Work Text:
Taylor slapped the light switch and clattered down the steps to the basement, flinging her school bag aside. The cover to the old coal chute came off easily, revealing the sack where she’d stashed her projects. She pulled it out and carried it over to the workbench, pulling each piece out and setting them down.
The breastplate wasn’t complete- more like a corset or a bustier. That’d leave her collarbone and shoulders bare, which wasn’t great. The skirt armour hanging at the bottom wasn’t long enough either- she’d wanted it to go to her knees. She’d also wanted to make some proper armour for her legs, and her arms, and a full helmet. She could maybe spend some more time on it- she had several pieces cut out of salvaged cans, and she could take a little longer to rivet them together…
No. The whole reason she’d ran out of school and all the way home was because the city was falling apart. The gangs were in open warfare on the streets, and she had to get out there and help. She couldn’t just sit around adding more pieces when there were people getting hurt!
Oh god, it was going to be so embarrassing though. Maybe if she put the armour over her clothes, and then her hoodie over that?
It took a few moments to put everything on. Mom’s bracelets first, then the shinguards connected to her shoes. Both silver in colour, at least. The headband matched too. But the breastplate and the skirt- she’d had to piece them together out of old cans and a metal lunchbox, and without time to scrape the colours off. The logo from North Star Coffee was on every segment of the skirt, and an eagle symbol stretched across her chest.
Taylor was glad to pull her hoodie on over all that, and the cheap mask over her face. It was only plastic, not metal like her power needed to work, but she didn’t have time. Taylor took a breath, and then slowly exhaled, letting the energy flow from her core into the pieces. The energy pooled, deepened, and then flowed back into her. She felt the effects taking hold at once, and clenched her fists.
Last thing was the metal cable she’d found shoved into a corner of the basement, left over from a theatre group Mom had helped out with once. She coiled it up and hung it from her hip. Not much of a weapon, but better than nothing.
Taylor took a deep breath, and cleared the basement stairs in a single bound.
Whatever had made the Empire and ABB erupt into all-out warfare, it must have been something seriously bad. The Wards had been pulled out of school, New Wave had been called- the Director was alternately coordinating action and yelling down the phone lines to whoever she could reach for any reinforcements.
And the other groups were taking advantage of the chaos. Velocity had reported chasing down Circus as she fled a jewellery store she’d just robbed, the Merchants were carjacking people at random, and the Undersiders had been spotted racing across town for god knows what.
Triumph sped down the streets on a motorbike, headed towards a reported disturbance. A cell of the Empire had been spotted, and he was close enough to check it out. Removing even one of their capes from play could help to shift the balance.
The sound of explosions caught his attention, and he altered course. He was close to the Docks, just past the ABB’s normal territory. As he got closer, he could make out gunfire and shouting as well. A final corner gave him a clear view of the scene.
A line of ABB soldiers were in front of Triumph, crouched behind cover, screaming abuse as they fired at the Empire, occasionally hurling bombs or whatever they could get their hands on. One stood up with a shotgun pointed forward.
A bullet ripped through the man’s shoulder, and he toppled over howling in pain. Victor continued fire without pause, hitting other ABB soldiers with wounding shots from his twin pistols. Othala was crouched behind him, hands pressed to his back; judging by how the bullets bounced off him, she was feeding him invulnerability.
Alabaster was charging forward through the gunfire, ignoring the shots that hit him. He and his white suit simply snapped back to pristine condition every few seconds. He reached an ABB soldier who was further ahead than the rest and slammed a punch into his face with a bloodthirsty roar. Then he glanced up, and spotted Triumph.
“Hero!” he bellowed, pointing. Triumph swore and threw himself off the bike. The sheer noise of the battle had hidden his approach, but not for long enough.
A couple of ABB swivelled around, guns blazing- Triumph threw himself around the corner of a nearby building as bullets tore through the air where he’d been and knocked pieces out of the brickwork. Triumph shouted back- the sonic blast knocked a few off their feet and staggered more.
“Alabaster, switch!” Victor roared. He rushed forward, ploughing through the ABB with all his stolen skills- hurdling obstacles like a gymnast, aiming like a marksman, and fighting like a martial arts champion. Alabaster fell back in response to protect Othala.
Triumph swore and burst from cover, shouting at Victor. The sonic blast hit him, but the invulnerability from Othala was still active- the ripples of the sonic blast broke around him.
“You’ll have to do better than that, hero,” Victor sneered, levelling his pistols at Triumph. Triumph braced himself- he was durable and he was wearing armour, but bullets were going to hurt like a motherfucker.
“Victor!”
Triumph shouted again as Victor’s attention flickered- still no effect, but it let Triumph close the distance and throw Victor aside like a sack of potatoes. Victor twisted in midair, rolled with the landing, and sprang to his feet like a cat, looking back towards his teammates.
Some new figure was attacking the Empire- someone in a dark hoodie with a cheap plastic mask, definitely a beginner. Despite the poor costume, their ability was obvious- one punch doubled Alabaster over, the next crashed into his face and knocked him on his back, landing at Othala’s feet.
“Surrender,” the newcomer began just as Othala dropped down and tapped Alabaster. He leapt to his feet again with a snarl and threw himself at the new hero.
A feeling from the headband- all the movement around her, feeding into her awareness. Alabaster’s punch seemed like the most obvious thing in the world.
“Better watch where you’re going, Hebert,” Sophia laughed as Taylor tripped over her outstretched leg.
It was trivial to knock his arm away while she slammed a punch of her own into his stomach. Alabaster grunted, but he didn’t go down as easily as before. Something Othala gave him, no doubt.
A high kick did a better job, pushing him back a step, giving Taylor room to think. Alabaster could just keep resetting- Othala was the one handing out temporary powers.
The shoes pulsed at her thought, letting her shoot forward with a brief burst of speed- around Alabaster and right next to Othala, who shrieked in panic.
“Aw, why’re you running off, Taylor?” Emma sneered. “Don’t you know it’s rude to leave when someone’s talking to you?”
Othala lashed out with even less technique than Alabaster- Taylor caught her wrist and twisted hard, pulling on Othala’s belt at the same time. The movement flipped Othala over entirely, and she landed on her back with a yelp. An elbow to the face knocked Alabaster down as he rushed her again. That was the breastplate’s effect, she knew- strength and durability. At least the headband let her know how to pull her punches.
“You’ll pay for that!” Taylor felt the danger through her headband and looked around to see Victor levelling both guns at her.
“Crap,” Taylor squeaked.
Her arms came up; her mother’s old silver bracelets, one of the last things Taylor had left of her, and the first piece she’d chosen for her hero costume, pushed her reflexes into overdrive, bringing her arms up in front of her.
Twin clangs rang out as the bullets bounced off her bracelets and tinkled to the ground.
Taylor stared down at the ground. She’d tested her powers a little, and she’d known she was fast, but-
Victor snarled and fired again. Taylor felt the bullets coming through her headband, and moved her arms again, deflecting and blocking the shots. There was no time to think, only react.
A shout from Triumph hit Victor from the side, and this one knocked him off his feet- Othala’s power boost must have worn off. Triumph bolted forward and started fighting the remaining ABB guys in earnest, with shouts and super-strong punches.
Movement from below. Taylor turned and grabbed Othala’s arm, tugging her away from Alabaster as he reached out. Othala flung out a foot instead- Alabaster grabbed Othala’s foot with one hand and raised the other one at Taylor.
A stream of fire burst from Alabaster’s hand; Taylor threw her arms up in front of her face as the fire washed over her. It burned- but she realised that it burned like a too-hot shower, not like melting flesh. She threw herself to the side, rolled, and came up in a crouch, checking her hands. Her breastplate- even unfinished, its effect had protected her whole body.
No burns on her skin anywhere that she could feel, and her mask and armour were intact- but her sleeves were falling apart as the fabric burned. So was the rest of her hoodie and jeans, dropping off in burning pieces leaving Taylor in her armour and mask. She shrieked and tried to cover herself. She hadn’t worn anything revealing in years, and now she was stuck in basically a minidress!
Alabaster shot another blast of fire her way. Taylor dodged sideways, turned it into a cartwheel, and then leapt up and forward, over the flames to hit Alabaster with a flying kick. No holding back this time- the blow knocked Alabaster across the street and into a lamppost. Taylor grabbed Othala’s shoulder as she tried to run, and pulled the cable from her hip. Her power flowed through the cable; it glowed with a soft light, and she flicked it at Alabaster as he tried to stand up. The cable coiled around him and itself, tying him securely to the lamppost. The glow was odd- none of her other pieces had done that.
“Bitch,” Othala snarled, trying to pry Taylor’s fingers apart. Taylor switched her grip to Othala’s costume, and lifted her off her feet. She’d practised lifting heavy stuff around down in the basement, but lifting a grown woman was still surprisingly easy.
“Stop,” she said to Othala, shaking her a little for emphasis. Othala paled and stopped struggling.
“Nice job,” Taylor heard. Triumph stood up from cuffing Victor’s hands behind his back, pulling a few knives from the villain’s belt as he finished. “Haven’t seen you before. I’m guessing your name starts with a W?”
“No?” Taylor said, confused.
“Really? I mean, you’ve got the W on your, ah, chest there,” Triumph said, gesturing vaguely.
Taylor felt the blush spreading behind her mask. “Uh, that’s not on purpose. I made the armour myself, but I didn’t have time to paint it.”
Triumph made a noise of understanding. “First time, huh? Well, thanks for rushing out. And for what it’s worth, I think you make it work.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Othala complained.
“Quiet,” Taylor said. “How about telling us what the Empire’s planning to do next?”
“Go fuck yourself,” Othala snapped.
“Kaiser’s plan is to draw out the ABB with a bunch of smaller attacks, then either regroup to take out Lung together or fall back to let the heroes handle him.”
Everyone turned to look at Alabaster, who looked utterly shocked. “What the fuck, Alabaster?!” Othala demanded.
“I don’t know why I said that!” Alabaster protested.
Taylor focused on the cable, and the little pulse of her power she’d felt when Alabaster spoke. “He’s telling the truth,” she said.
“You have a lasso that makes people tell the truth?” Triumph asked. “That’s a game-changer.”
“I didn’t know it could do that,” Taylor said truthfully. Not like she’d tested her powers with other people before.
“Well, let’s find out what the rest of these clowns know.”
“Triumph and new hero Wondrous responding!”
“Wondrous?” Miss Militia wondered for a split second. Then she had to turn and run as Fenja’s foot crashed down on the street. Miss Militia fired behind her with an SMG loaded with rubber bullets- the situation still wasn’t quite bad enough for her to use live ammunition.
Unfortunately, Fenja was close to her full size, wearing steel armour and holding a sword and shield. The rubber bullets were about as effective against her as BB pellets. At least they still hurt, judging from Fenja’s snarl of pain.
Miss Militia turned again once she had enough distance, switching to an assault rifle in a blur of green and black energy, and aiming for Fenja’s helmet. Fenja yelped as the first few rounds rattled against her helmet, raising her shield to cover her face. Miss Militia switched targets to Fenja’s foot instead, with rock salt shells. It pitted the metal, and Fenja yelped again.
“Incoming!” Triumph roared. Miss Militia stood aside, and Triumph raced past, a girl in red and blue clinging to his back, hair streaming out behind her. Triumph skidded to a halt and shouted at Fenja’s foot, knocking it back and making her stumble. The girl, who must have been Wondrous, tumbled off the bike, drawing a coil of rope from her belt that glowed gold.
“Triumph, can you give me a boost?” Wondrous asked, twirling the rope. Triumph put his hands together into a saddle, and when Wondrous put one foot on top, heaved upward. Wondrous went shooting up, grabbing the lip of a nearby rooftop and throwing herself over.
“Introductions?” Miss Militia called out as Triumph revved his bike and drove back away from Fenja as the giant regained her footing.
“She jumped in to help me take down Victor, Othala and Alabaster. Brute/Mover, maybe combat Thinker, and I guess the lasso’s a Striker effect. It makes people tell the truth when she catches them in it.”
Miss Militia’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Really?”
“I know, right?” Triumph said with a grin.
Fenja grabbed a building’s corner for support, getting her feet back under her. Miss Militia fired again, and Triumph charged forward again. Wondrous took a running start and leapt off her rooftop, flicking the golden lasso out in front of her. It looped around the wing on Fenja’s helmet, and Wondrous swung down and around to land a two-footed kick against Fenja’s kneecap. The villain shrieked and stumbled again.
Triumph hit Fenja’s other knee with a sonic shout; Miss Militia switched to a grenade launcher and fired a tear gas round at Fenja’s head. Fenja stumbled and cursed as her feet fell out from under her, then shrieked as the tear gas exploded in her face.
Wondrous yanked on the lasso, hard enough to make Fenja’s head bob, and raced up the giant’s front in leaps and bounds to send a punch crashing into Fenja’s helmet. The metal visibly dented, and Fenja dropped her sword to claw at her face.
Wondrous flicked the lasso off Fenja’s helmet and whipped it around Fenja’s wrist instead, then leapt down, swinging around Fenja’s left leg and hauling on the lasso. Fenja’s right arm was pulled down and across her body as Triumph hit her with another shout.
Miss Militia marched forward, firing larger rubber bullets as Fenja struggled and wobbled. Wondrous kicked off from behind Fenja’s leg and swung herself into the back of Fenja’s knee, folding her leg under her and sending her toppling to the ground, her shield trapped underneath her.
Triumph’s next shout hit her in the face; Miss Militia kept up a stream of rubber bullets’ and Wondrous vaulted over to slam punches into Fenja’s helmet. The combined assault knocked Fenja limp, shrinking back down to her normal size in front of them.
“Well done,” Miss Militia said, turning her weapon into a pistol and holstering it at her side. “Fenja isn’t an easy opponent.”
“You can say that again,” Wondrous said, turning to face Miss Militia as she pulled her lasso free and coiled it up on her hip. Her costume was obviously homemade, but care had been taken to fit the pieces together. A red breastplate with a gold eagle spreading its wings in a W, short blue skirt with white stars, silver headband, bracers and shinguards. The plastic mask looked out of place with the rest of the look though. “Also, hi,” the girl said, awkwardly raising a hand. “Big fan.”
Militia smiled behind her bandana. She’d spent a lot of time practising to smile with her eyes so people could read her expressions in costume. “Thank you. You’ve done excellent work.”
“Think we can get anything out of Fenja?” Triumph asked, climbing off his bike.
“I don’t think we can afford to wait for her to wake up, and she might try to break out when she does. Let’s get her into custody and move on.”
Taylor clung to Miss Militia’s middle as the older hero took corners at terrifying speed. It was kind of weird how her armour apparently protected all of her body from fire, but let her feel the wind as they raced through the streets. Which was not helping her stay calm. Yeah, her power would probably keep her from getting a road rash, but what if it didn’t?
No time to slow down though- Kaiser was leading an assault towards ABB territory, and the heroes fighting him needed backup. And there was no way that Taylor was going to stand by.
Suddenly there was a bang, and the bikes flipped forward. Taylor yelped as she was flung from the saddle, still holding onto Miss Militia. Triumph was thrown off and landed in a clatter of armour, swearing loudly. Speed from her shoes let Taylor desperately twist in midair and manage to land with her feet under her; but she skidded forward and fell on her ass, Miss Militia on top of her. It didn’t hurt as much as she’d feared, but she was definitely going to have bruises.
Miss Militia climbed off of Taylor and held out a hand. “Thanks for the save.”
“I didn’t know I could do that,” Taylor said honestly, accepting the hand and climbing to her feet. “Triumph, are you okay?”
“Ow,” Triumph replied, hauling himself up. “What the hell was that?”
Miss Militia pointed at the ground- Taylor followed her finger and saw thin metal spikes sticking up out of the asphalt. “Road spikes. One of Kaiser’s tricks for area denial.”
“Does that mean he knows we’re here?” Taylor asked.
Half a dozen translucent armoured figures, each carrying a ten foot long spear, came flying around the corner- some of them came through the corner. Crusader’s ghosts.
“Apparently,” Triumph said, putting his fists up. “I’ll clear a path- you two go on ahead. Your powers won’t work on them.”
“Let me make sure,” Taylor said, grabbing her lasso and flooding it with power. It was more reactive like that, easier to move, like it was a part of her. She twirled it overhead and flicked it forward at the advancing ghosts.
The lead ghost didn’t try to dodge as the lasso’s loop fell over it. Then Taylor yanked, and its arms were pinned to its side. Another pull sent it falling forward, its flight keeping it from hitting the ground.
“Okay, so I was wrong,” Triumph said.
Taylor realised she was grinning beneath her mask. She cracked the lasso like a whip, slamming the ghost into another. Both went tumbling through the air, then faded from view. She pulled the lasso back just as the ghosts hit them.
Taylor wrapped the lasso around her hands, with a length hanging loose between them. She could feel the ghosts’ movements through her headband as instinct, pushing their spears aside with the lasso and dodging their kicks. Triumph grabbed one spear by the shaft and snapped it, then punched the ghost in the face with Brute strength, caving its helmet in before it faded.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Miss Militia circling around, trying to get past. Her weapons wouldn’t be able to touch Crusader’s ghosts.
Unfortunately the ghosts knew that. One of them lunged for Miss Militia.
“No!” Taylor flicked the lasso out around the ghost’s neck and heaved, drawing it tight against the ghost’s throat. It dropped the spear and clawed at the lasso.
Movement from behind her- Taylor turned sideways, and the spear aimed for her chest just sliced along her upper arm instead. The pain made it feel like her arm was falling off as hot blood ran down her arm.
Triumph grabbed the stabbing ghost from behind and snapped its neck, while Miss Militia kicked the one Taylor was holding in the knee hard enough to break it. Taylor looped the lasso all the way around and pulled hard, screaming as the pain increased. She felt the ghost’s windpipe give way, and then it faded like the rest.
“Shit. Are you okay?” Triumph asked.
Taylor raised a hand to the cut, and flinched as her fingers brushed the wound. Moving the arm itself was painful, but it moved. No loss of sensation or any of the stuff she’d learned about in first aid class. “It’s not too bad,” she managed.
“Are you sure? We can take it from here,” Miss Militia offered.
“I’m coming,” Taylor insisted, moving the lasso to her good arm.
Triumph and Miss Militia traded looks. “Okay,” Triumph said dubiously. “But let us take point.”
The three of them moved forward towards the main battle, Triumph in the lead, Miss Militia carrying an assault rifle. The area was ringed with steel blades punching out of the ground and walls. Kaiser stood in the centre, Crusader at his back, spawning more ghosts that Assault and Battery were fighting off. Purity was up in the sky, exchanging fire with Dauntless and Laserdream. Armsmaster was fending off Cricket, Stormtiger and Krieg all at once.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Oni Lee was appearing and disappearing around the battlefield, randomly attacking people with the temporary clones that he left behind with every disappearance. Occasionally one of the clones pulled a pin from their belt, and everyone close had to dodge as the clone exploded.
“Triumph, help Armsmaster,” Miss Militia ordered. “I’ll try to get Purity. Wondrous, can you help Assault and Battery?”
“Got it,” Taylor said, throwing herself forward with a burst of speed. The lasso snapped out, catching a ghost by the throat. Taylor yanked hard, and the ghost’s neck snapped immediately.
“Holy crap!” Assault exclaimed. “Glad you’re on our side! You are, right?”
“Yes!” Taylor flicked the lasso around her fist and punched the next ghost to come at her in the stomach. The lasso pressed painfully into her fingers from the impact, but the ghost staggered back, and she followed up with a kick. Something broke beneath her heel, and the ghost faded.
A blade came at her from behind- she threw herself into a roll, jumped high, and kicked another ghost in the face, leapt off its shoulders and landed on another ghost. It stumbled but didn’t disappear, so she locked her feet around its head and threw her whole body to the side with a burst of speed. The ghost’s neck snapped without a sound, and she landed on her feet.
Assault and Battery finished their ghosts off with brutal blows. More poured off Crusader, but there was enough time for Taylor to snap her lasso out. Cricket saw it coming and cartwheeled aside; but that left her open for Armsmaster to jab her with the spearhead of his halberd, crackling with electricity. Cricket made a strangled noise and dropped.
Oni Lee appeared between Kaiser and Crusader. A blade skewered him, but he’d already teleported, leaving the clone to pull the pin on a grenade. Crusader’s ghosts flew him and Kaiser away, but not fast enough to avoid being thrown by the explosion.
Taylor charged forward, ducking past Crusader’s ghosts and aiming for the man himself. The lasso snaked out and caught his foot, and his ghosts weren’t enough to stop Taylor from pulling him to the ground. Crusader split off another ghost at once, both copy and original stabbing at her with their spears. Taylor slapped Crusader’s spear aside with her bracelet and deflected the ghost’s spear with the lasso, then burst forward and slammed a haymaker into Crusader’s helmet. He dropped, and the ghosts disappeared.
Without the ghosts to hold him, Kaiser fell several feet onto his back. Blades sprung up around him in a ring to hold off the heroes.
The remaining Empire forces immediately tried to converge on their leader- Stormtiger and Krieg leapt away from their respective duels, while Purity dropped out of the sky to hover over Kaiser’s fallen form like a racist shooting star.
None of them were fast enough to stop Oni Lee from teleporting in and pulling another pin. Kaiser threw up a wall of steel, but the explosion still knocked him back into his own defensive ring. One of the blades went right through the armour on his shoulder, drawing a scream of pain.
“Kaiser!” Krieg yelled, bounding forward. Purity blasted Oni Lee from above, who crumbled to ash, already replaced with more clones. Triumph managed to clip Stormtiger with a shout, while Assault and Battery rushed at Krieg.
Taylor charged forward, leaping over the blade ring and around the remains of Kaiser’s defensive wall. As he struggled to pull himself off the blade with groans of pain, Taylor threw the lasso around his shoulders and pulled hard. Kaiser was torn off the blade with a scream, and right into her fist.
Kaiser’s helmet rang like a bell, but blades shot up towards her. She leapt high, pushing herself away from the longest with a bracer, and kicked Kaiser in mid-air. He staggered from the blow, clutching at his dented helmet. Taylor landed in a crouch, the power from her shoes driving her forward, and grabbed him around the waist to throw him up and back in a suplex. Kaiser hit the ground head first and went limp.
“Get away from him!” Taylor threw her arms up in a guard on instinct, and caught Purity’s blast on her bracers. The sheer force made the road crack under her feet, and she could feel her arms trembling. It was too much for her.
A shot rang out, and Purity’s attack cut off. Miss Militia fired again and again, hitting Purity with repeated shots that knocked her around. Red forcefields boxed her in as Laserdream descended, and Dauntless’s arclance came down like a bolt of lightning to strike Purity. She dropped without a sound, her light flickering.
“Oni Lee’s running,” Armsmaster said in the sudden quiet. Taylor turned around and blinked in surprise. The other heroes had taken out the remaining Empire capes while she’d been preoccupied. Then again, they were powerful heroes who’d been doing this much longer than she had. “Excellent work, everyone.”
“Wondrous, you alright?” Triumph asked, coming up to the edge of the blade ring.
Taylor let her tired arms go limp and took a deep breath. She was bruised, bloodied, exhausted, and wearing way less clothing than she was comfortable with. She’d also taken down a bunch of villains, and veteran heroes were looking at her with respect.
She didn’t try to fight the smile spreading across her face. “I feel wonderful.”