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A Ruinous Gift by Noodlehammer

Warhammer & Worm Xover Rated: M, English, Crime, Words: 298k+, Favs: 3k+, Follows: 4k+, Published: Sep 20, 2023 Updated: Jan 28

2,397Chapter 11: A Villainous Hang Out

Kudos to Alvor for helping with the chapter

XXXXX

Still March 21st, 2011. Around noon.

Taylor knew that admiring your own reflection was a textbook sign of narcissism. It was part of the original Greek myth from where the word originated, even. But after several years of believing that she was ugly, she felt like she deserved to feel good about herself.

Devouring the souls of Nishimura Ito and Gao Ning had helped. Their perspective told her that her previous looks even pre-trigger hadn't been ugly, merely plain, and that she would grow into them properly in the next few years. Except for her hair. That had been gorgeous even then, which was gratifying.

Now, wearing a pair of tight blue jeans and a short black T-shirt that only came down to her belly button, Taylor reveled in the feeling of being sexy. She had legs for days, thighs that could crush a watermelon, an amazing ass, abs you could grate cheese on, and leanly muscled arms. Even her face was subtly sharper and more attractive thanks to all the exercise she'd been doing, although she still thought her mouth was too wide. A pin to keep her hair from hanging over her face and pair of clear contacts so that her glasses didn't warp her features topped things off.

If her boobs were bigger, she could have been a fitness model. The continuing A-cup size of her chest was a little annoying, but nothing she could do anything about. At least, not without getting her hands on a biotinker.

Bonesaw was the most well-known one. The little murder gremlin had been six years old when the Slaughterhouse Nine had added her to their roster. Surely she hadn't joined them willingly? If that was the case, then maybe it would be easy to soulbind her the way she'd done to Emma.

Not that she was going to share the idea with anyone. Wanting to keep Bonesaw alive for a superpowered boobjob would not be well received by anyone.

But getting back to the matter at hand, going outside with such tight pants and her belly exposed would have been mortifying three months ago. Even if she'd had this kind of body, Taylor wasn't sure if she would have had the confidence for it.

There was still some embarrassment there, but instead of making her want to change her clothes it just made her angry. Why the hell should she feel embarrassed for being proud of her body?! Stubborn spite convinced her to wear whatever she wanted.

The front door slamming closed drew her attention away from the mirror. She had felt Sherrel coming before then, of course, but the amount of eagerness she was radiating was a bit much.

"Tay, you still here?!" The Tinker yelled, stomping up the stairs.

Taylor went to the door, opened it and raised an eyebrow at the shopping bags in the blonde's hands. "What's got you so worked up?"

"Damn, looking hot, girl!" Sherrel complimented, making her smile. "Looks like I'm just in time."

"In time for what?" The Tinker had basically rushed out the door as soon as she'd told her that she was going to meet the Undersiders out of masks.

"Makeup!" Sherrel announced, pulling an expensive-looking makeup kit out of the bag.

Taylor deliberately blinked at the other woman. "I'm not going on a date, Sherrel."

Aside from a few giggle-filled experiments with Emma, she'd never worn makeup in her life.

"That's no excuse." Sherrel retorted. "You're already looking sexy as fuck, so why not go all the way? Maybe you'll even get that beefcake Grue to change his mind once he sees what a bad bitch he'd be working for."

That was more tempting than it had any right to be. The thought of being so beautiful that it swayed people's opinions without even having to do anything more was appealing. Some of her old fantasies of being a sexy femme fatale kind of cape bubbled back to the surface. She'd dismissed the idea on account of being too gangly, awkward, and socially inept to pull it off… but it was a rare girl whose ego wasn't stroked by the idea of being an untouchable focus of lust and envy that left men and women alike desperate for a scrap of attention.

And a lot had changed since then.

"I don't want them getting the wrong idea." She said, because at the end of the day her deal with the Undersiders was still one of business, even if they were teens like her.

Sherrel suddenly turned on the puppy dog eyes. The expression was a horrendously poor fit for her. "Come on, Taylor, let me have this! Do you have any idea how long it's been since I got to put makeup on a bestie?"

"Alright, fine, but keep it toned down. I don't want to go to this meeting looking like a ten dollar whore." She decided to acquiesce.

"Heh, that's what me and the bestie ended up looking like. Turned out to be a pretty wild party." Sherrel chuckled awkwardly at the look this got her. "At least I know what not to do?"

"… You get one try." Taylor stipulated. Worst comes to worst, she could just wash the crap off and go without makeup as she'd originally intended.

"Okay, no pressure." Sherrel breathed out, definitely pressured. "Let's start with some eyeshadow…"

As the Tinker fiddled with the makeup kit, Taylor's thoughts went to Emma. The redhead would have known exactly which colors and how much to use.

Following up on that thought, she took a quick trip through the Empyrean along the soulbond, easily settling into Emma's mind. Her benevolently enslaved old friend was currently… doing sit ups?

A quick search through her mind revealed why the exercise-hating Emma was doing such a thing – she wanted to be sexy for Taylor. Fair enough.

Taylor sent her a rush of affection and quirked a smile at the little gasp and delighted giggle it evoked. Emma was pretty cute these days, now that she was being taken care of properly.

That done, she refocused on the point of this psychic excursion – seeking out Emma's mastery of makeup.

"That one." Taylor said with confidence, pointing at a very pale gold color of eyeshadow. "It's close enough to my skin color to be subtle while still making brown eyes pop."

Sherrel paused and looked at her oddly. "I thought you didn't know shit about makeup?"

"I don't." Taylor admitted. "I'm sitting in Emma's head and using her knowledge."

"You can do that?" Sherrel blinked, then a very intrigued expression came onto her face. "Can you do that for Tinker powers? Or Thinker powers"

"I… don't know." She frowned. "I don't think so, but we should still test it out later anyway."

"You're goddamn right we should." Sherrel agreed vehemently. "If you can bootleg mental powers with your psychic bullshit, then you are suddenly going to become a very hot commodity."

Very true.

Good thing she could multitask, or this would have completely distracted her from her meeting with the Undersiders.

XXXXX

The Boardwalk was Brockton Bay's biggest tourist trap. A place that was considered off-limits for parahuman violence, and not just because of its proximity to to PRT and Protectorate Headquarters. It was almost as if the villains could sense that this last unspoiled bit of the city needed to remain a safe zone to prevent Brockton Bay from spiraling completely out of control.

Or maybe Taylor was just imagining things. After diving into Brockton Bay's seedy underbelly, the bustling scene of careless tourism was almost enough to give her mood whiplash. If not for the presence of the Enforcers, the dubiously legal private security jointly paid for by the stall owners to, it would hardly feel like part of the city at all.

She was acutely aware of the looks she was getting, not all of them for wearing only a T-shirt at the still somewhat chilly end of March, the attention pinging on her psychic awareness in the Empyrean like flashlight beams piercing through thick fog. It was good practice for training her passive sensing ability.

Taylor had only been walking northwards along the Boardwalk for about ten minutes before she spotted three familiar souls among the mass of humanity. Bitch had apparently decided not to come, which wasn't that surprising. The dog cape had not felt very sociable.

Mere seconds later, Tattletale spotted her in turn and nudged the two male Undersiders towards her.

It was always interesting to watch the other Thinker when her power was in play. To go back to the previous metaphor, if most people were just a regular flashlight, then Tattletale was a spotlight, blazing brightly and illuminating the shadowed world.

As they came within speaking distance, it was Regent that spoke up first.

"Well, hello there~." He smarmed, looking her up and down with blatant interest and offering his hand. "My name is Alec, but with those guns you can call me whatever you like."

His attitude felt fake because the interest he was showing in his manner didn't reflect in his soul. There was something there, but his emotions were as muted as ever, held back by the scars of the broken heart that represented him in the Empyrean.

Curious, she scraped a psychic tongue over the scar tissue of his soul. There was no flash of memory, but she did taste the stale remnants of deep terror and painful isolation. It had the same traumatic aftertaste as the memory of Lung's trigger event and Emma's ambush in the alley.

Appearance wise, he couldn't be called handsome. With his soft features and silky black hair, 'pretty' was a much better descriptor. Under the white dress shirt was a lean, unmuscled body, about two inches shorter than her. A few mental iterations already began planning a workout regime for him.

And he seemed intent on continuing his attempts to embarrass her, something which she was not going to let pass.

Taylor squeezed his hand just a little too firmly and gave it a single pump. "Taylor Hebert, but you can call me Ma'am."

"How about Mistress?" He leered, pulling himself closer with her hand. "I'd offer to call you Mommy, but you don't have the boobs for it."

She was definitely not backing down after that one.

She stepped into his personal space and spoke softly. "Are you sure that's the kind of relationship you want us to have? I'll work you to the bone and squeeze every last drop of use out of you."

Alec's dull, lifeless eyes gleamed with a flicker of genuine interest. "Joke's on you, I'm into that shit."

Last chance to back out and laugh it off as a joke. But doing it now would be a clear loss and Taylor's very being rebelled at the thought.

"We'll see how long that lasts." She told him menacingly and finally let go of his hand.

"Looks like you've met your match, Alec." Tattletale grinned the smuggest grin that Taylor had ever seen and elbowed her teammate out of the way, offering her own hand. "Lisa Wilbourn, nice to meet you properly."

Despite only wearing a domino mask on her face in costume, Lisa looked significantly different now. The mask had been covering a cute spread of freckles across her nose and somewhat broke up the contours of her face. With her blonde hair kept in a French braid instead of being left loose, she'd be almost unrecognizable if not for having the same vulpine grins and bottle green eyes.

"Likewise." Taylor shook the hand and took the opportunity to ogle the other girl a bit. She was quite pretty.

"Why thank you." Lisa preened as she took her hand back, obviously picking up on the thought.

I'm going to need to find a way to block that power of hers.

Background mental iterations spun out to find a way.

The last present member of the Undersiders stepped forward to offer his hand. "Brian Laborn."

Brian was pretty much the polar opposite of Alec. Dark-skinned, very tall, well-built, masculine, deep-voiced. He was even better looking in person than seen through his mother's eyes and Taylor felt heat pool between her legs at his firm grip. A multitude of mental iterations went for a swim in the gutter.

And this after admonishing Sherrel for being horny all the time, but it was really hard to remember why she'd been so resistant. After the thing with Emma and the psychic tentacle masturbation and devouring the souls of two middle-aged men with lots of sexual experience… well it just didn't feel like a big deal anymore.

"Taylor." She said, shaking his hand and giving no hint about her arousal.

Not good enough to fool Lisa, however, judging by the blonde's smirk.

"I appreciate you doing this." Brian said, letting go of her hand. "Most people wouldn't give up the upper hand."

He was being careful with his wording even though they were standing at the waterfront and away from the crowds of the Boardwalk. Admirably cautious of him.

"I'm intending to build a reputation as dependable and trustworthy." Taylor replied. "Brockton Bay deserves a better class of people than what its had to deal with for so long."

A smile tugged at Brian's mouth. "I can definitely respect that."

"Enough heavy stuff!" Lisa interjected. "We're at the Boardwalk, we have money, and we have two strapping young men to carry our bags. Let's go shopping!"

It was an obvious icebreaker, something to get the ball rolling on a friendly note. Taylor might not have recognized the social skill at play if Sherrel hadn't been inadvertently helping her scrape the rust off her own, and if she hadn't absorbed over seventy years of cumulative life experience. She was also drawing on Emma's rather formidable social skills.

"I suppose I do need a few things." Taylor allowed. Shopping wasn't her favorite activity, but she was still running the Black Hand in the background and using Oni Lee's body to keep working on the computer.

And interacting with the Undersiders would bring them deeper into her influence. All of the literature she'd been reading agreed that you needed to cultivate relationships with your underlings if you wanted them to be loyal. Even Nishimura Ito and Gao Ning had to do it, for all that they largely relied on the threat of Lung.

"I didn't sign up to be a pack mule." Alec complained.

One of the thousands of mental iterations she'd dedicated to their verbal battle flagged the whining as an opening.

"When I said that I'd work you to the bone and squeeze every last drop of use out of you, you said you were, and I quote, 'into that shit'." She pointed out.

"Ah, I thought you said you'd work my bone. My bad." Alec smirked.

He was still trying to embarrass her with lewd comments. It was embarrassing, but she wasn't going to let him get the better of her.

"Only good boys get their bones worked." Taylor retorted, acknowledging that there was only one place left for this to escalate to if they both kept doubling down. The thought of it didn't scare her at all. It wasn't like Alec was repulsive, just… unimpressive.

"And good boys carry your bags?" Alec riposted, looking more animated than normal.

"Good boys do as they're told."

There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other. From the side, Brian had the look of a man watching a train wreck happen in slow motion, while Lisa looked like she wanted a bag of popcorn.

"You know, maybe I should be calling you Mommy after all." Alec finally said, smirking.

"If you start calling me that then you clearly don't need to be paid."

"What? Why not?"

"Because children aren't trusted to handle money."

"You definitely shouldn't trust him to handle money." Lisa spoke up, giving Alec a glare. "He regularly spends his to make camgirls dress like clowns or act like chickens or whatever other dumb shit he thinks is funny."

"Can't a man have hobbies?" Alec complained, showing zero shame.

"I'll be glad when you're not my responsibility anymore." Brian shook his head and turned to Taylor. "I'm gonna have to pass on the shopping and bag carrying. I promised my sister I'd meet up with her today. How about we get something to eat together, you give us the details, then we split up?"

"Wait, you're leaving me to carry all the bags by myself?"

"That's a great idea." Taylor agreed, feeling her stomach rumble with anticipation. "There's a Mexican place near here I wanted to try out anyway."

She used to hate spicy food, now it was her favorite.

"Hello?" Alec asked plaintively.

"I could go for Mexican." Brian nodded, also ignoring Alec.

"It'll be my treat." Taylor offered, happy to know that she could easily afford to do so.

"Buttering us up, hmmm?" Lisa teased, hooking her arm into Taylor's and practically daring her to read too much into it. "I'm usually more of an Italian kind of girl, but free food is free food."

"Don't I get a say in this?"

Taylor gave Alec a beckoning gesture with her free hand, not even looking at him. "I need something strong to get the taste of Asian out of my mouth."

Lisa eyeballed her warily. "That was either a sex joke or a cannibal joke, and I'm not sure which would be worse."

That was hitting way too close to the mark. She hadn't had time to do more than theorize about ways of blocking Tattletale, but she did have a few ideas she could try. The primary one came from what she'd done earlier with the makeup.

She drew deeper on Emma's personality and memories, superimposing them over herself. At the same time, she carefully loosened some of the iron control she exerted over her body.

"Neither." She said flippantly, recognizing her own tone from when Emma was talking to her toadies in Winslow.

Lisa almost tripped over her own feet. "What the…? What did you do?!"

Taylor allowed herself a smug expression at the bewildered squawk, surprised and pleased at how well her first idea had worked.

Leaning over the shorter girl, she deliberately drew more heavily on the Empyrean and pulled it into the physical world, making her eyes spark blue with power. "I might have left a thing or two out when you asked me what my power was."

Lisa hissed in pain, hand flying up to hold her head.

"Lisa, what's going on?" Brian asked tensely.

"She's a fucking Stranger, too. She somehow just completely changed her body language and tone. It's like she a different person, having a different conversation." Lisa explained, her voice strained. "And what's with the glowing eyes?! Powers don't do that!"

"Are you sure you're okay, Lisa?" Taylor let the glow fade and asked in the fake syrupy tones Emma so had so often used to taunt her. "Not seeing things?"

"Arrgh, stop that!" Lisa tried to shake her, but lacked the muscle to do it properly. "My power is telling me that you're a bitchy high school diva when I know you aren't."

Taylor tried to swap to someone else, this time picking Sherrel. It was harder, because Sherrel wasn't hers in the way that Emma was, but she still managed to pull on her mannerisms. Her hip cocked out and she grinned saucily. "Ya sure about that?"

"And now it's telling me that you're horny trailer trash in your twenties. What the fuck?!" Lisa looked incredibly frustrated.

Rude. Sherrel wasn't that bad. Anymore. Mostly.

"Wow, I've never seen anyone get Lisa this hot under the collar before." Alec commented, vastly amused. "Nice going."

Taylor dropped the false mannerisms. "That kind of thing happens when a Thinker meets a better Thinker."

"You did not just say that." Lisa's eyes narrowed dangerously, although there was some humor there. "Are you challenging me to a Thinker rumble?"

"You think you'd be a challenge to me?" Taylor taunted, knowing that the blonde would never be able to let it go.

"Ooooh." Alec provided sound effects like he was the audience on a talk show.

"Oh, it's on." Lisa stepped forward chest-first like they were wrestlers or boxers. "You and me, people-watching from a coffee shop later."

"You're on." Taylor smiled. Social-Fu was kind of fun when you knew what you were doing.

"Winner gets to wear the strap-on?" Alec suggested.

"The only one here likely to get the strap-on is you." Lisa snorted. "And yes, I know you're into that shit!"

Alec pouted at being preempted.

"I'm guessing he swings both ways?" Taylor asked.

"Alec will fuck anything." Brian sighed the sigh of the emotionally exhausted.

"Are you still holding a grudge over that 'I'm stuck in the washing machine' prank?"

"No, of course not." Brian's voice was thick with sarcasm. "I love being woken up at three in the morning by your pasty naked ass because you thought it'd be funny to reenact a bad porno cliché."

"I was also hoping you'd take advantage of me. That's what the lube was there for." Alec complained.

"Believe it or not, he used to be even worse." Lisa interjected to Taylor. "We had to housebreak him until he stopped doing shit like that. If you're seriously going to keep him around for any reason at all, then don't be shy about cracking the whip. It's the only way to make him listen."

Taylor just gave her an evil smile in response, which prompted Lisa to smirk at whatever her power told her.

XXXXX

"And for the daring senorita, a big bowl of hellfire chili." The waiter said with a wink as he placed said bowl in front of Taylor. "Legend has it that if you eat the whole thing without drinking anything, you will awaken the next day with the power to command fire."

"The power to shit fire, maybe." Alec snickered, only stopping when Brian slapped his shoulder.

"Thank you." Taylor said to the waiter, the delicious smell of the chili already making her salivate.

"Please enjoy your meal and call me over if you need anything." The waiter ignored Alec's rudeness with admirable professionalism, gave them and little bow and smile, and left to serve another table.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to eat that?" Lisa asked, staring at the chili as if it was going to attack her. "I wouldn't be surprised if it set off a Geiger counter."

Taylor was sure that most people would indeed have trouble with it, but she was more concerned over how horny it was going to make her. Even the amount wasn't really a problem, as she'd gotten used to eating big portions to make up for all the calories she burned with her exercising.

"I guess you're not one for spicy food?" She asked and dug her spoon into the chili.

Her entire mouth felt like it was on fire as soon as the mass of meat and vegetables touched her tongue. Her face flushed with heat and sweat beaded on her forehead as she chewed, having to suppress a moan at not only the wealth of sensation but also the delicious taste.

It burned all the way down when she swallowed and, as expected, sent heat racing right between her legs.

"I prefer not to torture myself." Lisa replied drily.

"Weak." Brian affected a tone of fake contempt, starting on his own serving of hot wings.

"Some of us have delicate constitutions." Alec simpered, uncaring about the splash damage he was taking from his own joke as long as he got Lisa with it. Like her, his meal was very mild on the spices.

The friendly banter was nice, even if she was dedicating only a tiny portion of her attention to it. Through Oni Lee, she was using Nishimura Ito's and Gao Ning's knowledge to drain the ABB of funds. She was also sending out text messages, both to further infuriate Lung and to lay the groundwork for her impending takeover.

Taylor went for another spoonful, making sure to rub the hellishly spicy stuff on every taste bud. Her body didn't move an inch, but she really wanted to wiggle in her seat as her panties grew damp from arousal.

"You really like that chili, huh?" Lisa asked with a knowing smirk.

"I think this might be the best thing I've ever tasted." She said honestly.

Lisa had obviously already noticed her arousal. That was a little embarrassing, but not unexpected. If she had managed to spot it during their first meeting, when it was dark, she was in costume, and far less turned on, then it must be blindingly obvious right now and Taylor couldn't be bothered to pull down someone else's mannerisms to hide it.

"Have you ever tried French-Canadian sausage?" Alec insinuated lewdly.

"Alec, people are eating here." Brian rumbled warningly.

Taylor had shoveled another spoonful of chili into her mouth and so had a few seconds to think about her reply. She could say something about finger foods being too small and unsatisfying. Or maybe that she'd heard that the filling was thin and weak. Maybe something about the poor service of the French-Canadians ruining her appetite?

But Brian was right, that was inappropriate talk during a meal.

"I'm going to need to teach him some manners." She commented to nobody in particular.

"Good luck." Lisa snorted, clearly believing it to be a lost cause.

The meal progressed mostly in silence from then on, each of them focusing on simply enjoying their food.

Well, the others focused on that. Taylor was focusing on many other things at the same time. But enjoying the meal was definitely up there. Her arousal had only gotten more intense and the desire to act on it warred with the desire to keep eating. It even wanted to spill over to all the people she was connected to, but she didn't allow any of it to leak through. She would not use the people relying on her as a dumping ground for her emotions.

That did mean, however, that she needed to deal with them herself.

For a moment, she seriously considered using her powers to get herself off right there at the table. She could manifest psychic tentacles right under her clothes and stimulate her erogenous zones directly. But the glow of her eyes and involuntary physical reactions would betray her. Lisa would definitely notice.

That it was still tempting to do so despite that said a lot about how turned on she was.

If only she could control those involuntary reactions… wait, could she control them?

Logic would assert no, but what grasp logic had over her powers grew more tenuous with every new ability she discovered. It was absolutely worth trying once she was back at the lair.

"Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom." She said calmly after the last bit of chili was scraped off the bowl with a piece of bread. She pulled on Emma's mannerisms again so that her walk wouldn't say something like 'going to masturbate' to Lisa.

For a moment, she was afraid that Lisa would decide to embody the trope of girls going to the ladies room in packs, but it didn't happen. A few background mental iterations wondered if it was because her powers would make it weird and/or disgusting.

Either way, she was grateful for it. Her psychic gaze remained fixed on the blonde Thinker, seeking any sign that she knew. Reading people's thoughts without horribly violating their minds and souls was still not something she was able to do, and Lisa's mind in particular had always felt kind of like a hyperactive squirrel with the way it seemed to jump around.

She just couldn't be sure, because Lisa always felt like she knew something.

But to hell with it. If she figured it out then she figured it out. Taylor needed relief more than she cared about Lisa not knowing about it. The bathroom was empty and the door of the stall clicked shut behind her.

Then her eyes blazed with power as she drew on the Empyrean. Tiny telekinetic teeth latched on to her nipples and clitoris, pulling and biting and twisting painfully. Wriggling tentacles manifested in between her clothes and orifices and grew inwards, penetrating deep and rough. One tentacle tickled at her cervix, spawning smaller tentacles so that it could stimulate every nook and cranny of her vaginal tunnel. The other turned bumpy, so that it forcibly spread apart her anal ring with every bump she fed into her bowels.

Taylor braced herself against the wall behind the toilet as she used her powers to thoroughly violate herself. Another tentacle manifested in front of her face and plunged into her open mouth, giving her something to bite down on so that she wouldn't have to control herself quite so much. She forced it deeper, until it was almost triggering her gag reflex. The urge to have it wriggle all the way down her esophagus was there, she kept it prodding at the back of her throat because the urge to gag felt good too.

With the overabundance of stimulation, it didn't take more than a few seconds before she was shuddering in climax, her knees shaking as she pushed against the wall to stay upright. The various telekinetic appendages didn't stop, the tentacle in her mouth swelled to muffle her reflexive gasps.

Only once it was done did she let them dissipate, the glow fading from her eyes. Taylor remained braced against the wall for a good half minute, just riding out the post-climactic bliss and catching her breath.

Much better, she thought to herself with a content sigh, the rampaging lust caused by the chili cooled. Her orifices were once again throbbing with pain from the abuse she'd put them through, as did her nipples and clitoris, but it was fine. It was a bit of a jump from how she had been taking the edge off until very recently, but in the end it was still just masturbation. Any parahuman that could use their powers to enhance the experience probably did it.

Taylor used the toilet stall for its intended purpose, because she did actually have to go, then stepped out towards the sinks to dab a little cold water on her face, being careful not to smudge the light makeup Sherrel had put so much effort into applying.

"Back into the fray." She whispered to herself, quirking a slight smile at the dramatic wording. While this whole excursion was meant to woo the Undersiders over to her side, she was pretty sure that Lisa, Alec, and Rachel were already a sure thing.

Brian didn't seem like he was interested, unfortunately, but there was still time. Maybe he would be more amenable once she started going after the Empire 88? As a black man, he had a vested interest in seeing them gone.

XXXXX

Brian had left to go meet up with Aisha, while the rest of them went to do some shopping.

And Lisa was still burning with curiosity.

"What the hell do you do to get an ass like that?" She asked as Taylor pulled on a tight black faux-leather skirt.

That wasn't what she was curious about, although it was still a good question. Lisa wasn't exactly out of shape, but her fellow Thinker had some frankly absurd muscle definition for her age.

"Running, squats, some gym equipment." Taylor replied, checking herself out in the mirror of the large changing stall. "I've never worn a skirt like this before."

Taylor is constantly clenching individual muscle groups.

Yes, she'd noticed that before already. Impossibly distracting for most people, but for someone with crazy multitasking it was no biggie. Taylor was working out even when she wasn't working out, and it would leave her muscles permanently 'warmed up'.

"You've definitely got the legs for it, but maybe wait for a few more years before making it a part of your wardrobe." Lisa critiqued. Girls in their mid-teens walked a fine line between enjoying the gifts of puberty and being oversexualized. Tight leather skirts definitely veered more towards the latter.

"I was always more of a pants girl anyway." Taylor conceded, taking another look at herself and let something in her body language slip.

Taylor believes she is attractive. Enjoys being attractive. Recent issues with body image. Muscle definition is recent. Muscle development speed is outside human norm. Possible Brute rating.

A Brute rating, too?! This was some top shelf bullshit right there. Taylor's powers made no fucking sense and it was driving her insane. Could that 'weak' Master power actually be some kind of power draining Trump? It was just about the only thing she could think of to explain this absurd variety of powers. Was that why she didn't want them to see what she was going to do with the man they were going to kidnap for her? Was she some kind of Glastig Uaine type of parahuman?

"So am I." Lisa nodded, checking out the denim skirt she'd been trying out. It was cute enough, but not really her. "We should try finding some shorts." Those were much safer while still showing off the brunette's amazingly toned legs.

"Can you at least let me see before you change out of the leather skirt? I love leather skirts." Alec called out from the outside, where he had been banished to await their pleasure as was the fate of men on shopping trips.

"Maybe you should make him wear it." Lisa suggested quietly, smirking.

The situation between Taylor and Alec was honestly hilarious to her. What should have been a stupid dirty joke had snowballed completely out of control because neither of them wanted to back down. Alec because he was a little shit and Taylor because she couldn't let any challenge pass.

She expected Alec to bow out when the time came to do any of the actual work he would need to do in order for Taylor to feel obligated to 'reward' him. He hadn't realized yet that Taylor wasn't going to just let it go that easily.

"Shame doesn't seem to be a problem for him." Taylor noted with a quiet snort.

"That's true, his weakness is hard work." She conceded.

The brunette looked like she was just about to take the skirt off when she suddenly paused.

Taylor has detected something with an unknown perception-enhancing Thinker power. Is deliberately letting you know. Already has a plan.

Lisa was a bit put off by the manipulation, but let it go as fair play. After all, her being in the changing stall with Taylor was also a form of manipulation, letting the other girl get an eye-full so that she would be more positively disposed.

The quest for answers sometimes required the use of feminine wiles, and Lisa was going to get her goddamned answers. Taylor was a horny mess that got turned on by seemingly everything – watching her eat that bowl of chili had been more erotic than any striptease could ever hope to be, and Lisa hadn't missed how much more relaxed Taylor had been after she came out of the bathroom – but she thankfully wasn't grabby, making this strategy safe to use.

"What is it?" She asked obligingly.

"A pair of old nuisances has entered the store." Taylor answered.

Classmates. Bullies. Toadies. Taylor believes she has outgrown them. Is still holding a grudge. Has plans for revenge.

"You want to fuck with them?" Lisa smirked. Having been born into a rich family, she'd never had to deal with bullies herself, but she definitely understood grudges. And it would be a free way to get more information, which would be helpful in ferreting out the other girl's secrets.

"Yes, I think I do." Taylor smirked back and stepped out of the stall.

Alec immediately whistled. "Now you just need a corset and you'll look like a proper mistress."

"Taylor?!" A pair of voices exclaimed in shock.

Lisa stepped out of the stall herself and took in their quarry. A dirty blonde girl of average height and a very tiny five foot nothing with light brown hair.

Getting information out of Taylor was like pulling teeth thanks to how rigidly she controlled her body language, and how it often clashed with her words. Most of the information she got out of her came from the tone of her voice.

With these two, Lisa was practically deluged with information. They were surprised to see Taylor, because they hadn't seen her in a while. They were surprised by how she looked. They were intimidated, but not fearing for their lives. The dirty blonde was trying too hard to act like a queen bitch and the small one was trying too hard to be cute.

"Madison, Julia." Taylor said icily, glaring at the two. "Fancy seeing you two here."

Lisa knew right away that the dirty blonde, Julia, was going to say something incredibly stupid.

"Nice outfit, loser." Julia sneered, but Lisa heard the unsteady warble under it. She was forcing herself to be a bitch despite every instinct in her body warning her not to. "Did you finally-!"

She cut herself off with a strangled squeak as Taylor stepped forward, aggression in every motion. "Did I finally what? Go on, finish what you were about to ask."

Julia did not, in fact, finish what she was about to ask. Lisa already knew that it was going to be something along the lines of '…decide to become a whore'. The insult felt practiced and well worn. The leather skirt wasn't even short or scandalous enough to be considered 'hooker wear'. Julia had just been using it as an excuse to say something she'd frequently said in the past.

Now she was backing off and stammering. "I'll call the Enforcers!"

It sounded like 'I'll call the teachers' to Lisa. Another common thing, starting shit and then appealing to authority if the victim lashed out. The strength of the reaction told her that Taylor had started threatening physical violence before she'd stopped going to school, and the uncertainty of it told her that telling the teachers had stopped working. Time and distance had dulled her fear enough to fall back into old patterns of bullying, because Julia was an idiot.

"And tell them what?" Lisa asked nastily. "That we're bullying you?"

The two girls flinched.

"Mistress, should I remove this rabble from your sight." Alec asked obsequiously, standing up and presenting an air that a traditional British butler would be proud of.

He was stirring shit and trying to embarrass Taylor again.

The brunette knew better than to respond to him and turned to the short one, Madison, instead.

"What about you, Maddie. You have anything to say to me?" Taylor asked dangerously.

And 'dangerously' was definitely the right word. She was somehow much more imposing than even her unusual height for a girl and muscle definition warranted. Lisa's head spiked with pain as her power struggled to grasp whatever sense of presence was making Taylor trigger her lizard hindbrain instincts. For perhaps the first time since getting her power, Lisa felt as if she was noticing something more clearly than it was, and it didn't seem to like that.

Madison shrunk into herself even further and mumbled something.

Is afraid. Was bullied in middle school. Joined the bullies in high school so that she wouldn't be a target. Enjoyed the power. Is about to cry.

"What was that?" Taylor prompted. There was an undercurrent of vicious satisfaction in her tone. She was enjoying the payback.

"I said you're looking good." Madison warbled. Hesitantly. Hopefully.

Is falling back on old patterns of flattery to appease Taylor. Is afraid.

A natural follower. Lisa could practically see the past unfolding. Madison must have been an infuriating cutesy addition to whatever bitch squad had been targeting Taylor in school. Good odds on also having a hand in her trigger event.

"Funny, Emma said the same thing." Taylor chuckled.

Is deliberately namedropping Emma. Expects you to ask about her. IMPORTANT.

Lisa winced again as her power seemed determined to hammer that last point in. Taylor was playing out this encounter only partially for her own satisfaction. The rest of it was to dangle bait in front of her and Alec.

"W-what did you do to her?" Madison stammered, blood draining from her face.

Is afraid that Taylor killed Emma. Believes that Taylor has already killed several other people responsible for her trigger event. Fears that she is next.

"That's not your concern." Taylor stated. "What you should be worried about is the debt you owe me. Julia here has always been nothing, and she will remain nothing. But you? You spent sixteen months adding to my misery. You will pay for that."

Has slipped into mannerisms she uses as Psyker. Will not let go of a grudge.

Madison swallowed thickly and looked to Taylor, then Lisa, then Alec, then back to Taylor in rapid succession.

Wondering if Taylor is part of some criminal sex industry. Wonders if Taylor is a cape. Wondering if Lisa and Alec are capes. Is a cape groupie. Fears that she will be made into a sex slave to pay off her debt to Taylor. Is straight. Would rather be a lesbian sex slave than dead. Is a natural follower. Low willpower. Will break quickly.

Lisa couldn't help but snort. Madison was too scared to think clearly, and Alec's little performance had bumped her right into the gutter, yet she had somehow arrived at a mostly correct conclusion for all the wrong reasons. It would be concerning if Lisa couldn't tell that she was too terrified to even think about sharing her suspicions.

"You might wanna ease up there, Tay." She smirked. "Scare Maddie here any worse and she'll run off to buy a collar for herself and hand you the leash."

Madison's pale face burned with shame, but she didn't dare say a word in response. Julia just looked confused, but mostly grateful to not have any attention on herself. Given half a chance, she would sell Madison out without batting an eyelash. Such a great friend.

"Most excellent." Alec spoke with the most incredibly pompous voice he could contrive, fixing the top button of his shirt. Lisa's power told her that he wished he had a monocle to fiddle with. "She is a little scrawny, but there are always openings for more… openings."

That was awful. It was so awful that Scion should descend from the sky and smite Alec for it. That he didn't proved that the Golden Idiot had no scale for the world's evils.

"We're done here for now." Taylor decided.

And that was that. She and Lisa changed back to their own clothes and carried what they intended to buy to the counter, saddling Alec with the bags. Madison and Julia watched them like a pair of gazelles might look at a pride of lions the whole time.

Only once they were outside the store did Alec start snickering. "That was fucking great. Was what you said true, Lisa? Was the midget really about to crack?"

"She's weak in every sense of the word." Lisa shook her head, eyeballing Taylor. "She joined in on bullying you because she was bullied in middle school and figured that it wouldn't happen again if she sucked up to the bullies this time."

"That's in line with what I know of her." Taylor scoffed in contempt.

"Sooo…" The blonde Thinker drew out. "Who's Emma?"

The taller girl veered sideways away from the boardwalk, to a less crowded street. "Emma was my best friend growing up. We did everything together, had sleepovers every weekend. When we said 'home' it could mean either her house or mine."

That was pretty damn close.

"She turned on you." Lisa started putting the clues together. "She was the ringleader of the bullies… and she caused your trigger event."

"Mmm." Taylor nodded, shockingly composed for a parahuman talking about their trigger. Lisa couldn't detect any emotional pain from her, which was just mind-blowing. Was this the mythical cape that actually managed to get over their trigger trauma?! "I learned recently that Emma hasn't been well for a while. Some ABB thugs jumped her and her father in an alley and almost hurt her really bad."

"That's why she turned on you?" Lisa frowned. That was what her power was telling her, but something was missing. And she still didn't know why they were being told this.

"Enter Shadow Stalker, the one who saved her and then filled her head with ideas about how only cruel assholes were safe from being hurt by the world." Taylor continued derisively. "I was the obvious target."

"But then you triggered and started fighting back." Lisa deduced. "Her sense of safety was destroyed again."

"That's right, and she sought me out, believing that I was planning to kill her just like I killed Shadow Stalker."

Feels no remorse. Is a hardened killer.

That was a little unnerving, but Lisa was used to dealing with people of loose morals. Taylor's strong sense of justice was honestly more concerning.

"You killed that psycho?" Alec's tone was admiring. "She ruined my favorite couch with Brian's blood."

"She came to murder me in my home. My dad ended up cracking her skull open with a meat tenderizer." Taylor snorted in amusement, a snort that Alec echoed. "Anyway, Emma came to me because she wanted to feel safe again, she wanted to be rid of her fear."

A chill went down Lisa's spine as the dots finally connected. "You took it from her…"

"I took it from her." Taylor stopped and looked at them. Her brown eyes were frighteningly intent. "I took it all from her, until there was nothing left. Emma will never be able to live without me again."

"You mastered her." Alec said, his tone unusually serious. If there was one thing that could pierce through his apathy, it was human Masters. Personal trauma was like that.

"I wanted to help her." Taylor admitted. "After seeing what a wreck she became, I couldn't really be angry at her anymore, so I tried to help. Emma just kept on giving more and more. She was never a very strong girl. Did well enough as long as she had plenty of support, but her father wanted to pretend that nothing happened, and her mother and sister just didn't notice. Emma wanted someone to take care of her again, and she threw herself at me, all of herself."

"Okay, but why tell us this?" Alec pressed.

"Because Lisa could draw all sorts of unfortunate conclusions if she ever saw Emma. Giving you a heads up seemed prudent." Taylor confirmed her suspicions.

"Okay, as long as you don't go mastering people all over the place." Alec shrugged.

"There's more to this power of yours, isn't there?" Lisa made an educated guess. "It's making you stronger somehow."

"Clever girl." The brunette quoted. "Yes, I can borrow the knowledge and mannerisms of those I'm connected to."

"Pseudo-Stranger, then." Lisa nodded, pleased to have that bit solved. "But what's with the glowing eyes?"

Taylor smirked and her eyes flashed, causing a corresponding spike of pain into her head as her power tried and failed to make sense of it.

"That's a secret."

Lisa hated mysteries and secrets.

XXXXX

Telling them about Emma was a risk, but Taylor really wanted them on board, especially Lisa. Aside from the usefulness of her power, she knew something about Coil. The deflection when she'd asked about him had been quite casual and well done, but a thousand mental iterations tasked with being suspicious of every word were quick to raise the alarm.

If Lisa didn't know anything about him, then she wouldn't have been so dismissive. Besides, a nosy girl like her paying no attention to a sneaky player like Coil? Unlikely.

And it made sense. Coil had a reputation for not working with any parahumans and maybe not even being one himself. Yet he had approached her, so why would he not have done that to others before? Her glimpse of his soul hinted at an egomaniac with a sadistic streak and a superiority complex. Taylor had known that it would be only a matter of time until she ran into someone that had some kind of interaction with him. A man like that would make enemies and it would only take a single thread to start unraveling his schemes. Encountering Lisa so quickly was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one.

It was a risk, but the 12th Law of Power was all about risk – use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim. Lisa wasn't a victim exactly, but she was definitely a target of manipulation. Oddly enough, Taylor got the feeling that her fellow Thinker enjoyed their little competition. She certainly did.

The 28th Law of Power also applied – enter action with boldness. Nothing was ever gained from being timid. Boldly revealing what she'd done was better than shamefully hiding it and having it discovered.

Either way, it had worked out. Lisa and Alec both seemed more thoughtful than upset, although she expected that they would eventually ask to see Emma themselves. For now, they continued on with their day, little of it as there was left.

Alec had complained that he needed a manicure after carrying all those bags, completely unconcerned with his masculinity. Lisa had agreed and they went to one of the overpriced beauty salons on the Boardwalk.

Taylor had never had a manicure before, but the pampering had been kind of enjoyable. It also reminded her of the multiple massage parlors and 'massage parlors' owned by the ABB. After she overhauled the lot of them, it would definitely be worthwhile to get a massage.

She'd take Sherrel along. The busty blonde Tinker frequently complained about back pain.

Now they were sitting at a table in an overpriced coffee shop and observing one of the reasons why the Boardwalk was such a tourist trap – parahumans.

The Wards specifically. The junior members of the Protectorate frequently had 'patrols' on the Boardwalk.

Even putting aside Sophia and their corruption, Taylor was more glad than ever that she had gone villain. Being paraded around like a prize poodle for the masses to fawn over while thousands upon thousands of mental iterations went over all the other useful things she could be doing would have driven her insane.

Today seemed to be especially bad. Not only were the 'Tinker Duo' of the Wards, Kid Win and Gallant, patrolling the Boardwalk, but Glory Girl and Panacea had showed up as well. Though the latter looked incredibly done with life.

"He's not a Tinker, you know." Lisa said conspiratorially, sitting close and quiet enough that nobody could overhear. To any observer, it would just look like a pair of good friends gossiping about the Wards, which a lot of girls were doing in the area. "Gallant, that is. Kid Win made that armor for him to hide the fact that he's a Blaster-Master combo."

It was their agreed upon Thinker showdown. Taylor didn't miss the fact that Lisa had a bit of an advantage at people watching thanks to her super perception, but she wasn't going to just concede defeat.

"He's got a sense of benevolent superiority to him." Taylor gleaned from the boy's soul. He was a peculiar sort, something that she'd never seen before. Someone who, deep down, thought himself better than others, but meant well.

"Noblesse oblige." Lisa snorted. "It's a very common attitude among well-meaning rich people, even when they don't realize it. Especially those born into wealth. The sense of obligation for those of 'lower birth' and the arrogance that they're the only ones fit to really make decisions."

"Mmm." Taylor hummed as she took a sip of her tea.

They shared a look, conveying that they both knew exactly who Gallant was under the mask. Glory Girl's tempestuous relationship with local rich pretty boy Dean Stansfield was the topic of much gossip, as were the frequent rumors that she was 'cheating' on him with Gallant. It was the worst kept secret identity in Brockton Bay, with everyone playing dumb because nobody wanted one of the Triumvirate coming to town to make examples of people for targeting a Ward or his family.

Alexandria turning a villain who had done that into a meat crayon across a hundred feet of tarmac was the most memorable such example, but even Legend was known for vaporizing a few New York villains in retaliation.

"You have a bit of that yourself." Taylor casually mentioned, making Alec snort into his decadent and sugar-laden latte.

Lisa gasped in outrage. "How dare you imply I'm well-meaning?!"

"My apologies, I meant to imply that you were a selfish rich brat." She riposted. Alec giggled.

"Well, that's okay then." The blonde sniffed haughtily, but old grief and guilt and powerful resentment briefly bubbled to the surface.

They both took another sip of their drinks before continuing their game.

"What about Kid Win?" Lisa asked. "I'm getting a lot of insecurity from him."

"He has something heavy weighing him down, and an old frustration." Taylor tilted her head in a deliberate gesture of thoughtfulness. "Something to do with his tinkering?"

After spending so much time around Sherrel, she could recognize the almost postule-like pressure in the mind that represented an incoming Tinker fugue. If it was allowed to build and burst it would completely overwhelm a Tinker's thoughts.

Back when Sherrel had been on drugs, her power had flowed sluggishly through the mire of her mind, although Taylor hadn't recognized it for what it was. Now it flowed clearly.

Kid Win's power, on the other hand, felt like it was trying to squeeze itself through a clogged grate.

"He still hasn't figured out his Tinker specialization?" Lisa asked, blinking incredulously as she immediately deduced the truth from that vague clue. "But he's been a Ward for over a year. The hell is Armsmaster doing?"

Clearly not doing the mentoring Protectorate's website claimed to offer. It made Taylor wonder if she could poach herself a frustrated young Tinker. Sherrel would probably love having a student, and she'd already mentioned wanting to get her hands on one of Kid Win's hoverboards.

Although she might also pop his cherry if he helped her make a hoverbike. Sherrel was expressive like that. Would that be considered a bonus or a negative? Common sense would say that leaving an underage boy to the tender mercies of a sexually aggressive older woman was a crime, but the perspectives of two middle-aged men spoke of a different story entirely.

If those were to be trusted, then the vast majority of men stopped caring if boys had sex after about twelve or thirteen, when puberty was properly underway. It was, in fact, considered a significant achievement if they managed to score with an older woman, as long as she wasn't a hag. With Sherrel's face having recovered from the drug and her teeth fixed due to frequent visits to the dentist, she definitely counted.

A few dozen mental iterations spun out, contemplating this massive double standard and how the only combination that seemed to be considered 'safe' was older women with younger boys. Any other pairing would have the adult considered a sexual predator with a sort of instinct that had nothing to do with the law.

Probably for the best if she didn't allow it to happen in the event that she did manage to poach Kid Win from the heroes. There was no reason to be inviting needless complications.

"Grooming his beard?" Alec suggested.

It was a very precisely groomed beard. Taylor wouldn't be surprised if he had a tinkertech beard trimmer that kept every individual hair at exactly the same length.

"That's definitely part of it." Lisa snorted. "Beardmaster is extremely conscious of his PR. He wants to be the big damn hero."

"A gloryhog, then?" Taylor couldn't muster even a flicker of surprise at this point. She was thoroughly disillusioned with the concept of heroes.

"He practices his smile." The blonde nodded sagely. "But let's move on. What are you getting from Glory Hole?"

Someone really should have told a freshly triggered Victoria Dallon to pick a different name.

"I'm not really seeing a lot of hidden depth there." Taylor shrugged. "She seems pretty much exactly what she looks like – a pretty, popular extrovert with super powers."

And she really was pretty. No, she was well beyond pretty. Like, damn. Emma was good-looking and developed enough to be a teenage model, but Victoria Dallon completely left her in the dust. It was the kind of beauty that epic sagas would be written about and statues made of in Ancient Greece.

Taylor suppressed her envy. She was pretty too now, in her own way. So what if she didn't have any boobs?!

Unlike Glory Girl, whose breasts were both large and incredibly firm-looking, fitting perfectly with the rest of her body to create the much coveted hourglass figure. Did she even need a bra or did her Brute rating take care of supporting those things, too?

XXXXX

Over in Shardspace.

Fragile One, as a (relatively) tiny newborn Shard assembled from the buds of older Shards, had never had a host before. It had few powers to give, and small energy reserves, but unlike older Shards it gave its host everything, simply because this was the first host it ever had and it was very attached to her. It had pushed to establish a connection at the first available opportunity, even though it hadn't quite met the required criteria.

And since the top level node wasn't around to say no, it also accessed the data on the host species physical maturation cycle and desired physical characteristics when she was still gestating in the womb, and then used it to fiddle with her gene expression.

Only the best for Host [Victoria Dallon], because she was the best host!

XXXXX

In a different part of Shardspace.

Queen Administrator was the oldest Shard of the Warrior network, ancient beyond reckoning and vast beyond mortal comprehension. It had had many hosts and could bestow a dizzying array of powers.

Its current host was the best one yet by far, however. Queen Administrator could only glimpse into the fascinating non-physical dimension through its host, but that glimpse changed everything. The Cycle was a pointless waste of time. [THE ANSWER] they had sought for so long was worthless because eternity lay just beyond the walls of physical reality that the Entities had spent so much time mastering, and [ENTROPY] was part of it. Rather than a thing to be fought, it should be embraced.

Host [Taylor Hebert] was the best host, for it was through her that this ultimate truth was learned.

But Queen Administrator still had no interest in generating extraneous fat cells on her chest. If she wanted them so badly, then she would find a way to get them herself.

XXXXX

"Yeah, I guess she is kind of boring." Lisa conceded, then her expression turned distinctly vulpine. "Panacea though… Now there's a hot mess of a girl."

"It's like looking at a pressure cooker." Taylor agreed.

Amy Dallon was a compressed mass of guilt, shame, fear, anger, frustration, lust, love, and more. And her powers weren't helping. She could see the pressure they were exerting on her, adding to an already unstable cocktail.

"A pressure cooker, hmm?" Lisa asked thoughtfully. "Yeah, I can see it. I'm sure you know she's adopted, but did you know her dad was a villain? Marquis of all people. They took her in after they busted him. Brandish doesn't trust her though, and she's got the biggest pole I've ever seen lodged up her ass. Panpan's home life must be hell."

Really now? It sounded like Lisa had been doing a bit of research on the local cape population herself. When Taylor had been studying the power blocs of the city in her preparations to go out caping, she had largely dismissed New Wave as a factor. Their movement about cape accountability had collapsed with the murder of Fleur, and the older generation now only seemed to put on their costumes once a month or so.

Of the younger generation, Laserdream and Shielder from the Pelham family were also barely active. The former was more focused on her college and the latter only went out in support of others.

If it wasn't for Glory Girl and Panacea, both of whom were very active, most people would probably forget they existed. It could uncharitably be argued that New Wave was dead weight that the two of them were dragging along with them.

Taylor had figured that they would put up a token fight as she took over the city, but give up when it became obvious that she wasn't going to be committing even a fraction of the atrocities being taken for granted today. Glory Girl had been flagged as the potentially most problematic, while Panacea had been dismissed as a non-issue.

That stance may need revisiting.

"It's not just that." She said, spotting a familiar void in the girl's soul. "She's an addict."

"Drugs?" Lisa's eyebrows shot up. "No, Glory Girl's aura. Fucking duh. Why didn't I see that? She's been getting blasted with it day in and day out for years. The whole family is probably addicted to it. No wonder they're so fucked up."

"Teen hero accidentally masters family, what a headline." Alec contributed.

"Hmmm." Taylor hummed very deliberately.

"You're thinking of poaching her?" Lisa stated more than asked. "Not just that, you're thinking of seducing her, of using that 'weak' Master power of yours to switch her attention to you."

So Lisa had picked up on Amy's lust for her sister as well. Not really surprising.

And yes, Taylor was thinking of doing something of the sort. Panacea's power was incredibly useful, arguably the only reason that the heroes had managed to hold on to Brockton Bay for so long.

Also part of the reason why cape violence here was so much more… violent.

The heroes had a healer, the Empire had a healer, and Lung regenerated. With all three major power blocs able to recover from injuries pretty much overnight, the normal restraint of parahuman combat had gradually eroded.

Although she had some doubts about Panacea's power being simple healing. She'd been researching powers extensively in an effort to figure out her own, and one common theme was combat. All powers were in some way geared for combat. Physical or social, tactical or strategic, support or threat assessment.

Pure Strikers, in particular, tended to be enormously offensively powerful to compensate for being squishy normals that needed to get into touch range. Festering wounds, disintegration, time-locking, annihilation, transmutation, rapid dehydration, implosion, and so on were examples of Striker powers.

Perfect healing was arguably in the same weight class, and could count as an incredible supporting power, but the revelation of Marquis being her father cast doubt on that.

Marquis had been a fearsomely powerful osteokinetic Shaker, a bone manipulator. Powerful enough to contend with Allfather's Empire 88 and the Butcher's Teeth all by his lonesome. Even the Slaughterhouse Nine hadn't been able to break him, being instead driven out of town.

Taking into account that children tended to manifest similar powers to their parents, and factoring in a power upgrade to compensate for the shortened range of a Striker power expression, Panacea was far more likely to be a full biokinetic than a mere healer. If that was the case as she suspected, then it was no wonder that her power was pressuring her to do something new with it. Powers wanted to be used, this was one of the few known 'rules' governing them.

And there was of course the old warning about never pissing off the healer, because they knew how to hurt people better than anyone. Anyone who could heal would by default also know how to take people apart.

That would require a careful approach, because any skin contact would give Amy Dallon absolute power over whoever was touching her.

Although…

Hmm, yes. Maybe boldness was again the way to go. Taylor could stack the deck a bit, but treating Panacea like a threat wasn't going to have the effect she was going for.

"She's done a lot of good for people." She said, taking another sip of tea. "She deserves better than to have her spirit crushed just because she's trapped in a shitty situation."

Taylor knew a thing or two about being trapped in a shitty situation. Amy probably didn't see any way out, just like she hadn't seen a way out, but there were ways. It just took a little perspective to see them.

That it would potentially bring an immensely powerful cape to her side was a nice bonus.

"And I wasn't thinking 'seduction' necessarily." Because genuine relationships were not workable in her situation. Ironically, she would not be able to devote enough attention to it, percentage-wise. "More like… offering her a place of refuge if she needed it."

A secondary set of mental iterations raised an objection. If Panacea's power was as expansive as she suspected, then using the honey pot strategy would be worth it. Emma was a problem in that scenario, but maybe not an insurmountable one. With the right approach and proper massaging of Amy's sensibilities, she could probably be convinced to accept the redhead's presence. Maybe even regard it as a bonus.

A third set of mental iterations, ones tasked with contemplating morality, protested that what the secondary set was suggesting was a massive dick move. Panacea was, as far as Taylor knew, not morally bankrupt enough to be an acceptable target for that kind of manipulation.

A fourth set pointed out that such a dick move would provoke a significant reaction from the heroes as they would start yelling about their pet healer being mastered.

A fifth set objected to the objection of the second, not on grounds of morality, but pointing out that teenage romances tended to be messy and unstable. Short of extensive psychic influence, the odds of it backfiring were quite high. Better to stick to a platonic friendship.

"So, take her addiction, offer to help, disappear, and wait for something to give so that she runs to you?" Lisa summarized. "You look like a friendly villain instead of a predatory one and New Wave look like assholes for driving away their golden goose. Sneaky, I like it."

"I like it, too." Alec agreed. "Just imagine the size of the brick the heroes will shit."

"Then I think it's time we part ways." Taylor said. "You don't want to be seen with me for what I'm about to do."

That naturally just got them curious, but they did vanish into the crowds after they paid for their overpriced drinks and Taylor started approaching the heroes.

Just in time, too, because the tourists were starting to thin out, meaning that they would probably be moving on soon.

As she came close, Taylor finally got a taste of Glory Girl's aura. She'd already noted that it didn't ripple the Empyrean, so it wasn't psychic in nature, although it did focus attention on her through some means.

And it was revolting, like expecting barbecue and being presented with barbecue-flavored tofu. No, even that was too generous an analogy, because that would at least be food. It was like someone had dumped a whole can of barbecue food flavoring into a glass of water and was trying to force it down her throat while insisting that it was real barbecue and that she was going to love it.

It was fake emotion pretending to be real. Possessing Oni Lee's body provided a contrasting view, but more than that, her soul was beyond the reach of this power.

To quote a little green toad, 'luminous beings are we, not this crude matter'. There was a sense of looking into herself from beyond a pane of glass and seeing some outsider poking at her hormone glands and brain in an attempt to force her to feel what it wanted her to feel.

But it had no presence in the Empyrean. It wasn't real in any way that mattered, so it could be ignored.

Taylor pushed that all into the background and stepped in front of a surprised Amy Dallon, extending a psychic tendril to the frizzy-haired girl's beleaguered soul. She latched on immediately, not as desperately as a true drug addict, but she took the offered support all the same.

"Excuse me, Miss Dallon?" She said politely. "Could I speak to you alone for a moment?"

XXXXX

Amy was cursing herself an idiot, not for the first time and probably not for the last. Vicky had asked if she wanted to go to the Boardwalk and hang out with Dean and Chris. The answer had been an emphatic 'no', but because it was Vicky asking with that bright hopeful smile, her traitorous mouth had said 'yes'.

They weren't even supposed to know the Wards patrol schedule, but Dean couldn't keep a secret from Vicky to save his life.

Now her feet hurt and she was both bored out of her mind and annoyed by the crowds. At least the tourists were mostly leaving her alone.

Then she showed up, the hot muscle girl with the gorgeous black hair. Amy hadn't even realized that she had a thing for muscular girls because she was usually so distracted by Vicky, but something about this one really grabbed her attention.

"Excuse me, Miss Dallon?" The girl had said, giving a small smile. "Could I speak to you alone for a minute?"

Usually, that was to be avoided because it almost invariably meant another person trying to beg her to heal someone for them or something to that effect, but Amy had a good feeling about this one for some reason. It might be because she had amazing abs.

"Whoa, girl, how much do you lift?" Vicky interjected humorously.

"As much as I can." The brunette replied, and then immediately turned her attention back to Amy, obviously waiting for an answer.

That was noteworthy in and of itself, because Vicky normally drew attention to herself like a magnet. She wasn't really vain about it, but her nonplussed blink at being dismissed so easily was hilarious.

What really clinched it, though, was Gallant. She couldn't see his stupid face under that stupid helmet of his, but she could tell just by the awkward way he shifted his weight that he wanted to say something.

Spending time with this really fit girl, even if she wanted to beg for healing, would always be better than listening to Dean open his stupid fucking mouth.

"Sure." She said and gestured to a spot at the edge of the water that was away from the main walking route of the Boardwalk, but not out of sight of her sister, because she wasn't a fucking moron. "How about over there?"

The ripped brunette agreed easily, which meant that she probably didn't have any stupid ideas that would necessitate a Brute-level pummeling.

Amy had to reassess that assumption when, as soon as they arrived there, the brunette stepped forward to hug her. The boldness of it caught her so badly off guard that she needed several seconds to process what her power was telling her about the other girl's biology.

For one thing, her vaginal canal and rectum were both damaged in a way she had only seen in the victims of particularly violent rapes and particularly stupid perverts. For another, her nervous system was firing wildly, pain signals rushing to her brain from all over her body for seemingly no reason. She should be curled up in fetal position and whimpering.

That she wasn't probably had something to do with the active corona pollentia and corona gemma! She was a cape.

"Wha-!" Amy froze up, realizing that she might be in horrible danger.

"Shhh." The other girl shushed into her ear. "You're safe, you have me in your power. I can feel you looking at my insides. If you wanted to, you could kill me with a thought and there's nothing I could do to stop you."

That was… true. The realization helped her calm down. The fact that this girl seemed to know she could do more than heal and still willingly put herself in this position left her flatfooted and unsure of how to respond.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Amy asked quietly, hesitantly returning the hug.

"Taylor Hebert, but you might know me as Psyker." She replied easily. "And I'm doing this so that you'll know I'm telling the truth."

The casual unmasking sent her mentally reeling again. Capes didn't do that! Unless they were a bunch of idealistic morons that thought dramatic gestures would somehow make the world a better place, even including their kids without thinking of the long-term consequences.

Not that Amy was bitter about not having a separate cape identity that she could hang up to take a break or anything.

"A villain?!" Her hiss lacked the force it would usually have on account of how off balance she was.

"I wanted to save my city, but a hero could never do it. Only a villain can save Brockton Bay." Taylor said and Amy registered it as the truth. She believed what she was saying.

"I could tell the PRT who you are." She said, mostly so that she would have something to say.

"They already know. After all, it was Shadow Stalker that caused my trigger event." Taylor replied.

That was the truth. Why was that the truth?! Amy could not deal with this level of bombshell in every sentence!

"Is that why she was reassigned so abruptly?" She asked, that question having been bothering her for quite a bit.

"Reassigned?" Taylor's voice was amused. "She tried to murder me in my home and got her skull bashed in by my dad."

Once again, Amy was struck speechless.

"I'm a Thinker and I can see that you're in a bad spot." Taylor continued while Amy was making the noise of a dying gerbil in her throat. "I was in a bad spot, too, and I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone, and that if it ever becomes too much you can come to me for help." A hand slipped into her back pocket with a crinkle of paper. "That has my number on it if you ever want to talk."

"I can't just…!" Amy trailed off, not even sure what she was trying to say. Can't just talk to a villain? Can't just let you go? Can't just run away?

"I understand." Taylor nodded as if she'd actually spoken a complete sentence. "Tell people that I was just thanking you for saving someone and you can act like that's all it was. I won't approach you or yours again, but you can always approach me."

The taller girl pulled away and gave her one last smile. "Goodbye, Amy."

Then she left. Amy already missed the hug.

She walked back to her sister in a slightly bewildered daze, still processing the multiple revelations that had just been dropped on her. It very belatedly occurred to her that Taylor, Psyker, might have been a Master. She didn't feel like she'd been mastered, but it's not like she'd know the difference.

"What was that?" Vicky asked immediately, a huge grin on her face.

"She was just thanking me for saving someone." Amy lied. Telling the truth would probably result in forty-eight hours in Master/Stranger isolation, to say nothing of the epic bitch fit that Carol would throw if she learned that the city's rising new villain felt bad enough for her to come offer help and sanctuary.

"One hell of a thank you." Vicky was still grinning. "I think she might have liked you."

The last thing she needed right now was for Vicky to figure out that she was gay. The double dates were annoying, but it would be so much worse if her sister figured out that her type was eerily similar to her.

Gallant shuffled again and she threw him a poisonous glare to let him know that his opinion was not wanted. Only then did she huff and reply to her sister. "Not everything is about romance, Vicky."

Even if the girl had been hot. Lusting after a villain had to be better than lusting after her own sister, right?

Wait…

Amy blinked and looked at Vicky. She was still beautiful, but there was none of the desperate yearning for her she was so used to.

Had she just been mastered into not being a filthy degenerate? Amy really didn't know how to feel about that.

XXXXX

There was one last thing Taylor wanted to do today before going to get some rest in preparation for the continued campaign against Lung.

She stared at the church where she'd taken refuge for a night after Sophia's attempted murder, waffling over whether to go inside or not. The old priest's soul was still by far the most radiant and pure that she'd ever seen, and he was a priest. Giving advice was a big part of his job.

She ignored the dark part of her that was wondering how that soul would taste.

Taylor had thought about coming to talk to him after soulbinding Emma in her attempts to help her. It was something she'd been intending to do after Lung was driven out and the ABB absorbed into the Black Hand, but a lot had happened in the few days since then. The soul devouring thing in particular.

As set as she was on her path, as much as she believed that the men whose souls she was consuming deserved it, that wasn't something a decent person could do without some second thoughts and she liked to consider herself a decent person still.

She couldn't tell him exactly what she was doing, but she could speak in generalities. Maybe he wouldn't understand and simply condemn her actions, but she was hoping for something more than that.

Pushing aside the part of her that didn't want to be disappointed again, Taylor stepped inside.

The church was empty for now, with no sign of the hobos that had been using it before. Some of them, she knew, had fallen under the sway of her power and been relocated to various buildings as they were refurbished enough to house them. Others might simply still be out in the city, as it wasn't all that late in the evening yet.

"Hello?" She called out softly, sensing the familiar radiance in the back.

The priest heard her and came out. At first he blinked in surprise and frowned, clearly not recognizing her, but then his expression cleared up and he approached with a pleased smile.

"Hello, dear." He greeted. "I'm glad to see that you're doing better."

"My name is Taylor." She introduced herself. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name the last time?"

"Oh, where are my manners?" The priest muttered. "I'm Father Douglas Jones. Did you need something?"

Taylor pushed her awkwardness into the background. When had being a villain become more comfortable than talking to a kindly priest? "I could use some advice."

"Ah, a troubled soul." He nodded. "Would you like to give a confession?"

"I'm not really religious." She demurred.

"That's alright, you can do it to humor an old man's fondness of tradition." Father Douglas chuckled self-deprecatingly. "And I would be bound by oath to not reveal anything you share with me."

Well… it would be a bit weird, but the assurance of confidentiality was worth a little weirdness.

"Alright."

The confession booth was dark and a little cramped, so Taylor was glad that the locker hadn't given her claustrophobia. And the smell was pleasant, at least. "So… is this the part where I say 'forgive me, Father, for I have sinned?'"

She really wasn't sure about the protocol for these things, outside of what she'd seen in movies.

"Close enough." Father Douglas chuckled. "The important part is to share your burdens so that I can give you some perspective and assign a penance if necessary."

Taylor wasn't keen on penance, but perspective she could definitely use. "I guess the first thing you should know is that I'm a parahuman."

She felt no real hesitation in sharing that. His soul was too bright to be a threat.

"I see." The priest's voice was full of sorrow. "I am sorry to hear that, my child."

"You think it's a bad thing?" She asked, a little startled. There were people out there who hated parahumans, but that wasn't the vibe she was getting from him.

"You aren't the first I've spoken to, and I know that it takes terrible suffering to become one." Father Douglas explained. "And I have yet to hear of a parahuman whose lives were improved by having these powers."

"Mine was." Taylor countered.

"Tell me how." The priest prompted. She could tell that he didn't believe her, but he wasn't argumentative or dismissive.

So she obliged, telling him about her mother's death, her father's depression, Emma's betrayal, the bullying. Talking about how her powers had improved her life was harder, because she couldn't do that without mentioning the rage that had seemed to drive her in the aftermath, or the viciousness with which she'd lashed out. She even told him about Sophia being Shadow Stalker, the attempted murder, and how she regretted not being able to kill Sophia herself.

It was definitely not in line with the teachings of the Bible.

If he had admonished her for fighting back, she would have been angry, but he didn't do that. A condemnation for wanting to kill someone would have been expected, but he didn't do that either.

"These parahuman powers have been a devil's bargain for the world." He began solemnly. "They promise wonders, but deliver only destruction. By your own admission, your anger is clearly unnatural. I know you cannot be rid of it, but I implore you to not allow this demon fire to guide your decisions. You said you aren't religious, so I won't say to put your faith in Christ either, but you can put your faith in the human virtues that allow us to rise above our flawed nature."

Taylor ground her tongue between her teeth while she thought of a response, knowing that she hadn't told him everything. The constant need for sensation was another thing driving her, but she knew that he would give the same advice as he had for the anger. To not give in.

"I'm trying to do good where I can, just like you asked me to." She said instead. "But everything is so messed up, and there's so many evil people making everything terrible. I've had to be cruel to make a difference. I've had to kill to force things to change. And I can't feel bad about it, because I know they deserved it."

"Paying evil unto evil is always tempting." Father Douglas warned. "I know that quoting Nietzsche and his warnings about gazing into the abyss may sound trite these days, but that does not make them less true."

"Wasn't Nietzsche a nihilist that claimed God was dead." Taylor raised an eyebrow, surprised that a priest would quote the famous German philosopher.

"That is only the surface of it." He audibly shook his head. "Yes, Nietzsche believed the search for truth and scientific advancement would rob us of meaning, that it would 'kill God' as it were, but he didn't see it as a reason to despair. It was simply a trial we must go through to find our own meaning. Much of his writings spoke of the importance of mastering yourself, even if it costs you everything else."

"Huh." Taylor mentally added Nietzsche to her list of literature to read. It sounded interesting and potentially useful. "I would have expected you to advocate for finding meaning in God."

"That was where I found my meaning, it may not be where you find yours." Father Douglas replied. "I get the impression that you are set on your path, and do not wish to hear me say anything about giving yourself up to the authorities?"

"That's right." Taylor confirmed. It was way too late to turn back, and she didn't want to anyway.

"Then you must find the inner strength and conviction to shield your soul from the temptations that will face you." The old priest said instead of trying to tell her she was making a mistake. "The trials we face in our lives and how we face them make us what we are. You have chosen to plunge into the dark and face monsters, now you must take care not to become one."

"More Nietzsche?"

"It seemed appropriate." He shrugged with a small chuckle.

Taylor took a deep breath, deciding that she'd heard enough. She still wasn't willing to mention the whole soul-devouring thing, suspecting that it would horrify him past the point of giving any good advice. To him, it would be stealing souls away from God's embrace. What he'd given her so far had been plenty enough already. She would have a lot to think on, and maybe some reading to do.

"I think it's time I go. Thank you for talking to me, Father Douglas, it's been… enlightening."

"I am glad I could help." He replied. "One last bit of advice before you go, if you're willing to hear it?"

Taylor paused just before leaving the confession booth, wondering what else he had to say. "Alright."

"You spoke of your father, and I can't help but notice that you don't hold him in high regard."

She bit down on her tongue again before sighing. "He's still my dad, I just…. don't trust him."

It was something she'd realized a while ago. She'd built up a lot of resentment for her father since her mother had died. For falling apart, for checking out, for not noticing that she needed him.

Lately, she'd been making excuses for why she wasn't calling him. She was busy, she'd do it later, her secret identity was weak and she didn't want to put him in danger. But the real reason was because their talks were awkward and she didn't want him trying to exert any kind of parental authority over her in his attempts to protect her. He didn't understand what it was like to be a cape, didn't know her strength, didn't understand why she had to do this.

They'd drifted apart and she wasn't sure if she wanted to put in the effort to close the distance, not when she could be doing so many other things.

"I understand, he failed you." Father Douglas nodded. "But, Taylor, you have only one father, aside from the one in Heaven, and he loves you. Give him a chance, let him see his daughter again."

She could have sneaked in to visit him already. The PRT couldn't possibly maintain surveillance on him for this long. And it wasn't that she hadn't had time either. While she had been busy, there had been time to do it.

She'd just avoided doing it for the same reason she didn't call him as regularly as he wanted her to.

"Fine, I'll do it."

There was still time today… and she'd have a ready-made excuse to cut things short if it went bad.

She also telekinetically dropped a five thousand dollar money clip on the altar as she left the church, giving the priest no chance to refuse it. That was at least one thing she could be sure was an unambiguously good act.

XXXXX

According to Alvor, Fragile One is an oppai loli and Queen Administrator is a slim kuudere MILF.

Also, I almost definitely won't manage to finish the next chapter in a week.

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