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Rating:
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Fandoms:
Parahumans Series - Wildbow亜人 - 三浦追儺 & 桜井画門 | Ajin - Miura Tsuina & Sakurai Gamon (Anime & Manga)
Characters:
Taylor Hebert | Skitter | WeaverDanny HebertBrockton Bay WardsLisa Wilbourn | Tattletale
Additional Tags:
Canon-Typical ViolenceCanon-Typical Body Horrorshard-altered psychologytags to be added as we go
Language:
English
Collections:
Timballisto's Curated Works
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Published:2019-05-24Updated:2020-03-11Words:99,568Chapters:29/?Comments:226Kudos:730Bookmarks:266Hits:29,374
(Restricted) The Shadow Over Brockton Bay
Temeritous
Chapter 19: Wraith 3.3
Chapter Text
When I got back to Lisa's apartment, she was already there waiting for me.
"It's cold," she said as she handed me a paper cup of tea, "But you look like you need it. You know where the microwave is."
I stuck the cup in the microwave and set the timer, then turned around and leaned on the counter to look at Lisa.
She was back in front of her high-end laptop, tapping away. She had a little USB mouse attached to it for faster use.
"Any leads on the rest of them?" I asked. "Krieg was a good catch, but Stormtiger was already on his way out when I caught up to him yesterday."
"With Cricket dead and Hookwolf out of commission in custody, he had no reason to stay."
"I know, and my point is the rest of them might already be out of town. Especially those two - Night and Fog? They aren't seen much anymore, for all I know they're already back underground."
"Not with the Empire," Lisa corrected absently. "They followed Purity when she left."
My mouth dropped open. "Is there like a villain news bulletin or something? Where can I get a subscription?"
She finally looked away from her screen, glancing up at me with a smirk. "There isn't one, but I could probably start publishing. Might make a few people pretty angry. Do you want to go after them? I think Kaiser just leaned on Purity to make her lend them out for the night, given what I overheard."
I considered it as I retrieved my tea from the microwave. "Depends on if Purity really left the Empire or not. Armsmaster thought it was a bluff at first, then he thought it might be for real. I'd have trusted his judgement if Night and Fog hadn't showed up that night."
Lisa shrugged, unconcerned. "Purity isn't hard to find when she's out, you can ask her yourself sometime."
I hummed and took a sip to give myself a moment to think. "You never answered me, any more leads?"
"I've got the rest of their civilian IDs, but they aren't showing up in their usual places. Victor and Othala put in for 'vacations', Crusader went straight MIA. Gone to ground. Victor and Othala might be trying to make their way back to her Nazi clan to hide out with them. Crusader's a bit of a wildcard."
"So, you have nothing right now," I summarized, sighing. My Dust stirred until I forcefully stopped it, absorbing more into my cloak. Being tracked because I kept fucking with air currents was annoying.
Lisa glanced at me again. "Why don't you take a breather? I've got cable, watch some brain-rotting TV. No video games, though. I had to take the Playstation to the hideout to replace the one Bitch busted."
The mention of her team put me on edge. She hadn't brought up me joining even when I agreed we were becoming friends, but I knew that the offer was still on the table. I wasn't ready to take it.
Even aside from the villain angle, they would just be more people to use against me, and the PRT wouldn't care about keeping them safe.
"Gonna go take a nap," I said instead, throwing away my now-empty cup and heading for the bedroom. It was technically Lisa's, like everything else, but she was sleeping on the couch or back at her team's hideout. I paused in the door, turning around and leaning against the frame. "What does your team think you've been doing for the past few days?"
"Helping you. Grue's black so he's on board with anything that fucks up the Empire more, Bitch doesn't give a shit about anything, and Alec thinks it's hilarious how badly this bit them in the ass." She gave me a thoughtful look. "Actually, you should meet the rest of them - no strings attached, promise. You need to socialize more."
"I already met Alec, and I don't like socializing that much."
"You aren't good at it," she corrected, "But you do enjoy it on your own terms."
I scowled, realizing she was probably right. Hanging out with the Wards was fun when I forgot to feel pressured to act 'the right way'.
"All I'm saying is I've got a good group. We've all got damage, nobody's going to push you on anything. You liked Alec, right?"
"It seems kind of dumb to want to associate with me when the PRT is hunting me," I pointed out. I realized that this was an even better point than I'd originally meant and added, "In fact, if I was going to join the Undersiders, you guys would be like public enemies number one. They'd think I told you hero identities as insurance."
Tattletale smirked. "Yeah, like I couldn't figure them out on my own. All I'd have to do is show them that I'm the one who tracked down the Empire for you, and they'd realize I didn't need you to out them."
"That would just call more attention to you."
"Maybe I like attention," she boasted, grinning at me.
I snorted. "You've been doing a good job of laying low then."
"My boss prefers it that way. Sometimes I do, too… but sometimes having eyes on you protects you."
The idea of being watched, constantly, made me shudder. Every secret exposed. I changed the subject. "What boss? First time you've mentioned that."
"The Undersiders have a… patron, I suppose you'd call him. He funds us, sometimes gives us jobs, he's actually the one who put the team together."
"He have a name?"
"Not one I'm allowed to share."
"I can really feel that friendly trust right now." I said, unimpressed.
"I'm literally not allowed ."
I almost accepted it. I almost rolled my eyes, turned around, and laid down for the nap I'd said I wanted.
But I remembered daring Miss Militia to ask me for my bullies' names, and I remembered sitting across from my dad at dinner with my tongue tied in knots praying that this time, when I said 'fine', he wouldn't believe me. Praying for a magic solution.
I took a step forward, out of the doorway. "What do you mean not allowed?"
Lisa's gaze remained fixed on the laptop in front of her, but her mouth was moving, whispering. I formed a sensor next to her.
" Not here, he knows about this place now, he might have it bugged. Later. " Finally she looked up, meeting my eyes with a false smile. "I mean he's a very private benefactor, not even my team's met him. If I go around telling people about him, I'll lose his support."
My blood felt cold. Was this because of me? She was my friend for a day and already someone was threatening her to get to me?
No, this was a long-term benefactor, wasn't it? She'd said he was the Undersider's patron, so that meant he funded the team and they'd been together for months, at least. This wasn't because of me… but it was something I could help with. Some way to repay her for helping me track down the Empire.
"...Okay," I said at length. I didn't feel like taking a nap anymore. "Know what, I think I do want to meet your team. You should set that up."
Subtle , she mouthed at me, eyes narrowed. Out loud, "How about tonight? I'll text Grue, see if the rest of them are up for it."
"Yeah, do that," I nodded, and then sat down on the couch next to her. "Where's the TV remote?"
Lisa went ahead of me, 'to smooth the way,' she said. I wasn't sure if that was for my benefit, theirs, or hers. She told me to look for the Redmond Welding building, and I could easily confirm that it was the correct one; it was the one that my sensor found her in.
There were three other people there, a butch-looking girl with three dogs attendant on her every word, Alec, and a dark-skinned guy a bit older than me. I resisted the impulse to make more sensors and rotate them around the black guy appreciatively. He was attractive, but I had neither the time nor the inclination to follow through. They were all in civilian clothes, no masks or costumes in sight.
I moved some Dust across Lisa's bare forearms, alerting her that I was nearly there. I kept walking, my pace purposeful but not rushed. Some people had seen me on the way here through the Docks, and then quickly looked away when they realized I was wearing a domino mask.
It was as Lisa had told me; people didn't fuck with people in masks, just in case. It might be a kid with more bravado than sense, or it might be a cape, and only the stupid or desperate took the chance.
Nobody saw me step up and rap twice on the metal door.
"That's her," Lisa said inside.
"No shit? I thought it was the pizza I ordered, five more minutes and I get it for free. Bitch, go make sure my delivery guy is late." That was Alec, of course.
"Fuck off," Bitch snarled, glaring at the door.
Grue opened the door and looked me up and down. After a moment he said, "Welcome to the nut house," and stood aside to let me in.
I nodded at him, stepping inside. He led me up a spiral staircase from the desolated first floor to the furnished second one.
"Welcome to the hideout," Lisa greeted me, sweeping her arm around to indicate the big room. "What do you think? It's very 'my first apartment', isn't it? That's mostly Alec, he was never taught to clean up after himself."
I nodded, unsure what to say. Alec was sitting in front of their flatscreen, playing some video game; Bitch was in a cleared section of floor with her dogs, where she had been putting them through their paces with a handful of treats but was now staring at me with hostility. Grue moved over to the open kitchen, ducking to check on a pan in the oven.
"Grue makes food for us sometimes," Lisa continued, patting the stool next to her to indicate that I should sit there. There were four stools set under the overhanging countertop of the island in the kitchen, a little breakfast bar. "It's good practice."
"Enchiladas tonight," Grue said, standing back up. "Done in a few minutes, looks like." He looked at me, mouth twisted thoughtfully, and then held out one hand. "I'm Brian."
"Taylor," I said, although I was sure he knew already. I shook his hand.
"You already met Alec, and that's Rachel," Brian nodded at Bitch. "We're trusting you on Tattletale's say-so, but I trust her so if she says you're cool… then I guess you are."
I said, "I'm very good with secrets."
Brian smiled slightly, and moved away to get a stack of plates out of a cabinet.
"Dinner?" Alec called out, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"I'm not your mother."
"You'd make an ugly chick, anyway." Alec paused the game and stood up, stretching. "What's up, Lazarus? Long time no see. Heard you got another Nazi."
"Call me Taylor," I said. "And yeah, I did. Just three to go now."
"Speaking of," Lisa said, reaching out to put a finger on a piece of notebook paper across the island and slide it to me. "Here, it's my best guess about Victor and Othala. I got into their accounts, I think they're going to be at this Empire safehouse waiting for pickup from one of Othala's clan. They've been moving around trying to throw off the Protectorate and me, not that they know about the last bit."
"The Protectorate?" I said, surprised.
"C'mon, they outed a Ward ," Lisa said. "The Protectorate put Watchdog on the hunt like ten minutes after that site went up. Did you think they were keeping Stormtiger and Krieg in custody on your evidence alone? You got there first, but the Protectorate was right behind you. In fact, I got this info piggybacking off of theirs. They don't know where Victor and Othala are going to be, of course, they're not as good as me," she smirked. "But they found the last two safehouses."
I hadn't thought about it, but now that I did it wasn't really surprising. The unwritten rules only applied to the people who followed them, and the Empire had unequivocally broken them. It was open season on Empire capes, civilian identities or no. And they already had a lead on Victor because of the shooting on the Boardwalk.
"Hey, Lisa," I frowned. "Did you hear about the sniper on the Boardwalk a while ago? While I was on patrol there?"
"'Course I did. Did Clockblocker really second trigger there, or did you take him to Panacea quick? All the cameras saw was you rushing off with him, and the personnel files are way more protected than the things I usually try to get into."
I opened my mouth to answer, and then rethought my instinct to answer. "No comment, actually. Victor was the sniper, but we could never really figure out why. You have any ideas?"
"Maybe they were jealous of another immortal cape in the Bay," Alec volunteered. He pulled a can of soda out of the fridge and cracked it open, then sat down on Lisa's other side. "When's food?"
"You aren't going to offer our guest something to drink?" Lisa chided him. He flipped her off, and she rolled her eyes. Turning back to me she said, "You fought with the Empire the day before and captured Rune, right? Did any of them see you resurrect then?"
"One minute now," Brian said to Alec, pulling a can out of the fridge. "Taylor, you want anything? We got soda, PBR, milk, water."
"Water's fine. Yeah, Hookwolf killed me a couple times. Not on purpose at first, then he realized it wasn't sticking." Brian slid a bottle of water across the island to me.
Lisa nodded slowly. "Then I think what happened is that got reported to Kaiser, who passed it down the line to Gesellschaft. They already have Alabaster, so they know what a loyal immortal cape can do, and you're way more powerful than him anyway. If Gesellschaft is interested in kidnapping immortal capes, they might want proof before they act on any intel."
"So… they shot Clockblocker ?" I asked, incredulous. "We look nothing alike! Victor said it was a bad scope, which sounds like a lot of bullshit to me."
Her head tilted and she raised one finger. "Can't say for sure. It would have to be a night-vision scope given how dark it was, and some of those wash out colors. There would definitely be something attached to the scope to record what it sees, as proof. This is all, of course, assuming my theory is correct. I'm running on almost no information, except that I do know that Gesellschaft wanted you and they had to have some reason."
I twisted the cap off my water and drank. When I was done, I screwed it back on and pressed the cold plastic to my forehead. "This is all so fucking stupid. I've had my powers for a month, I had friends for like three weeks, and then some Nazis came along and fucked it all up. Are there time-travel powers?"
Lisa patted me on the back, sympathetic. "Hey, if there were, I bet you would have gotten some."
"Yeah, no bitching, lottery girl," Alec chimed in. "Fuck, Brian, that smells amazing. You're gonna make someone a good little housewife someday."
"I can and will throw yours into the garbage," Brian said. "And you can starve."
"I mean… thank you? You're a very nice, manly man."
"Better." Brian, hands gloved in red oven mitts, set the pan of enchiladas down on a matching potholder on the island.
There were five enchiladas and five people in this loft. I couldn't remember what the last thing I'd eaten was.
"Mmm, food," Alec said, inhaling deeply over the steaming red sauce.
Brian reached out and shoved his head back, heel of his palm to Alec's forehead, tilting it up to meet his eyes. "It's your turn to do the dishes. You eat, you have to clean."
Alec scowled at him, and seemed to be seriously contemplating starving to get out of work.
"I can do the dishes," I offered, surprising even myself. Coryn reached out and picked up one of the plates to demonstrate. "It goes pretty fast with all the hands I can make."
"You don't have to do that, it's his turn," Brian pointed at a chore chart stuck to the fridge with magnets. It looked like they rotated duties, except that Rachel's assigned task was 'Vacuuming' and nothing else.
"It's really easy for me, and he really doesn't look like he wants to do it."
We both looked at Alec, who had taken advantage of Brian's distraction to grab the spatula and scoop his portion onto a plate. He licked a stray drop of sauce off the rim of his plate, saw us looking, and gave me a thumbs-up. "C'mon, she wants to do it."
"You're still helping her," Brian grumbled, snatching the spatula back.
As he served out the rest on plates, I sat there and thought. I'd accepted Lisa's invitation because I wanted to meet these people, who were working for the person who was threatening her. They didn't act like people under duress, but then neither did she. Did they know? Were they a part of it? Were they spies for the patron, or were they also being controlled?
Alec, I figured, probably was neither. If what Lisa told me was correct, he didn't care enough about anything to be controlled - he was on the path that I'd stepped off of when I took Lisa's hand. He didn't seem to mind it, but I didn't want to be there.
Brian was the leader; if anyone was working directly for their patron, keeping an eye on Lisa, it was him. But I didn't sense deception, or any cunning malice. I hoped that wasn't me seeing his build and mistaking him for a meathead type of guy, but I didn't believe he was hiding that much of himself.
Rachel was just quiet. She came over to grab a plate and retreated to her room, dogs in a cluster at her heels the whole time, and didn't say a word to me.
"Don't mind her," Brian said, using the side of his fork to cut into his food. "She's just like that with everyone. She wasn't too psyched about you coming over here."
"Why not?" I asked, taking a bite. "This is really good, by the way."
"Thanks," he said, one side of his mouth turning up. "She's not really fond of heroes. Her identity is public and she was on the run for a while, they kept trying to capture her. And since you were a hero..." He trailed off, waving his fork. "Don't worry about it."
I didn't like the way he said I was a hero. "I'm not a villain," I said. Then I remembered I had killed a few people. "Well… I'm not trying to be one. I guess you could say I'm a vigilante now."
Brian raised one eyebrow; Alec leaned around Lisa to looked at me. Even Lisa looked dubious.
"Keeping weird company for a vig," Brian said dryly.
"She's undercover," Alec said simply. "Gonna blow our whole op wide open. Did anyone check this chick for a wire? Shit."
"A vigilante in the sense that I'm going to be taking down certain villains," I clarified. "Sorry, but you guys don't qualify."
"I think I should be offended," Alec announced.
"Given what Lisa's told us about her powers, you should be thankful," Brian told him.
"Oooh, I'm so scared," Alec rolled his eyes. "She's only killed like two people - " "Five." " - whatever. Even the Nazis are only getting handed over to the police."
"If you get caught we're not breaking your ass out of jail," Lisa said.
"Fuck you, yes you are. Three-man ops are way harder than four-man."
"For once, he has a point."
I stood up, pushing the stool back from my half-finished meal. "Sorry," I said, "I have to. Go. Get some air."
I fled, down the spiral stairs and out into the cold night. The door closed silently on oiled hinges, and I leaned against the rough brickwork.
"Does this mean I'm doing the dishes again?" Alec asked. Brian reached out and slapped him upside the head.
It was a strange feeling. I wouldn't call it sadness, and I definitely wasn't happy, but it was overwhelming all the same. It was so easy to sit there and let them bicker around me, they were friends with each other the way the Wards were, and they were fine with letting an interloper sit and watch. I could even join in, if I liked. There were no high stakes, I felt no pressure to act like someone normal and make them like me.
It was the same as what I had had but better, and it was too much. I should never have taken Lisa's offer to meet them.
The door opened again, emitting Lisa. She saw me immediately, and bit her lip.
"Hey," she murmured, coming closer. Not too close. "You okay?"
"What do they want?" I asked, my eyes closed. Not that it helped; I had dozens more eyes, none of them with lids.
"My team? ...They want the normal stuff. Food, shelter, money, security."
I opened my eyes to shoot her a withering look. She knew full well what I meant. "I mean, what do they want from me . Why are they being…" I waved a hand at the door, unable to finish. Friendly .
People weren't friendly for no reason. The Wards were forced together by the PRT and Protectorate, so they didn't really have a choice. The choices were get along or suffer. I couldn't help wondering what Lisa had promised the Undersiders in return for being nice to me. If she'd told them I was going to join their team eventually, they were all going to be disappointed.
"You didn't have a problem with me being friendly," Lisa pointed out.
"I thought you were… interested." And I had been willing to use it as long as I didn't have to do anything about it. "And I also thought you wanted to get me on your side."
"How is that different? If they're being friendly to get you to come over to the darkside, how's that different from what you thought I was doing?"
Because this time it might work.
"Oh. I see."
I didn't feel like I had to perform normalcy around Lisa or Alec. Lisa would know that it was a performance, and Alec didn't seem to care. Brian put up with both of them, which said he had a high tolerance for my kind of weirdness, and it helped that he wasn't hard to look at. Rachel seemed to be the Sophia of their group, but as long as she didn't attack me I didn't care.
What if I'd never become a Ward? What would my life be like if I'd met these people first?
Would my dad still be alive?
It doesn't matter. I am where I am. Deal with reality first.
"I didn't bring you here to win you over," Lisa said, gentle. "I just thought you needed more connections, more friends. We both know what you could be, what you were becoming, when you didn't have any."
"And they want to be my friends for that reason, too? People aren't that selfless, Lisa."
"So don't think of it as selfless. Look for a selfish reason for them to want to keep you connected."
I supposed that I would be pretty dangerous to just about everyone if I decided to stop caring about humans. Put it like that and really everyone should want to be my friend. I smiled.
"See?" Lisa grinned at me.
"I let you talk to me too much," I said. "I always wind up agreeing with you by the end of it."
"That's because I'm always right."
"And so humble, too." My chest had loosened, my Dust settled calmly around me. Perhaps that was why I always let her talk for too long; I usually came out of it feeling better than I went in.
My attention was drawn up and toward the edge of my range, where a sensor had picked up a sudden bright movement. I looked closer at the brightly glowing human form, skimming low over the rooftops.
"What is it?" Lisa asked.
"Want to talk some more?" I replied. "I found Purity."
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Archive of Our OwnArchive of Our OwnHi, TheBrimmedHat!PostLog Out
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tip: lex m/m (mature OR explicit)
Actions
Entire Work ← Previous Chapter Next Chapter → Chapter Index Edit Bookmark Mark for Later Comments Share Download
Work Header
Rating:
Mature
Archive Warning:
Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Category:
Gen
Fandoms:
Parahumans Series - Wildbow亜人 - 三浦追儺 & 桜井画門 | Ajin - Miura Tsuina & Sakurai Gamon (Anime & Manga)
Characters:
Taylor Hebert | Skitter | WeaverDanny HebertBrockton Bay WardsLisa Wilbourn | Tattletale
Additional Tags:
Canon-Typical ViolenceCanon-Typical Body Horrorshard-altered psychologytags to be added as we go
Language:
English
Collections:
Timballisto's Curated Works
Stats:
Published:2019-05-24Updated:2020-03-11Words:99,568Chapters:29/?Comments:226Kudos:730Bookmarks:266Hits:29,374
(Restricted) The Shadow Over Brockton Bay
Temeritous
Chapter 20: Wraith 3.4
Chapter Text
Tattletale ran back inside to get changed, while I shifted from one foot to the other impatiently. She only took about three minutes, but it was long enough for me to lose sight of Purity.
"Don't scream, and don't worry - I won't drop you." I said to her.
I didn't give her time to respond, forming a Dust suit around her like I was wearing. Hopefully it would protect her in case this turned bad. I flew us both after Purity, abandoning my usual methods of camouflaging my Dust in favor of haste. This wouldn't be a long talk, hopefully.
I formed a sensor to look at Tattletale's expression. Her mask somehow seemed to alter the shape of her face, so that it was almost like looking at a different person. It made her features sharper, her smile more cruel. I knew that because she was grinning, and it didn't look nice.
"Having fun?" I asked from a small Coryn next to her.
"Sometimes I wished I'd gotten a flying power," she replied, spreading her arms out to either side. "Why don't I feel any wind?"
"I've got Dust all over you." I could feel every movement she made, every breath as her chest expanded and pushed against the suit. "I'm hoping it will be a kind of protection from Purity, if we need it."
"Probably won't, but thanks anyway."
I caught sight of Purity again, hovering just below the profile of several of the buildings around her. She was blasting into one of the old warehouses that used to house shipments coming to and from the Docks, and various Asian men were beginning to spill out of the doors. She was hitting the ABB.
I sent Dust ahead of us, creating a whipping wind vortex around her for a moment to announce our presence. Purity's lasers cut off, halving the light in the area, and she twisted around searching for the source of the strange wind. Eventually she spotted us, although we were dark silhouettes against a nearly-dark sky.
I waved and put both hands up, trying to signal that I just wanted to talk. If Tattletale told me that she was still with the Empire, that she had been in on my father's kidnapping and death, I wouldn't hesitate to break that truce.
Then I remembered - "Wait, I thought you didn't want me and your villain name to be associated."
"Bit late now," Tattletale observed. "Anyway, if this goes how I think it will, it'll be fine. Purity's a solo agent, I'm almost sure of it."
She wasn't wrong. Purity was in auditory range, and didn't look like she wanted to come closer.
"Are you Lazarus?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.
"I am. I wanted to talk to you."
"About what the Empire did, I assume. Who's that with you?"
"Just a friend," Tattletale said, waving.
"Fine." Purity turned her full attention back to me. "What do you want to say? Or ask?"
"Did you know?" I asked. Point-blank and blunt.
"Kaiser asked me to get Night and Fog to help him out with a mission that night. He didn't say what the mission was, or what he was going to be using them for. The first thing I knew of what happened to you was when someone I work with texted me about the website."
"Kaiser had some dirt or hold over her, she hated having to do him a favor," Tattletale said. "She's telling the truth about not knowing the plan ahead of time, but someone's filled her in since then."
My jaw clenched. I forcefully uncurled my fingers from a fist. "For someone who claims to have left them, it sounds like you're still pretty friendly with the Empire."
"Krieg visited me… right after Kaiser died. He wanted me to help them, I said no. I'm not stupid." She was drifting ever so slightly backward in response to my anger. "He told me that Kaiser's plan was to capture you and retreat to Europe, since they couldn't stay here."
Because they'd unmasked me; they would be unmasked and hunted down in return. I had no sympathy or pity.
Purity was watching Tattletale. "...Krieg also told me that it wasn't them that leaked your civilian ID."
"Bullshit. Kaiser had my dad, I saw him." My voice cracked, surprising me. "I saw him."
"Yeah, he admitted they took your dad. He just said they didn't post the site."
It was stupid, and confusing, and it didn't matter right now. They might not have posted the information, but they sure as hell took advantage of it.
I didn't think she was lying, and Tattletale hadn't called her out on anything else. It was good enough. She could continue being a Nazi hero as long as I didn't have to look at her.
"Fine. I believe you, I won't come after you. See you around, Purity." I moved us both down, preparing to duck between some buildings and lose sight of her before we went back to the Undersiders' base.
"Wait!" She dropped as well, one hand stretched out. Dust swirled between us, unseen by everyone but me, creating a thick wall. It wasn't an attack, though. "I know you're going after the rest of the Empire. They might even deserve it. Where are you going to stop, though?"
I frowned. "What do you mean?" I was, clearly, stopping at her.
"I mean… if Kaiser had a son. Or a d-daughter. Are they safe?"
It was an easy enough decision. "I don't give a shit about what his kids did, as long as they aren't capes in the Empire, and they don't come after me first. I'm letting you go, aren't I?"
She shined too brightly to tell, but it sounded like she was smiling when she said, "That's all I needed to know. Thank you." and flew away.
That hadn't been a long conversation, but I was still itching to put Tattletale back with her friends and go somewhere to be alone, perhaps take that nap I'd put off earlier. And then I saw it through a sensor.
"What is it?" Tattletale asked, her eyes narrowing. "Lazarus? What's wrong?"
"It's… it's…." It was dark, and I wanted to say that I couldn't be sure, but I was sure. And it didn't make any sense. "I think it's…."
She was moving fast, of course she was - she was one of the fastest flyers. She was in earshot when I finally managed to stutter out, "Alexandria?"
And it was her: dark costume, helmet and half-face visor, cape flaring out behind her as she came to a stop floating upright before us.
"Lazarus?" Alexandria said. "Taylor Hebert?"
"Yeah, that's me," I said, trying to calm the nervous flutter in my chest. What was Alexandria doing in Brockton Bay?
I remembered that I hadn't disguised my flight over here, that the Protectorate probably tracked me most of the way. Instead of a PRT team or some heroes, I got Alexandria. They sent her?
"And this would be…" Alexandria was looking at Tattletale, who I moved slightly behind me. She was a villain, after all.
"Don't worry about her, she's just a friend."
I wasn't quite worried that Alexandria would be able to forcefully bring me in when no one else could. Perhaps if they sent Eidolon he'd whip out a power to counter me somehow, but Alexandria was just strong, invulnerable, and mobile. She wasn't bringing anything new or surprising to the fight.
So it made me wonder why she was here at all. Were they banking on her reputation, that I would respect her?
"You know, we could have had this meeting in a more comfortable setting," Alexandria said. Her tone was friendly. "If you'd accepted Miss Militia's invitation. I've been wanting to meet you, Lazarus."
This was what Miss Militia was trying to say to me before? "I'd rather not walk into any more potential traps. I'm here now. What do you want?" That came off a little bit blunter than I meant, so I added, "I mean, you're not just here for me… right?"
"That's exactly why I'm here, actually." Because her visor didn't cover her mouth, I saw Alexandria smile. "It was an awful thing that happened to you, Lazarus. If there was more time, if it all hadn't happened so fast, we might have met in the middle of things. I'm sorry that it had to happen like this."
The reminder stung. It felt like she was rubbing it in my face that if I hadn't split off and acted rashly my dad might still be alive. Maybe she was right, or maybe nothing could have saved him. I didn't have a precognitive power. I said nothing, turning my thoughts to how I could escape her if she didn't want to let me go.
"I know you probably feel like you don't have very many options right now," I'd say too many options, more like. Once my current goal was complete, I'd have to find something else. "So I'm here to prove to you how serious I am when I say that you still have this one. You can come back to the Protectorate."
My attention jerked back to her, shocked. She nodded.
"You can be a Ward again. No extra restrictions, no punishment. I think you've learned your lesson from all of this, haven't you?"
I shunted all emotion away before it could touch me, leaving me with one thought: How dare she.
"I'm offering you a place with the Los Angeles Wards, directly under my command. If LA isn't to your liking, I can get you into the New York or Houston teams. Unfortunately a lot of your bridges have been burnt here in the Bay."
I might have been tempted if I hadn't already decided against another Wards team. The friends I'd made were here, and they were the only draw I had back to yoking myself under someone else's control again.
I shook my head. "No. I joined the Wards for my dad, not because I really wanted to be a Ward. I still don't really want to be one."
"Hm." Alexandria put one hand on her hip, thoughtful. "Okay. Pick one of the Wards here, and we'll transfer him or her with you."
The Dust rippled around me in startled waves. "I… is this a joke?"
"I am completely serious. Reading your file, the report of what's happened in this city, I knew instantly that I wanted to meet you, Taylor. You have so much potential. I would hate to see it wasted on something so petty as villainy or vigilantism."
I became aware of movement from Tattletale, who up until now had been uncharacteristically silent. She had both hands behind her back, completely out of Alexandria's sightline, and through my Dust I sensed the position of her fingers. She had both pointers extended and crossed over each other, tapping them together in an urgent little X sign.
"I have to think about this," I said to Alexandria, feeling a bit dumbstruck. Thoughts were chasing each other around my head, man they really want me back circling around what game are they playing.
I'd once thought to myself that law and order bend down for power when you have enough of it. I'd never imagined that I would be the one with that much power.
"Of course. It's a lot to think about. Talk it over with your… friend. I'll be in town for a few days, looking into this blow-up. You could find me at the PHQ, or you can call this number." She smiled again as she flicked a dark gray square at me; I caught it with some Dust. A business card, on thick, almost plastic-like paper. "By the way… check your messages on PHO. Your friends have been trying to get in touch with you."
I let myself and Tattletale fall to the ground as she rose up and headed back for the Rig, my sensors tracking her until I lost sight against the dark sky. She was gone.
I turned to Tattletale. "What the fuck was that?"
Tattletale released a shaky breath and leaned up against the rough concrete wall of an empty office building. "Holy shit," she said, softly, and looked at me and repeated, "Holy shit."
"I know!" I said, looking down at the card. It was probably big enough to hide some Tinkertech tracking device, so I memorized the number on it and then shipped it off with some Dust, to the edge of my range.
"No! Not even that. I knew you were a big deal, anyone with your powers would be, but this is… this is something else. They want you, bad."
"I know!" I said again. There didn't seem to be anything else to say.
"You don't," she insisted. "Well… maybe you do a little. But it's bigger than that. That was her opening offer. That was her low-balling it."
I knew enough about negotiation to realize that that was significant. "You mean you think I could get more?" The Protectorate already sent Alexandria in person, already offered me the Wards and to transfer someone with me, which as far as I knew was unheard of.
Dennis? No, his father was here on a long-term wait list for Panacea, he wouldn't move. Carlos had a massive extended family, he wouldn't uproot his parents and couldn't uproot the whole tree. Missy… had an awful home life, from what I knew. She'd probably take the chance to change it up.
Was that worth it?
Why did they think I was worth that?
"What am I missing?" I asked Tattletale. "I know I'm powerful, but I don't think I'm that powerful. I'm just… resilient. I'm a Brute with a good Master power. I'm not Eidolon."
Tattletale tipped her head back to rest against the wall, staring up at the sky. Light-pollution from the city meant that we couldn't see any stars, although if she wanted to I supposed I could take her high enough.
At length she asked me, "Lazarus, how does your resurrection work? What, specifically, happens during it?"
I bit my lip and rocked back and forth on my feet for a moment. The PRT already knew, though, so it didn't really matter if I told her. "New Dust gets created around me and it forms into these ribbons that wrap up my body like a mummy. If I'm missing an arm or something, and it's not close enough to drag it over and reattach it, the ribbons wrap around nothing in the shape of my arm. They do this… squeeze thing, then melt together, then release and vanish. Sometimes there's a bit left over that I can keep with my usual Dust. When it's done, I come back to life."
"Would it be off-base to say that your Dust is what really brings you back to life?"
"No… I guess I've always known that it's the Dust doing it. I don't know how, though. I try not to control it when it's resurrecting me."
Tattletale raked her hands through her hair, nails tracking along her scalp. "Ugh! I wish I could see your damn Dust."
She reminded me of Captain's Hill, when I was sure that the humans with Kaiser could see my Dust minions. "Maybe you can." I'd never tried to make it visible before, had I? Armsmaster hadn't even asked if I could, focusing on other methods of detection and assuming that it was permanently invisible.
I gathered a handful of it, a little ball just big enough to hear through. I concentrated, separating my feeling of it down into each individual unit. Tiny enough to pass through solid objects, too small for even me to see until I put enough of them together. But they could be seen. Was that an aspect of me, or an aspect of my power? Did I really see my Dust, or did my sense of it just tell me that I did?
How had the humans seen my Dust? What was different? If it was my anger, wouldn't more people have seen flickers of my minion? Was it their terror? Was it the heavy weight of a recent death in the air?
"Tattletale, do you trust me?" I asked, not looking up from the ball in my hand.
"With what?"
"I think I can let you see my Dust, but you'll have to trust me - well, you don't have to, I guess. But it'll be easier if you do."
"Taylor, just tell me what you want to do."
Coryn stepped up next to me and pushed Tattletale gently against the wall. Dust crept through her open mouth, down her throat. "Do you trust me not to kill you?"
Tattletale stared at me, her eyes wide. I felt her heart beating like a rabbit's, her breath coming fast. Eventually she rasped, "Yes."
I closed her throat, and she choked.
One mississippi, two mississippi… She'd hyperventilated a bit right before, so I had to account for her blood being over-oxygenated. She was near enough to my build to use my own baseline. I listened to her heart and watched her eyelids flutter in panic, as she reached out and grabbed a handful of Coryn's feathers and shoved weakly against her.
Now.
I released her and she sucked in a rattling gasp of air, staring between Coryn and me. I nodded and said, "Now, watch this."
Another Coryn wrapped her wings around my neck and pulled up, snapping it. My body fell to the ground like a marionette with broken strings, where both of my minions rearranged me so I was lying on my back. Dust seeped in through cracks in the world.
It wasn't the first time I tried to look through to where my Dust was coming from, but it had been a while. I was changed, a completely different person from the girl who came back to life in the ocean, blood staining the water around her. I looked with new eyes.
At first I thought there was nothing , which was the same as I'd thought before. But I kept looking, staring, until it all shifted into focus like a Magic Eye picture. I wasn't seeing the trees because of the forest. It wasn't nothing; it was nothing but Dust , and I couldn't control it until it passed over.
The cracks closed, and I came gasping back to life.
Tattletale was standing stock-still, eyes closed. I hoped that she'd seen at least a little of it before her near-death experience wore off.
After a moment of awkward silence, I turned my head and scratched at the nape of my neck. "Um… sorry about almost killing you."
"It's fine," she said faintly. "That's not - my power gives me migraines when I use it too much, or when I use for something really difficult. Watching that was like driving an ice pick into my eye sockets."
"Yeah, eye stuff really hurts," I sympathized. She cracked one eye open to glare at me with it. "What? I was trying to see if I could fix my eyesight with a reset. They came back just as near-sighted as always."
"Fucking…" she trailed off. "Alright. Okay. I have a theory, and it's a doozy. You ready?"
My eyebrows went up. "It's my power. Yeah, I'm ready."
"I think the resurrection process is inherent to your Dust, not to the rest of your power," she began.
"Yeah, I could have told you that."
"Hold on. I mean that's what Dust is for. It brings you back. The way you use it, isn't what it's meant for."
I remained quiet this time. What she said didn't feel right, but I couldn't quantify why.
"Okay, so think about a different power. Think about a Master power that gives a cape telekinetic control over - I don't know - sand. So they could wrap sand around something and use that to lift it up, and it looks like regular telekinesis, but really the sand is the medium."
I nodded. "Following you so far. Sand is Dust."
"But the cape doesn't make sand, and mimicking telekinesis isn't what sand is really for. The sand was always there, doing its thing, until a cape with the right power came along to control it. This is where my metaphor falls apart… sand doesn't really do anything."
"I'm sure it's an important part of several ecosystems," I said.
"Yeah. Well, like the sand, your Dust was just doing its thing before you triggered with the ability to control it. You're not supposed to. It's supposed to just be chilling on a metaphorical beach, but you came along with the right power."
"This is pretty interesting," I said. "But I don't see why it makes Alexandria want me back in the Wards so badly. So what if Dust comes from someplace else, not made by me?"
"It matters because - and I was getting to this before you derailed me - of what Dust does in its inert, uncontrolled state. Unlike sand, it doesn't just lay around on a beach. It brings you back to life."
I knew I was only halfway to understanding her meaning. Dust brings me back to life; I knew and understood that in a place deeper than my bones, in my soul if you believe in such a thing. Knowing that it did that even in the absence of a power was new, but I didn't see the connection Tattletale obviously did.
She continued, "So if we accept that Dust exists outside of your parahuman power, and it brings you back to life, then it might be able to do the same thing for other people. Like there are certain people in the world who the Dust attaches to for some reason, and if they die, they get resurrected by Dust."
There could be more like me?
"But there's more. That's what makes you unique, but it just makes you a Brute until you factor in the Master aspect. You control Dust. You control the - the resurrection particle." No. "Taylor, you might be able to bring other people back to life."
Three gunshots echoed in my head. Blood spilled down a plain white undershirt.
I could have saved him?
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