of the impact.
Taylor groaned, slow to pick herself up. That hit knocked her straight across the bridge to the barrier at the edge overlooking the river. Without her reinforcement, that hit might very well have killed her.
Taylor looked up to see a dark mist rapidly approaching her. Heavy stomps rapidly approached with the mist. Taylor's eyes widened.
Night and Fog. Two Empire capes who hadn't been seen in over a month. Fog's power let him turn into a dark mist that you couldn't see through and could harm those within it. Night's power turned her into a giant monster if no one was looking at her. When they worked together, Fog obscured Night's body so she was always in her giant monster form.
Taylor scrambled to her feet, hastily scribing runes into the air in front of her. Fire roared towards the fog. Taylor leapt into the air, tracing a spear to pull her even higher into the sky, hoping to leap over the monster charging her. She almost succeeded.
Taylor managed to get out of Night's path, but her foot clipped on some kind of misshapen spine she couldn't see through the fire and the fog. Taylor tumbled uncontrolled through the air, landing hard on the ground before she rolled back to her feet.
Another roar tore through the air from behind her. Taylor tried to whip around to face it, but something struck her first.
Taylor screamed as blades tore through her reinforcement into her flesh. Something solid and heavy bowled into her, carrying her comparatively meager mass with it as it leapt over the edge of the bridge.
"Cletiné!" Mouse Protector's panicked shout sounded far away as Taylor fell.
Taylor hit the ground hard, rolling and tumbling down the grassy slope towards the river at the bottom. It was a good thing she was so close to the end of the bridge. If she'd been closer to the middle where Miss Militia was, she would have fallen much further.
Taylor's momentum violently halted against the base of a sturdy tree. She groaned, moaning in pain as she slowly picked herself back up.
Clicking, roiling metal gathered behind her. She heard rapid footsteps approaching.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, Taylor forced herself to her feet and spun to face her attacker. A living, twisting, whirring mass of metal in the vague shape of a wolf bounded towards her down the hill.
Hookwolf. He had the highest body count among the Empire's capes. He was their enforcer, their literal and figurative attack dog. His powers turned him into a writhing mass of metal hooks and blades that tore through anything it touched and rapidly regenerated damage. His hooks must have been what tore into Taylor's skin before she was sent tumbling off the bridge.
Taylor roared in pained fury, slashing her hands through the air. Runes flared to life in front of her. The trees bent to her will. Roots stabbed up from the earth in Hookwolf's path, winding around him to trap him as trees bowed atop him to trap him.
A sound like a tortured buzzsaw sounded as Hookwolf literally carved his way through the roots and branches, clawing up and out of the mass of grasping roots and leaping into a pounce towards Taylor.
Taylor traced a spear at her side as she leapt to the side, using the spear to pull her further from Hookwolf's path.
The ground cratered behind her as the full mass of Hookwolf's metal body pounded into it. Soil and ruptured roots rained down on Taylor as she summoned more roots to hamper and harry Hookwolf.
Sometime between when she was on the bridge and when she was knocked off, she'd lost Cletiné. She activated the rune in her arm to recall her spear, but she wasn't sure where it was or how long it would take to reach her.
Hookwolf was relentless, rolling around the barriers she erected or outright plowing through them. He was rapidly closing the distance between them.
Taylor threw her hands forward, runes spinning away from her. Fire flooded over Hookwolf's metal form. She could have sworn she heard a howl of pain as Hookwolf stumbled a step. Taylor conjured more runes, turning up the heat on the metal monstrosity.
Dark fog gathered in the corner of Taylor's eye.
Taylor dove to the side, rolling further down the hill, barely avoiding a massive limb whooshing through the air in her wake. Taylor caught the barest glint of gold and smiled.
The monstrous form of Night, hidden within the darkness of Fog's power, screeched in agony as Cletiné's tip embedded itself deep inside the creature's flank. With a flick of Taylor's wrist, the spear tore free and its comforting weight came to rest in Taylor's waiting hands once more.
She was facing down two massive monsters who didn't seem to care much about minor attacks. Time for Taylor to field test something she'd been working on.
Cletiné's golden glow grew brighter as Taylor channeled her power into the spear. With a shout, she thrust the spear forward. A golden beam of energy fired out the tip. Hookwolf was charging her head on. He was too caught off guard to dodge. Taylor's mana burst blew him backwards into a tree. His metal body slumped on itself before slowly reforming, the blades and hooks once more spinning into a terrifying whine.
That should have hurt him more than it did. From what Lancer described, mana bursts were powerful, able to break buildings or mountains if sufficiently powered. Taylor's blast had knocked Hookwolf back, but he was already recovering. When she made it out of this, she needed to work on her mana bursts. She needed to make sure things she hit with a mana burst stayed down.
"Eighty percent," a barely-there, raspy voice spoke from the dark fog. "That's how many new independent heroes are killed within their first six months acting as a cape. Eighty. Percent."
Hookwolf roared, leaping towards Taylor once more as the dark fog and the stomping monster within slowly approached.
Taylor channeled more mana into Cletiné, firing another mana burst. Hookwolf was more prepared this time, trying to dodge. The blast clipped his shoulder, sending the creature pinwheeling to the side, the blades and hooks of his body slicing into the dirt.
The steady, heavy footfalls of the monster within the fog grew closer. "Some new capes are arrogant. Some believe they will be protected by the so-called 'rules' we capes must abide by." the taunting voice continued. "They do not know those rules only matter when you have friends who will avenge you when you are gone. Where are your friends, girl? Who will campaign against your murderer in your name?"
Hookwolf snarled like a furious leopard, bounding at erratic angles to try to close the distance. Taylor spun runes in front of her, raising a wall of roots between her and the beast, cutting him off as she fled down the hill towards the river. She could hear the rushing water now. It was growing loud in her ears.
"You do not need to die, girl," the voice said, dark fog gathering barely twelve feet away. "Come with us. We will show you the limits of what is possible. A bright future awaits you at our side. Continue this foolish resistance, and your story will end as one more number added to a growing statistic, a footnote forgotten by history. Would you rather rise to shine like a star with us, or die here in the dirt?"
"Go to hell!" Taylor growled. Cletiné glowed bright in her hands. She screamed in exertion as her most powerful mana burst yet lanced into the darkness.
A horrifying, inhuman whine split the air as the monster in the fog was struck by Taylor's attack.
"So be it," the voice growled. The fog flowed closer. It was moving fast.
In a flash, Mouse Protector appeared between Taylor and the fog. She slashed her flaming sword into the fog. An inhuman wail rose from the fog as it receded from where Mouse Protector's flame-touched blade struck it.
"Fly back up to the bridge!" Mouse Protector ordered. "I'll cover you then follow!"
Taylor didn't need to be told twice. She turned and dashed up a twisted root, leaping off the root into the air and tracing a spear to pull her higher.
A solid, heavy mass slammed into Taylor's side. She screamed as hooks and blades bit into her flesh, tearing at her skin and sending droplets of her blood spraying in erratic directions.
Hookwolf's full weight landed on top of Taylor as they crashed into the ground. Taylor screamed as Hookwolf's hooks dug into her flesh, latching onto her and refusing to let go.
A large rune appeared in front of Taylor's face. She opened her mouth and screamed, roaring fire into the mass of metal atop her. Hookwolf's blades only sunk deeper.
Taylor activated the rune on her wrist. Cletiné snapped into the air, skewering Hookwolf from the side in an effort to knock him off. His hooks tore through Taylor's skin as they were ripped out. More spun around to find purchase, keeping the beast latched onto her.
"Cletiné!" Mouse Protector called desperately. A loud roar drowned her out as Night and Fog knocked Mouse Protector back.
"IwaNTed yOur DaDDy," a grinding voice said. It took a moment for Taylor to cut through the panic in her mind to realize it was Hookwolf speaking to her. "I'lL seTTle FOr YoU."
Hookwolf's face leaned down towards hers. She was trapped beneath him, pinned by his weight, immobilized by his hooks and blades. Taylor redoubled her struggling. She blasted more fire into Hookwolf's face. The monster just laughed, a roiling, clanking sound.
Hookwolf's jaws opened, hooked, sharpened teeth glistened as they closed in on Taylor's throat.
Mouse Protector appeared above Taylor at Hookwolf's side. She roared in fury, slashing down into Hookwolf's neck with her sword, batting his jaw away from Taylor's neck. She teleported to Hookwolf's other side, charging into him with her shield. Her attempts to knock him away only succeeded in tearing at Taylor's flesh where the hooks had sunk into her. Mouse Protector reared back to strike again when dark mist pooled around her. Mouse Protector cried out in pain as Night smacked her away. Taylor heard a loud splash as Mouse Protector landed in the river. She reappeared behind Hookwolf, having teleported back, slashing away at the metal monster. Hookwolf completely ignored her strikes, snapping down towards Taylor once more.
Mouse Protector's shield slid in front of Hookwolf's reaching jaws moments before they would have snapped closed around Taylor's throat. The rim of the shield crushed into Taylor's clavicle painfully as Hookwolf struck against it, but Taylor could not have been more happy to have a barrier between herself and the murderous nazi. A painful, high-pitched whine split the air as Hookwolf's blades spun against Mouse Protector's sturdy metal shield.
Mouse Protector cried out in pain. Taylor couldn't see what happened to her. Had Night hit her again? Did Hookwolf do something to her?
Mouse Protector's shield was smacked away, leaving Taylor staring up into the shifting, twisting blades and hooks that melded together to form Hookwolf's wolven face.
Taylor roared in fury, pain and terror, putting everything she had into a fiery rune she blasted into the villain. Hookwolf groaned in pain. His jaws descended.
Taylor's breathing was out of control. She couldn't move. She couldn't think about anything other than the blades holding her. The jaws moving closer and closer. Closing down. Touching her skin. Digging into her throat. She was going to–
"Ath nGabla!"
A powerful shout split the air, carrying a shockwave that could be felt in your bones.
Taylor gasped as, all at once, Hookwolf's blades and hooks were wrenched from her body. His weight suddenly left her. Taylor scrambled away, crawling as far as she could to make distance between herself and the monster. Mouse Protector moved to stab Hookwolf as he pulled away, but her sword halted in midair. She couldn't strike the nazi.
Hookwolf was stunned. He tried to move towards Taylor. His blades reached for her momentarily only to snap backwards. He moved to smack Mouse Protector with a metal limb only to freeze mid-strike. It was like he couldn't attack them. The monstrous wolven face was a picture of shock.
"Gae Bolg!"
Hookwolf threw his head back and howled in pain. A crimson spearpoint exploded out of his chest. Dark, sickened lines snaked away from the wound left by the spear, corrupting. The shining metal of Hookwolf's form rusted and crumbled away. Hooks reverted to flesh only to wither and rot.
Hookwolf's dead body was kicked unceremoniously into the dirt, his last moments spent in agony.
Standing over the corpse of the Empire's most feared enforcer was a blue-haired man in a blue suit with silver accents and matching pauldrons. A crimson spear was held in his hand. The color was so true one couldn't tell where the spear ended and where Hookwolf's blood began. A dangerous energy crackled around the spear as the man stared dispassionately at the frozen dark mist hovering ten feet away from the water-logged form of Mouse Protector. Mouse Protector was cradling her right arm. A thick trail of blood dripped from the joints of her armor.
Cu Chulainn looked at the two remaining villains where they waited, frozen in shock. "You will both die tonight." His tone carried the certainty of the grave.
Fog stirred for a moment. Coming to a decision, the dark gathering of mist swirled and retreated up the hill. Lumbering footsteps travelled with it as Night fled with her partner.
Cu watched them go, spear at the ready in case they turned back. When they disappeared from sight, Cu finally left Gae Bolg to rest on the ground, kneeling down over the trembling form of Taylor.
"Cletiné, are you–"
Taylor threw her arms around Cu's shoulders, breaths rasping as she struggled to hold in her sobs. She felt weak. Every part of her was in pain from where Hookwolf's blades cut into her. She was cold. She'd never felt so cold. "I'm sorry I didn't call you. I thought… But then… And I couldn't think… And he…"
"Shh," Cu said, placing a comforting hand on the back of her head as he gently rocked her back and forth. "You're okay. Nothing will hurt you while I'm here."
"She needs medical attention," Mouse Protector said softly, standing off to the side as she observed. Taylor was covered in cuts and scrapes. On their own, the individual wounds weren't life-threatening. Together, Taylor was at risk of bleeding out if she wasn't treated quickly.
"I know," Cu said. Slowly, he reached down and pulled Taylor up into a bridal carry. Her head was still buried in his shoulder. She refused to let go of him. "We won't be able to aid you the rest of the night. Cletiné is in no condition to fight and she is my first and only priority."
"Don't worry about that. Just get her safe. If you bring her to the hospital, I can tell MM to have Panacea–"
"Thank you, but that is unnecessary. I will treat her. Thank you for fighting with her. I doubt I would have made it in time if you hadn't been here." Cu leapt into the air, a golden spear flying behind him into the air to follow its wounded master. He carried Taylor past the fighting gangsters and PRT troopers. Past where Assault and Battery dueled Alabaster and Krieg. Past where Armsmaster faced Kaiser. Past where Glory Girl and Lady Photon had joined Dauntless in the sky to scare off Purity. The Protectorate could finish this fight on their own. Cu Chulainn had other priorities.
When he returned to the warehouse, Cu laid Taylor down in a rune-made bed, enchanted to speed recovery. He'd originally made it so Taylor could rest between training sessions. It would help her recover from her injuries just as well.
Cu traced many runes over Taylor's body. Runes of healing. Runes of rejuvenation. Runes to banish sickness and disease. He quietly worked while Taylor stared up at the ceiling, eyes far away, fists clenched.
"Cu?"
"Yes, master?"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. You're alive. That's all that matters."
"Thank you."
"You never need to thank me for aiding you, master."
"Cu?"
"Yes?"
"I need to be stronger. Strong enough that this never happens again."
"We'll start once you're healed. Now rest, master. Let me do my work."
Taylor felt Cu's fingers gently brush over her forehead. Her eyelids dropped. Her body felt heavy.
Taylor Hebert drifted off to sleep.
X
Geoff Schmidt paced back and forth through a sparsely decorated room. He and Dorothy had retreated to a one-bedroom, one-bathroom safehouse the Empire maintained in the city after everything went to hell. It should have been a simple operation. They still had the numbers to challenge the Protectorate and they caught them in an ambush. Once Fenja was free, they would move on to the other vehicles freeing their people until the Protectorate was forced into a retreat.
That isn't what happened.
"What did he do to us?" Dorothy asked. She sat on the bed in the corner of Geoff's eyeline as he paced.
"I don't know," Geoff said.
"It was like I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything but watch when he killed Brad. I didn't know Lancer was a master. How did we miss this?"
"I don't know."
"And what did he do to Brad? That… I felt that, Geoff. It was like I was staring at death. Certain death. Powers shouldn't have auras like that. And what was that he said before? It was like–"
"I don't know, Dorothy," Geoff said, stopping to stare right at her. He sighed. "We need to get in touch with Kayden. I didn't see much while we were running. From what I saw, it looked like we were losing ground on all fronts. We need to figure out if anyone else was captured. From there, we can figure out what to do going forward."
"What about Lancer?"
"He'll be too focused on trying to save Cletiné. I don't think that girl was long for this world." Hookwolf's blades had done a number on the young hero. It was impressive she was still conscious and fighting when Lancer arrived to save her. She would have been a great asset had she accepted Geoff's offer. Sadly, the girl was likely dead. Such a waste of her potential.
"That's what I'm worried about, Geoff. If she dies, he might come after us." Dorothy said.
"He has no way to know where we are. If he does come looking for revenge, he'll be alone. The two of us will be more than enough to– Dorothy!" Geoff shouted, his body shifting into dark smoke as he leapt towards his wife.
Dorothy was watching Geoff. She hadn't seen what he'd seen. She was unaware of the haunting spectre that had appeared behind her, blood-red spear already plunging down.
Dorothy gasped, back arching as the spearpoint drove deep into her back.
Geoff saw red. His ethereal voice screamed in rage as he fully transformed into dark fog. He enveloped his wife's attacker in his fog, covering him completely so he would suffer under the feared power of Fog.
The spectre kicked Dorothy away. She landed heavily on the ground. She didn't move.
The spectre moved almost lazily. He didn't so much as flinch as Fog's power crushed down on him from all sides. The spectre reached down to his waist. A sheathed sword appeared moments before his hand closed down around nothing. He gripped the swords hilt in a reverse grip and drew it swiftly, slashing up. A golden arc was left in the sword's wake, burning away all it touched.
Geoff howled in pain, desperately pulling himself back together as his wispy body split apart where it was touched by the sword. That shouldn't be possible. He was practically invulnerable in his smoke form. Very few powers had ever been able to touch him.
Before Fog's smoke could condense down to allow him to reform, the spectre raised its hand. Shining symbols flew forth into Fog's body, pressing against his smokey body from within. Geoff began to panic. The symbols were expanding outward, forcing his body apart. Everywhere they touched they burned. The more expanded he was, the weaker he would be. If this kept up, he'd be separated until the symbols burned him away.
Geoff frantically pushed back against the symbols, but the spectre sent more. The spectre watched expressionless as the symbols spread Fog's body all through the room.
Geoff was being drawn and quartered, his own power used as the medium to pull him apart. He couldn't resist. He could only howl in agony as the cursed symbols spread him apart into nothing.
A dark spectre leapt through the open window out into the night. The bleeding corpse of a blonde-haired woman and a room covered in dark, ectoplasmic gunk were left in his wake.
No one marked the spectre's passing. The only witnesses to his arrival were dead.
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