The next night I had an intense past-life nightmare. Even compared to some of the things I had been through, there was just something about having your guts ripped out by a ten-foot shark-man- a special sort of horror, one that I especially wished I could forget. At least I managed not to start screaming, this time.
Strangely, I woke up curled around my side, clutching at where Cricket's kama had cut me- which was silly- it was a fairly minor wound, and I'd already fixed it. I'd fixed it. But the urge to check- to touch my back and find undamaged flesh- kept creeping up on me as I went through my morning routine. Over a nothing injury. Absurd. I had too much experience with getting hurt to be hung up on this. I had things to do- I couldn't lie in bed all morning. If I had a little moment, standing in the shower, where the water on my face felt like tears and I had to take a second, it was nothing- thoughts about Stormtiger were to be expected. Killing someone was never easy. I breathed through it, and then I was fine.
I rushed through breakfast without talking much to Dad- I think he was still a little angry with me from the other night. Then, I left "for school", which meant lurking in an alley until I was sure Dad had left for work, and then going back home.
I had decided to take today off. Not because I was shaken- just because I wanted to plan, and I was going to spend most of my time preparing my rituals to spy on Hookwolf and Cricket.
But first I spent an hour or so filling a notebook with notes on Hermetic theory- it was helpful even to rewrite the basics, but with the way the details and nuances of more advanced work tended to sort of fade in and out of focus, I absolutely needed to get anything and everything I could down while it was clear. I had the outline of all of it, but the nuances- it was like there were just so many memories in my mind that it was hard to keep things in focus. Things I'd learned repeatedly were so much easier, but I hadn't always managed to progress my studies beyond the basics before I got killed.
God, this whole thing was just so weird.
I lasted maybe three hours before I gave up and went back to my base at the storage lot. It was always easier to concentrate there- there were too many memories in my house, too many distractions.
As soon as I was ready, I started watching Hookwolf. It wasn't easy- it's not like I had an incredibly strong connection to the man- but I had all the time in the world. I barely got anything that first day, mostly just visions of him hanging out in some grimy bar, but after a less traumatic night's sleep (some WW2 flashbacks) I was ready to get back to it.
I wished I had better tools for this- cliche as it might have been, but a crystal ball would have been helpful, although I could make do with a glass bowl partly full of water and a painstakingly prepared set of nested circles and pentacles. I still wasn't able to keep the spell active for very long, which was frustrating, but I watched them anyway, at random intervals throughout the day. Mostly without learning anything useful.
He spent a lot of his time making angry phone calls about Stormtiger, or training at some grimy gym, or out drinking. It also turned out that he was apparently a pretty good cook, which was unexpected. I also accidentally got to see a few things I really wish I hadn't- apparently there was such a thing as Empire cape groupies. I can't even remember the last time I blushed like that. Not the kind of observation I was trying to do here.
That was the day before the Simurgh attacked Canberra.
I couldn't have gone- I didn't even hear about it until it was over, because of the time difference. Even if I had known, I couldn't have gotten there, not unless I could have somehow found a cape who could do make it happen.
I wouldn't have gone- I was in no way ready for that fight. Going would have been the wrong choice. I would probably have died without accomplishing anything. I didn't even know what the Endbringers were, let alone what to do about them.
I told myself these things, over and over, and still I felt ashamed.
There was no footage of the battle, obviously, and they were still probably days or weeks away from releasing any sort of casualty lists or figures, but all I could think was: another city, gone. God, how many people had been lost to them already? How many had died fighting these endless battles? I hadn't even thought about it- just another- just something I'd pushed to the back of my mind, because what could I do about it?
But if not me, then who? The most powerful capes in the world, working together, couldn't stop them. Couldn't even figure out what they were. The 7th Protocol of the Traditions commanded me to protect the Sleepers. I could have at least tried.
God, what were they?
Everyone was looking for some Parahuman related explanation- powers grown out of control, or tinker superweapons or whatever else. But were they? Or were they something... else. Reality was full of monsters that the PRT and the Protectorate had no conception of. I had literally just met a vampire. If the Endbringers weren't a Parahuman phenomenon, if they were more from my side of the proverbial street...
What would happen to someone who Awakened in a world full of Capes, with nobody to explain to them what was actually going on? What would they think, if it wasn't that they were a Cape? How long could they last, before succumbing to Quiet.
What would a Marauder who thought they were a Supervillain turn into, if left to their own devices for too long?
Or maybe they were creations- the black hats wouldn't do it, but what about the Fallen? They took forms that evoked our myths and legends. Some kind of twisted signature? Or, what? Umbrood from some unknown realm? Bygones, from ancient and forgotten times, raging across a world of Parahumans that no longer rejected them?
They were city-killers, country-killers, and I was just some helpless girl, just like-
I had to do something.
I was halfway to my base by the time I cooled off. Obviously it made sense to be angry about this whole situation, but the most recent attack was over and done. I had to control myself. Be calm. This wasn't about how I mad I was feeling. But there were things I could do.
A Seeking.
It shouldn't be that hard. I already knew what I was doing, after all. But meditating my way into it took a lot longer than I was expecting- probably because I was still hyped up about the whole Endbringer thing. But I had done this so many times before. I could easily do it again.
I was completely unprepared for what actually happened. Memories. I was dragged into a past life- Eastern Europe, '44. A battle- an assault on the lair of a particularly monstrous Nephandus. And I was me again. Marie, not Taylor. Only this time I knew what was coming- surely that was the test, to do better?
Only it all fell apart- the Seeking collapsed, and I woke back in my base, gasping, soaked in sweat. Undeterred, I tried again.
And again.
And again.
I must have attempted a Seeking dozens of times over the next two days, but nothing I did worked. I kept finding myself thrown into old memories, but no matter what I did, what changes I made, what new choices- even doing the exact same things I had done in reality. None of it worked. I could remember it all perfectly, in the moment. Every action, every spell. I abandoned my implements, I varied my casting, I tried to force the results through sheer will. I rewrote events however I could.
Nothing worked.
What was my Avatar trying to tell me? I could feel her, all the time- it was like standing with my back to a bonfire. Heat, beating down on me, sometimes even when I was awake.
What was the message? Was it just too soon? Maybe I should just refocus- deal with the Empire, first. Give it some time. Let the memories settle in my mind. It couldn't hurt to try.
I just needed that bastard Hookwolf to actually meet with an Empire cape while I was watching him. Hookwolf, from what I knew about him, would be very hard to put down, and meanwhile losing Cricket wouldn't exactly be a huge blow to the Empire. I wanted one of their other capes. Especially Kaiser.
Finally, two days after the Canberra attack, I ran out of patience. The Empire had significantly increased their presence in the parts of town that I had been attacking in, with a special focus on the area around the intersection I'd given that cab driver – I'd seen groups of unmasked (so, presumably unpowered) gang members walking the streets in groups of five to ten, as well as likely E88 members loitering on the corners more and more often in the area when I went to visit my base. Clearly the cabbie's information had gotten back to them. No Capes, though. I guess they were too good to patrol.
My old 'costume', such as it was, had been completely ruined, but it wasn't incredibly hard to replace- I went with a baggy black winter coat over a red hoodie, hiding my face behind a painter's mask and some ski goggles. I wasn't sure if the 'rookie Parahuman' ruse was still worth pursuing- I'd certainly tipped my hand that I wasn't just a pyrokinetic, at this point- but it was cheap to assemble.
I could have just started attacking their patrols, but I didn't for two reasons. The first was that they were carrying a lot of guns- and I was no expert, but those weapons looked pretty illegal to me. I could stop a bullet, but trying to stop a dozen or two might be a bit much for me. For now. The second reason was also that they were carrying a lot of guns- and I didn't think that random gang members would keep weapons like these in their own homes.
Which meant an armory of some kind. Maybe the kind of place a bunch of Capes would rush to defend?
In the end, it was easy. Easy to find one of their patrols one evening. Easy to wrap myself in shadows and watch them- would-be Nazis walking openly and armed on the streets of an American city, and where were the police? The Protectorate? The PRT? Infuriating, but I managed to restrain myself. Instead of attacking, I built connections, mystic links that would make them easier to track later.
I still really wanted to just attack them. Instead, I retreated, back to my base- I was already set up for the spell I wanted to do, which just left me with the tedious task of watching them wander around town until they decided to give up and go home.
It was after about an hour of this that it occurred to me that this might be a trap.
The Empire guys I was watching looked too calm. They didn't look like they were searching, and they didn't really look like they expected to be attacked- which told me that whoever had sent them hadn't told them to expect me specifically. It looked, instead, like they actually were just patrolling. Which, actually, made sense... would they really expect to find me just wandering around the area where I was last seen- days ago, now- at night?
The question now was were they bait for me to attack, or a lure for me to follow? I was sure that Kaiser would be more than happy if one of his minions happened to spot me, but it didn't make sense that that would be his main plan- they knew basically nothing about what I looked like beyond a rough idea of my height and build. Their only hope would be to spot me in costume, and they couldn't think that I wouldn't notice their people hanging around. Although, moving into the area like this would also serve to intimidate the locals- they could be hoping someone would give me up?
But my instincts told me that these patrols were out here to be attacked. Which meant I needed a better plan.
First, I finished finding the Empire's stash house/armory. It was only another few hours of watching, although it put me way past my bedtime. I'd have to sneak in in the morning and pretend I'd been out for a jog again- on that note, I probably should take up running. When all else failed, the ability to flee without getting winded after five steps could end up saving my life.
Finally, as it was getting close to midnight, the Empire guys gave up and I was able to watch them as they drove back to an anonymously shabby four-story apartment building that seemed to be a few blocks away from their main patrol area. The guys went inside, and I watched and listened as they dropped off their weapons and ammunition. There were already a few guys inside and one of them, the one with a lot of tattoos and expensive-looking clothes, was apparently in charge here, because they all reported in to him before leaving.
Safehouse found.
Now I just needed to invent a spell to detect Parahumans.
----
A/N: Guess what I forgot to post last week, oops. Like I was working on 1.8 and trying to remember something from 1.7 and checked the thread and uh oh.
Anyway, Taylor continues to have a normal time, psychologically, Endbringer-related freakouts notwithstanding.
I don't think Marauders and Quiet have been mentioned before, so- Quiet is a term for a type of mystical madness that Mages can get when they lose touch with reality, and a Marauder is a Mage who has completely succumbed to it to the point that they impose their maddened beliefs onto the world around them in their own personal bubble of warped reality.
'Black hats' is a slang term referring to the Technocracy (shortened from 'black hats and mirror-shades', ie: the old stereotypical appearance of the Men in Black).
I also dunno if I've definite a Seeking, but basically it's a mystical vision quest a Mage goes on to achieve greater enlightenment (Arete) so that they can do stronger magic. They can take a lot of forms, and this particular one is pretty nonstandard.
A spell to detect nearby Parahumans would be pretty easy, but since obviously there were no Parahumans in any of her past lives she has to sit down and figure it out rather than just remembering ways to do it. She could try to just improv it on the fly, but why bother when there's no rush (It'd end up being Correspondance 2/Spirit 1 I think)
Uh, yeah, I'm still alive. Sorry for the delayed update. Next one should be out pretty soon. Enjoy! Award ReplyReport260Behold!8/9/2023NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Initiate 1.8 New View contentBehold!impervious to your most powerful magnetic fieldsAward Recipient14/9/2023Add bookmark#110Figuring out how to magically detect a Parahuman turned out to be both easier and more difficult than I had expected: easier, after it occurred to me that I could test my work by remotely observing Hookwolf or Cricket. More difficult, because my first thought, trying to detect the Gemma, proved irritating to try to articulate as a spell especially without a Parahuman brain at my disposal. My second idea, to treat it like some sort of possession, also proved to be less than useful.
Obviously there was something off about them- I remembered Sophia's aura- but it wasn't quite like anything I'd dealt with across nine lifetimes. The breakthrough proved to be when I started thinking of them as connected to something rather than inhabited by it.
Once I figured that out it only took another two days to work out what I wanted. Thankfully, the connection seemed essentially identical in both Cricket and Hookwolf.
I just had no idea what it was they were actually connected to. At this point, I wasn't sure I wanted to know. No, that wasn't true- I wanted to know very, very badly. I just didn't think I was prepared to try to find out. Randomly voyaging into the Umbra could be deadly dangerous at the best of times, which these clearly weren't. I would need to be a lot more powerful and prepared before I felt secure enough to attempt such a thing.
But the question still nagged at me. I tried not to think about it- there was nothing I could do, and nobody I could ask. Unless the vampire knew something, if that was a risk I wanted to take right now. Which it wasn't.
What was worrying me was that in my ongoing spying on Hookwolf and Cricket, I didn't find any obvious sign that they were lurking around the E88 safehouse I was planning on targeting. Was I wrong about it being a trap? How were they supposed to get there to ambush me in time if they were just hanging out? It didn't entirely make sense. Or maybe they were on the outs because they'd failed to get me last time, and Kaiser wanted to try some of his other people? Or maybe Rune was supposed to carry them in on one of her platforms- that might make sense. I hoped so. I wasn't sure if I felt ready to kill someone I was pretty sure was just a child- well, a teen- but I still wanted to show her just how offensive I found her whole aesthetic.
In any case, I tried to make at least some sort of plan for every scenario I could think of, switching between the frustration of trying to make this spell work and the frustration of trying to cover every contingency.
The night after I worked out my spell to my satisfaction I made my way, invisibly, to the rooftop of one of the buildings near the safehouse. I made sure to wait until I saw a group of gang members leaving before I started my ritual. It was late- I'd had to wait until my dad went to sleep- and cold, and I still had at least an hour of work to do on this, not to mention preparing proper defenses, and a few other last-minute things I could think of. Best to get started.
In the end, it took closer to two hours to get everything done- keeping candles lit on a third-storey rooftop proved to be more of a problem than I'd hoped. I was just lucky nobody had seen me- my invisibility had run out somewhere around the 90-minute mark, but even before then my chalk circles and flickering candles and other various implements would have been pretty evident. I was just lucky that the current planetary alignment was reasonably favorable- it cut down on the complications somewhat.
In the end, I was reasonably confident there weren't any Parahumans within roughly 2-3 city blocks, which I was pretty sure validated my 'Rune transport' theory. At least now I should be able to see them coming. Gathering the winds around me, I stepped off the roof and descended smoothly to the street below. On the rooftop behind me, a specially prepared vessel, ie: a small metal garbage can filled with rags and sticks and such and doused in lighter fluid, burned merrily. I would be pulling fire from it, if I needed to. I still didn't have a handle on creating flame, but my Arts were at least sufficient to move it, even over greater distances.
I took a deep breath, and approached the house. I was once again nearly invisible, wrapped in shadows, but I didn't see anyone watching as I crept up to the door. I'd learned how to pick locks in the late 1980s, and it looked like this door was easily that old, so it shouldn't be a problem, even without proper lockpicks. All I had to do was... remember how.
It took almost twenty minutes. It was like all the other memories- the things I'd learned over and over again were easy: history, languages, basics of magic and theory- but trying to call up other skills was a lot harder. They were... slippery. Vague. Blurred, almost. And even when I got them it was like I couldn't hold them for long. There was just too much in my head. But for a little while, it worked.
I stepped carefully inside the house. The second the door opened, I'd been able to hear the sounds of a tv coming from the living room- it seemed like someone was watching a football game or something. Quietly, I moved deeper into the house. I'd augmented my senses in a number of ways- I could feel the electricity in the house's wiring, not to mention see a full 360 degrees, among other things. So I was pretty sure I'd be able to avoid the guard or guards in here. The question was: did I want to?
I didn't.
Preparing myself to pull fire from my burning trash can and hurl it at whoever was waiting for me, I cancelled my invisibility spell and stepped into the living room. The man waiting for me was every inch the E88 gangster- not only was he wearing their colors, but he had a variety of sloppily drawn tattoos on his neck and arms, and his hair was shaved close in the classic skinhead style. He had a tall can of beer in one hand, and a fistful of popcorn in the other, and he didn't even notice when I stepped into the room.
I cleared me throat.
He turned to look at me, eyes bugging out almost comically, throwing the beer can to the side with a yelp. I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could-
"Oh shit!" He screeched, lunging for an old model cell phone that was sitting on the small table in front of him. Before I could stop him, he hit a button.
That's when the building exploded.
I screamed, turning as the wall between this room and the kitchen was ripped apart by a fireball, yelling a desperate Enochian phrase, trying to ward off the flames as I threw myself backwards- and then I was just screaming. Agony, ripping through my chest. I barely even felt myself hit the floor it hurt so much. I gasped and choked, but every attempt at breath was pain. I tried to crawl away, but it hurt to move. Everything was going dark. I needed to heal. I needed- not to die.
The pain was overwhelming. But so was my will. I couldn't speak. Couldn't really move. But I could still think. Could still want. And right now I wanted, as much as I'd ever wanted anything, to be whole.
My will be done.
I gasped, sucking in smoky air. It still hurt a lot to breath, but it was nowhere near as bad. I think I'd managed to stave off most of the explosion, but had still inhaled a lungful of super-heated air, scorching my throat and lungs. I still felt raw, inside, but I was healthy enough to crawl.
So I crawled. I crawled and I mumbled, my best attempt at a coherent spell. Maybe it was just in my head, but it felt like it helped a little. By the time I reached the doorway, I was steady enough to get to my feet long enough to throw it open, burning my hand a little in the process. I managed to stagger out into the street before I collapsed again, but I was improving. I concentrated, gasping out the spell- fragments of my True Name, quick and simple healing magic like I'd done before.
It worked. I still felt bruised and exhausted, but I could take a breath without pain. I picked myself up and ran for the nearest alley, limping slightly as I fled the scene. Down the street, by the corner, I saw a skinny white guy in a leather jacket stand up from the stoop he'd been sitting on. He was staring at me, and he had a phone to his ear.
I ran for it.
I didn't go far- just far enough to break line of sight- before circling around and calling on the winds to fly me back up to the rooftop I'd started this whole misadventure on. I landed heavily, gasping for breath, before patting myself frantically to make sure I wasn't actually on fire. It might have been vain, but I was most relieved to find out that my hair hadn't been burned.
That's when I felt a Parahuman enter the range of my spell- at least one, maybe more. I wasn't sure if I'd set it up properly. But it/they were coming more or less right for me. I grabbed a bottle of water from my bag of supplies, and drank thirstily. Then, I stood, waiting. Let them come. Their trap had almost killed me, but it had also made me very, very angry.
A minute or two later, and I could see them coming- Crusader, held up by one of his own ghost-things, and another few riding on what looked like a floating slab of concrete. Rune, surrounded by a floating ring of debris, and I saw Hookwolf and Cricket, and two others- the albino, what's his name, and another that I wasn't sure of. Victor, maybe. He shifted, and I saw Othala behind him. Victor, then.
I didn't wait for them to get close- as soon as I saw them I began casting, hurling a sheet of flame at Rune's group, using magic to bend the distance so it reached them almost immediately. But Rune was quick- the ring of objects around her surged forwards to intercept the flames. I also saw Hookwolf step forwards, shielding some of the others with the metal erupting from his body.
I turned to look at Crusader, flying towards me at a surprising speed, and thought for a second. I wasn't sure if his projections were fireproof or not- but on the other hand, did they need to be?
I grinned mirthlessly.
There was, after all, a lot of heat all around me. I began to chant. Crusader shrieked as the heat from the burning Empire safe-house suddenly filled the air around him, and he dropped from the sky. That's when Hookwolf leapt at me. Half-transformed already, he launched himself off of Rune's platform at me, but I was able to blurt out a quick spell just before he landed that blew him off course enough to miss the roof I was on.
Meanwhile, Albino-Man had pulled out a pistol and started shooting at me, and Rune was helping him by hurling bricks. I ducked, hearing Hookwolf scrabbling at the wall below me. I grabbed my bag of supplies, and ran for it, keeping low and kicking over my burning trash can as I went. Just as I heard Hookwolf pull himself over the edge of the roof, I finished my next spell and leapt into the air myself, carried by the winds. I looked over my shoulder to see Hookwolf, in full metal monster form, jumping at me, but I muttered a quick word and dropped down under him, going in low towards an alley. I landed, already halfway through the spell to wrap myself in shadows again, and ducked behind a dumpster.
And waited.
I could hear Hookwolf moving around. I could hear sirens, blaring in the distance. But nobody found me. I waited a few minutes, and then got the hell out of the area.
By the time I made it to my base- I couldn't go straight home, I needed to change back into my regular clothes and maybe find a way to stop myself smelling of smoke- I was beyond tired. When I got into the storage unit I'd been using, I threw my bag of supplies down and sat heavily, leaning against the wall for a minute as I tried to summon the energy to grab a granola bar and a water bottle. I ate and drank those quickly, and then pulled off most of my costume, down to just a t-shirt and pants, but even that was a lot for me right now, and before I could finished getting changed I found myself falling asleep.
I don't know exactly how long I slept, but it seemed to still be a bit dark when woke up screaming from another WW2 nightmare/memory. I ate another two granola bars, and drank more water, and then stripped off the rest of my clothes and got dressed again, my dark grey trench coat over black sweatpants and a dark purple hoodie. I was just thankful I'd thought to buy a second pair of shoes for my costume, because the ones I had been wearing were ruined for sure. I piled all my singed clothes in a corner. Then, as I was opening the door to leave, I heard something. Movement, from outside.
Quickly, I spoke a spell to bend the light away from my face, everywhere but the eyes, since I didn't have a mask. Then another spell to give me awareness of the area around me, which revealed a group of three or four people moving through the storage lot. Not right towards me, more like they were searching. Had the Empire tracked me after all?
I drew my dagger, and took a deep breath, and then walked out into the pre-dawn gloom, moving towards where I could feel the intruders.
I turned a corner, and froze when I saw who was there waiting for me.
"You're under arrest," Armsmaster said.
----
A/N: This still counts as 'soon' from last time. Such is my decree! No further questions!
But yeah, uh, turns out when you try to plant the idea that your base is in a certain area in order to lure your enemies there, other people may also notice what you're doing! Uh oh! Things are starting to happen!
I don't think there's much Mage stuff that needs explaining in this one. Most of what she's doing is just using Forces 2 to move energy around, and Correspondence 2 + (other Spheres) to sense stuff, and then Life 2 self-healing like we've seen before.
Enjoy!
(PS- I've been meaning to do more info posts. I was thinking of one about the sub-factions in the Traditions and Technocracy, but if anyone has other specific questions about Mage/OWoD stuff let me know) Award ReplyReport265Behold!14/9/2023NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Initiate 1.9 New View contentBehold!impervious to your most powerful magnetic fieldsAward Recipient30/9/2023Add bookmark#124I stared at him. At Armsmaster. Here. This- this I definitely had not expected. Honestly, part of me was almost star-struck. He had always been one of my favorites. But now, looking at him, something felt... off. Or odd. I didn't like him- I didn't like his suit. Something about it just bothered me. He pointed his halberd at me, and I took a half-step back.
"I decline," I told him. He raised his halberd slightly, mouth tightening in what I thought was probably anger.
"Console," he said more quietly, "I have located an unidentified Parahuman- probably Elementalist. Requesting support at my location."
"Elementalist?" I echoed, startled. He flinched slightly, and I realized I'd probably just told him that my senses were enhanced. I flushed, angry at myself. "I've had a lot of names. That's not one of them."
And that I also probably shouldn't have said.
"It's a temporary designation for internal use until we learn a cape's preferred name," he said curtly. "What's yours?"
I glared at him, but internally I was cringing- how had I forgotten that? I created an entire strategy of trying to portray myself as a rookie cape, and yet somehow I didn't think of a name.
Think of something.
"Why would I give information to someone trying to arrest me?" I said, for lack of a better idea.
"Would you prefer to be processed and interviewed under your real name?" He said. "Now, stop stalling. Remain where you are, take your hands out of your pockets and raise them. Unless you're gonna fight me."
Suddenly, there was a blur of motion, and Velocity was abruptly standing beside Armsmaster, watching me warily.
"Fight us," Armsmaster amended. Behind him, I saw someone flying through the dark pre-dawn sky towards us. I couldn't tell, but it was probably Dauntless, unless the Protectorate had another flier I'd forgotten. Great.
"If I have to," I said, already mentally preparing the spell that would hurl Velocity into the air the second he charged at me. "Or, you could stop wasting your time and go fight some actual villains- the Empire, maybe? They're the ones who blew up their own safe-house last night, trying to kill me."
Armsmaster hesitated slightly.
"It's not that simple," he said, finally. "The situation in this city is extremely delicate- and your reckless attacks are likely to cause more harm than good. And I told you to stop stalling."
I opened my mouth- I'm not sure if I was going to answer him or cast a spell- and the storage unit behind Armsmaster and Velocity exploded, sending all three of us stumbling.
I landed hard on my back, just in time for a second explosion to go off. I rolled away from it, curling into a ball with my hands over my head, gasping in shock for what felt like an hour or two before I could pull myself up on my hands and knees and stagger to my feet.
Everything was on fire. Because of course the Empire had to find me now.
I saw Armsmaster moving, on the ground surrounded by debris. Then, there was a blast of sound as what felt like a strong wind slammed into me from behind, knocking me down again- only this time, my hands had somehow gotten cuffed. Velocity.
I picked myself up. I could see him, blurring briefly around Armsmaster before appearing beside him to help him up. I could see Dauntless, or whoever, coming towards us even faster.
Velocity glanced back at me as I started to stand, and I spat a desperate Enochian phrase as he blurred towards me again, only to be hurled into the air and over my head by my improvised spell.
Armsmaster regained his footing just in time to see me vanish, shadows wrapping around me as I backed away. He paused for a moment.
"I can see you," he said, turning to face me, and I cursed to myself. He took a step towards me, but stumbled a little, leaning on his halberd to keep from falling. I took the opportunity to run for it. I turned, saw Velocity picking himself up off the ground with one of his arms cradled tight to his chest. I chanted another spell, and let the winds lift me up and away, over the line of storage units to land on the street. And, in spite of everything going on, I felt that little thrill over just how brazen I could be, here, in this world of capes.
There were people waiting for me. Teens, by their height- three of them, stepping out of an alley across the street. One in black leather, with what looked like a skull-shaped motorcycle helmet, the other two even more blatantly in costume- a blonde girl in a tight purple-and-black catsuit, and a dark-haired boy who was wearing something almost like a Venetian carnival mask, with the rest of his clothing a pitiful attempt to match that look.
"She's there," Venice Boy said, pointing directly at me.
"Stranger?" Skull Helmet growled, turning his helmet to look at the blonde beside him. She shrugged, and he sighed before continuing. "Look- I know you don't have any reason to trust us, but we can get you out of here, and help hide you- from the Empire and from the Protectorate."
I sneered at them- not that they could see me- and ran.
"She's leaving," the boy said. "Should I?"
"Regent, don't," Skull Helmet said. "We're literally not here to pick a fight."
"Gotta go," I heard the blonde say. "Dauntless incoming."
I just kept running, and didn't look back.
I didn't actually get very far before I had to stop- I seriously needed to work out more, or remember/develop some spells to help with that for me. But at least I was out of the area, and there was no sign of immediate pursuit.
I needed to think.
Not only was the Protectorate looking for me, but knowing my luck they probably thought I'd just tried to blow some of them up. But that didn't explain what the random kids were doing there- unless they were Empire, trying to lure me into a trap? They blow up my base, and then send their junior league to 'rescue' me right into Hookwolf's waiting jaws? Maybe. It seemed over-complicated, and I hadn't read anything anywhere about those three being E88 members.
But right now I just wanted to go home and sleep.
By the time I actually made it across town and back home, the sun had already come up- it was probably at least 7. I just had to hope that dad would believe I'd got out for a run or something, if he was already up, so I took off my coat and bundled in up and, for lack of a better idea, tucked in down beside the stairs on my way up, making sure to get my keys first. Then, quietly, I unlocked the door.
I took two steps into the house before my dad burst out of the kitchen, shouting my name as he saw me, he grabbed me and hugged me tightly for a long time before letting me go. He held my by the shoulders, staring at me- he wasn't wearing his glasses, I noticed absently.
"Where have you been?" He asked loudly. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm sorry," I tried, "I just woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep so I went for a jog around the block a few times. But I'm ok, I promise."
He froze, looking at me for a long moment before he let me go, and stood straight. Looking down at me.
"Don't lie to me, Taylor," he said. "I checked on you after eleven, and you weren't there. I've been up all night, worried sick. I called the police!"
I stood, frozen. I felt like the world had dropped out from under me, vertigo like I was teetering on the edge of some precipice.
"Answer me!" He said, visibly restraining himself from shouting. "Taylor, where did you go last night? What have you been doing?"
"I was just- out," I said dizzily. "Just walking around. I didn't think you've noticed."
"Bullshit," he snapped. "Taylor, you need to tell me- you need to explain to me what's going on. Right now!" Mutely, I shook my head. My mind was racing, trying to think of a way to get out of this. "Emma called the house last night."
My hands clenched into fists.
Emma.
How dare she.
Something must have shown on my face, because he actually leaned back from me for a split second before he caught himself.
"She said you haven't been to school in weeks," dad said. "She said the administration told her you'd transferred."
I said nothing. Emma. I could feel it- all the rage, all the helplessness, the despair, everything she'd done to me- everything I'd worked so hard to bury these past few weeks, burning inside me like an explosion waiting to happen. The house lights flared.
"Taylor, if you don't tell me what's going on-"
Something inside me snapped.
"I killed Crusader last night," I said quietly, staring up at him. Dad flinched, paling. He took a step back, blinking. "I killed Stormtiger, too. That's where I've been, dad. That's what I've been doing."
"You're a cape," he breathed. I shook my head slightly, but he didn't seem to notice- "You- you're the one on the news- you've been burning down buildings all over Empire territory!"
I stared at him, totally confused- I'd set a building on fire, and I was probably being blamed for last night's events, so that made three- hardly all over! I was about to ask him what he was talking about, but he beat me to it.
"Oh my god, you've killed people," he staggered, putting a hand against the wall to brace himself. He was white-faced, and breathing rapidly. "What have you done?"
I didn't answer him. I didn't really know what to say- somehow, I didn't think 'they deserved it' would help, here.
"Okay," dad said. "We can fix this. We can- I- we can do something. You'll stop going out- they won't find you- or, we could go to the PRT- the Wards- self-defense!"
"No," I told him. "I'm not going to the PRT. I'm not joining the Wards. And I'm not going to stop."
"Taylor, you can't take on the entire Empire!" He shouted at me. I just looked at him, trying to hold on to my calm- with my fists clenched so tight it hurt.
"No, dad. They're the ones who can't take me."
"Taylor, enough! I am your father, and I am not going to let you-"
"Let me?" I snapped at him. I stepped back, but he grabbed at me, pushing past me to stand in the way of the door.
"That's right," he said, frantically. "I don't know why you thought you had to do these things- I really don't. But it's over, now, Taylor. Alright? Finished."
"No," I told him again. He reached for me, and I backed away down the hallway, chanting under my breath. Dad followed, trying to catch hold of me, but before he could, he suddenly found himself lifting into the air to smack- not hard- into the ceiling. He yelped. I walked under him, towards the door, turning when I reached it.
"No," I said. "I'm not finished. I'm going to destroy them. All of them."
"Taylor let me go right now," Dad gasped, as he slowly floated down from the ceiling, craning his head to try to look at me. "Taylor Anne Hebert, I am not going to just let you get yourself killed."
"You can't stop me," I told him. "Daniel."
I opened the door, and left the house. All the anger had drained out of me, and I felt nothing- a great, cold, hollowness in the pit of my stomach. I reached down and grabbed my coat, shrugging it on.
"Taylor, don't!" Dad screamed after me. "Taylor come back!"
I ran.
By the time I was halfway down the block, my eyes were blurred with tears, but I somehow managed to find my way to the bus stop and collapse on the bench, and I just. Sobbed. Like every tear I'd wanted to shed over the last two years was just flooding out of me at once. At some point, I fell off the bench, and just knelt there, weeping uncontrollably, until finally I raised my head up and screamed. Above me, one of the streetlights shattered, raining shards of glass down onto the road.
I had lost everything. Everything. Everything that had been actually mine- Taylor's. I had nothing left. But what hurt- what really hurt- was the horrifying realization of just how little I'd had left to lose. No mother. No friends. No school. Just an empty ghost of a relationship with my father- when was the last time I'd actually talked to him? When had we done anything together except make meaningless small talk over meals? Now, even that tiny, pathetic shred of a life was gone.
Taylor was gone.
What a relief.
I froze, in the act of picking myself up off the ground.
What was that?
Yes, grief. Yes, anguish. Yes, loss- but also, relief. Relief that I could- what? Stop being me? Bury myself back in a past life, only now with nothing at all holding me back? Is that what I had been doing?
God, was I really so fucked up that it was easier for me to re-fight the Second World War than deal with my own issues?
And suddenly I knew.
And I felt it- the burning heat- like a bonfire all around me- my burning angel. My Avatar.
Pulling me down.
I was back in Europe- back in the war. Walking the same steps I'd walked with other feet- in another life. I wasn't Taylor, not anymore. Like the other Seekings I'd attempted.
But this time I knew what to do.
I closed my eyes, and let the past go.
I was not Marie. Or Theophania, or Agnes, or any of the other people I had once been.
I was Taylor.
Here and now I was Taylor. And I had my own path to walk. Because memory is not experience. Knowledge is not Enlightenment. Nine times- nine lives- nine deaths. Nine failures. Trying over and over to Ascend. I couldn't just do what I had done. I couldn't just be who I had been. I could look back, learn from what once was, but I had to move forward.
That's what mattered. Me. My Will. My Truth.
My Awakening.
-----
And that's the end of Arc 1, as Taylor realizes that her life matters just in time for her life to blow up.
I really struggled with this one- I hope it works.
Arc 1 was always supposed to be about her not dealing- effectively hiding from everything by living vicariously through her past selves as a powerful wizard (who fought the nazis once upon a time), in order to cope with both her canon baggage plus all her new baggage- something she could throw herself into to feel righteous and powerful. But that's not growth, and part of being a Mage is having an Avatar (in Taylor's case a fairly pushy one) inside you urging you towards enlightenment. So she was stuck- spiritually treading water, with all her attempts at a Seeking failing. Until she got a shock big enough to make her actually think about herself (so in some ways this is her actual Awakening, in the sense that she's finally ready to deal with what's going on with her).
Your mileage may certainly vary on how well I executed that plan, but that's at least what I was going for. I hope you've enjoyed it.Last edited: 7/10/2023 Award ReplyReport288Behold!30/9/2023NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Interlude 1.C New View contentBehold!impervious to your most powerful magnetic fieldsAward Recipient13/10/2023Add bookmark#137The idle chatter in the briefing room stopped, awkwardly, as Colin walked in, but he ignored the looks he was receiving and went to his assigned seat without comment. He would have liked to believe that the response of his teammates was simple surprise- he tried to avoid attending the weekly threat briefings in person if he could, preferring to video-conference in from his workshop whenever possible- but he doubted it. His jaw clenched, but he allowed himself no other outward sign as he took his seat and waited.
Even the Wards had been brought in- something had to be up, something more important than... the girl. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.
"I thought you were on medical leave," Hannah whispered, leaning towards him slightly in her seat.
"Technically I have been taken off of active field duty due to a mild concussion that Panacea was unable to heal," Colin said stoically. "I'm quite capable of attending a meeting, I assure you."
"Alright, is everyone h-" Deputy Director Renick walked into the room, stopping for a moment when he saw Colin, and followed closely by Director Piggot. "Good, let's get started." Renick looked around for a moment and then picked up a dry erase marker and went to the whiteboard at the front of the room, writing out a single world in capital letters.
ELEMENTALIST
Colin's jaw clenched.
"No doubt Armsmaster and Velocity's reports are already making their way through the system," Piggot said. Colin restrained a smirk- he could practically feel Robin cringe. Ironically, the speedster was always late with his paperwork. "But perhaps we could quickly run through it anyway, given how... unprepared we were in our attempts to apprehend her."
Colin's fists clenched. That was more diplomatic than the woman had been earlier. She had not been particularly happy about there being two large explosions in a single night with essentially nothing to show for it, and wasn't shy in letting Colin know it, going over his failure to apprehend the girl in withering detail mere hours ago.
But proper dissemination of information on a hostile cape's abilities was important to the smooth functioning of a Protectorate team. Armsmaster stood, armor creaking.
"As per my report, I have upgraded Elementalist's threat rating to Shaker 7," Colin said. "With the following subratings: Blaster 4, Mover 2, Stranger 2, Thinker 1. I'm still unsure how to describe her power set- in addition to reported pyrokinetic and electrokinetic abilities, I also personally observed some form of light/darkness manipulation, which she first used to hide her face apart from her eyes, and later deployed for total body concealment, at which point I discovered that my helmet's IR sensors were still capable of tracking her. She also displayed the ability to lift both herself and Velocity, which may or may not be a single power."
"It didn't feel like being grabbed," Robin added. "It was- I don't know, maybe some kind of gravity thing? Or like the direction I was going in just... changed?"
Colin rolled his eyes behind his helmet, thoroughly unimpressed by the vague answer.
"Thinker?" Hannah prompted.
"She reacted to me referring to her as Elementalist in spite of the fact that I was barely speaking loudly enough for my helmet mic to pick up," Colin explained. "She also may have heard me coming before our encounter. My current theory is that she has some sort of sound manipulation power that she used to overhear me, but enhanced senses or an ability to intercept radio transmissions have to be considered. In any case, I would advise that anyone who encounters her assume that she can hear you at range. Which brings me to my next point: when she heard me identify her as 'Elementalist' to Console, she stated that she had had a lot of prior names but declined to provide any, which leads me to believe that our initial identification of her as a recent trigger was incorrect, probably the result of a deliberate ruse on her part. Given that she evidently rigged her base to self-destruct, I surmise that she was deliberately staging at least some of her attacks to try to lure the Empire to that location, although a number of the acts of arson she's linked to don't fit this pattern."
"You're sure she was the one who detonated the bombs?" Piggot asked.
"She had her hands in her pockets until the explosions went off," Colin said. "Ample opportunity to activate a detonator- but no, I'm not certain. She blamed the previous explosion on the Empire Eighty-Eight trap- truthfully, according to my lie detector prototype. Possibly they tried again."
"Anything else?"
"Yes," Colin said. "Our assessment, based on witness testimony, was that we were dealing with someone in her late teens, but if she does in fact possess a sound manipulation power she may be using it to alter her voice, in order to present herself as younger. Additionally, while according to our sources, Stormtiger was killed by some sort of electricity blast, we have camera footage of Crusader being knocked out of the sky with no visible sign of attack."
"So," Piggot said with a sigh. "We have a powerful, versatile and dangerous cape, potentially an experienced player trying to rebrand herself in Brockton Bay, who has shown herself to be both unconcerned with collateral damage- what was it, nine buildings?- and willing to use lethal force. I'm not exactly crying over the loss of Stormtiger or Crusader, but I still want her brought in. You're authorized to offer her a deal if she's willing to come in peacefully, but I'm still officially designating her as a Villain. Oh, and the Wards are not to engage her at all." There was some half-hearted grumbling at that, but it subsided under the Director's glare. "Right now our top priority with her is information, so keep your eyes and ears open. We'll also be reaching out to other departments to see if anyone else has heard of her under a past name."
"Failing that, Image is also working on a more appropriate name for the press release," Renick put in.
"Losing her base may slow her down for the immediate future," Colin said. "But the fact that she had it prepared to self-destruct may mean she already has a backup location ready. Either way, the Empire won't take the loss of two capes and so many of their safe-houses lightly, so we should be prepared for escalation, especially if the city's other villain groups perceive the Empire to be weakened."
"Unfortunately, the situation with the girl is the least of our worries right now," Piggot said. "We have reports- reliable, but still technically unconfirmed- that Heartbreaker is dead."
There was a moment of silence. Someone whistled, long and low. Colin could see the confusion evident on his team's faces as they glanced at each other.
"Isn't that a good thing, ma'am?" Shawn asked.
"Not when it looks like the Sabbat killed him," Piggot said bluntly. Shawn winced. Colin saw Robin flinch. "Loathsome as he is, he's been one of the major factors preventing them from consolidating their hold on Montreal. Intel estimates that if he's dead- unless one of his children manages to take power and prevent them from scattering- the Sabbat will take the city within the next 2-3 weeks. PRT M took too many casualties in their attempted raid last year, they won't be able to hold them off without significant reinforcements." She shook her head wryly. "Which probably means we can't expect any in the near future. It also means that once they've consolidated, they'll start looking to expand."
"Us?" Hannah asked.
"Ottawa and Toronto are both hard targets," Piggot said. "They already have a good foothold in Atlantic Canada and northern Quebec. Taking Brockton Bay would basically give them half of New England, and it's the perfect staging ground for an attack on Boston or a move into upstate New York. So find some time in the near future to review our threat assessment dossier on the Sabbat, sooner rather than later."
"Director, if I may?" Colin asked. Piggot glanced at him, weighing him with her gaze momentarily before nodding. Colin stood, fighting a slight wave of dizziness, and continued. "We have almost no information on the inner workings of the Sabbat, but we know they are supremacists: their ideology, as far as we understand it, is based on the idea that they are the rightful rulers of the world, and all non-members are inferior. They are rabidly committed to this doctrine to the point that no member has ever been known to defect. They do not adhere to the normal conventions of cape culture, including truce rules. Members do not typically wear costumes, and they have proven their willingness to attack capes out of costume, or threaten a cape's family and friends. They're known to have a disproportionately high number of Masters, and often favor long-term infiltration tactics followed by sudden bursts of chaotic violence using massed waves of low-level Brutes and it's believed that one of their leadership has some sort of power-granting capability, like a physical-enhancement version of Teacher. Confirmed Sabbat presence in the city is grounds for the declaration of a Class A Emergency Situation, and the Chief Director's Office has preemptively authorized the use of lethal force against known members."
Colin hesitated- bringing up the Case 13 phenomenon was highly correlated with increased psychological distress among Protectorate and affiliated Parahumans, but it was also pertinent information that-
"Well said," Piggot interrupted his train of thought. "I also want everyone to thoroughly review our anti-infiltration procedures. For now, we'll also be liaising more closely with local law enforcement groups in our area of responsibility- state police and highway patrol agencies especially, as well as Customs & Border Protection at the Canadian border, the FBI's Special Affairs Department, and our neighbouring PRT Departments- particularly Boston. Be prepared for a potential increase of our out-of-city patrols once we've briefed Dovetail and Sere. If the Sabbat does decide to come our way, I want as much warning as we can get. Any questions?"
Nobody said anything.
"Good," Piggot said. "Anything else? Fine. We'll be adjusting our patrols to focus on E88 territory in the near future- they'll be wanting to show that Elementalist hasn't weakened them. A show of force from us might discourage the rest of the city's villains from getting involved. I do not want an all-out gang war, especially not now. The best way to avoid that is probably to bring in Elementalist- or whatever Image ends up wanting to call her, so get to work." She paused, glancing over at Colin. "Not you, Armsmaster. If you set one foot in your lab before your off medical leave I'll have you removed from the building, understood? Go home and get some rest. The rest of you, check your emails over the weekend for updated patrol schedules and so on."
Colin nodded stiffly as Piggot stood and left the room, Assistant Director Renick on her heels.
"That's it for the Wards," Hannah said, "unless anyone has anything, you can go enjoy your Friday night. Aegis, remember to check in about patrol schedules? Good."
Two seconds after the Wards had gathered their things and left the room, Ethan slumped forwards in his chair, resting his (helmeted) head in his hands for a moment.
"Fuuuuuck," Ethan moaned.
"Something to add, Assault?" Colin said, briefly considering a redesign of his helmet that would potentially allow him to glare more effectively.
"Only that this is a good time to ask about getting that transfer," Ethan said sourly. Somebody muttered something, and Ethan straightened in his chair, glancing around at the rest of the team. "Look- I heard some stories, back in the day. The general theme being 'don't cross the Sabbat'. Like, even Jack Slash stays clear. Yeah. It was right around the time when the Siberian showed up- before she'd joined up with the Nine, back when all the news was about... Hero. Anyway, Jack took the Nine over the border. They ended up in some little town called New Dijon. All anyone knows is that he went in with a full nine and came out three days later with five. And they haven't hit a Sabbat town since."
"Is there a point to this?" Colin said harshly. "Everyone knows how dangerous the Sabbat is."
"Dangerous is a small word for the biggest Parahuman gang in the world," Ethan muttered.
"Enough," Colin said. "Focus on our immediate situation- and get ready. We've dealt with the worst Brockton Bay has to throw at us, and we'll deal with this too. If it happens. We just have to prepare properly."
He stood, slightly stiffly, and strode out of the room, already thinking about how to circumvent the order banning him from his lab- he had several ideas already. The situation in Brockton Bay had proven intensely frustrating to him, and his recent humiliation at the hands of that child didn't help his mood. Capturing Elementalist- or whatever new villainous name Image decided to stick her with- would be personally gratifying, but more importantly with her off the streets he would have time to finish his tranquilizer project. Bringing in Lung would be a massive boost to his career.
Come to think of it, so would leading the team that managed to fend off a major Sabbat incursion.
What an interesting idea.
----
A/N: dun dun dunnn
sorry, I meant to have this out several days ago but got busy. I feel like 'interlude where everyone sits around and talks about what the protagonist just did' might be a little... idk, trite? But OTOH I wanted to, so.
For those of you not up on Old World of Darkness Lore, the Sabbat are not in fact a parahuman gang so much as the less friendly of the two major vampire* factions, in the 'we should act like the monsters we are because we're superior beings and humans are cattle and we should rule the world' mold. In this fusion, they sort of take the place of Worm's Fallen (Valefor et al) as the big sinister/gross faction nobody likes, since public endbringer worship isn't a thing (for reasons).
There are definitely people out there who have seen Sabbat members drinking blood and put two and two together but even on Earth Bet nobody wants to be the first government employee to stand up and claim that they believe in vampires.
*Yes, I mean Cainite here, so don't even talk to me about the Kuei-jin
Meanwhile, the PRT is forming a semi-accurate impression of Taylor (I'm not really sure if those threat ratings are right but I tried), although they seem to have some strange ideas about just how many buildings she's actually burned down.
uh, I feel like I'm forgetting something but I can't think of it so
enjoy!Last edited: 14/10/2023 Award ReplyReport271Behold!13/10/2023NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Awaken 2.1 New View contentBehold!impervious to your most powerful magnetic fieldsAward Recipient24/11/2023Add bookmark#161(this might be overcautious, but trigger warning for allusions to Taylor feeling suicidal)
--
I don't know how long I sat there at the bus stop, but it felt like weeks passed as I sat staring at nothing as the weight of everything I'd been doing- everything I was- washed over me. Everything I'd been repressing- a terrifying knot of feelings too complicated for me to put a name to.
I'd wrapped my other lives around myself like a wall, and told myself that that was all I was. Pretending. Living the fantasy of being a powerful mage- not Taylor, who had lost her mother and her friend and her father and her life. Taylor was wounded. Taylor was unhappy. Taylor wanted to be someone new, even if it meant... erasing herself.
But no matter what I did, Emma still managed to hurt me in ways I never would have been able to imagine. But, in doing so, she had also woken me up- it took her blowing up my life to make me realize I was still living it.
So, I was pretty messed up.
And that was without even touching the nine lifetimes of trauma I had crammed into my head, including the experiences of being violently killed in a number of unpleasant ways. If I'd had total recall of all of it, I don't know how I would have been able to function, but I could still feel the... shape of it, blurry and unfocused as it was. The fact that there was simply too much in my head to keep it all clear at the same time seemed like equal parts blessing and curse.
But the truth was that even if all of those memories were perfect, crystal-clear- even if I'd lived all of those lives reincarnating in perfect, unbroken sequence I would still be Taylor.
Still be the girl whose whole world was ripped apart when her mother died. The girl whose father collapsed into helpless depression when she needed him most. The girl whose best friend betrayed and tormented her for no reason, leaving her helpless, hopeless, and alone.
The girl who had Awoken.
The Mage that girl became.
The joke of it all was that I still needed all my past-life memories- for the magic, obviously, and now also to help me survive on the streets- without them I wasn't exactly prepared to survive being homeless, and I certainly wasn't about to throw away the massive advantage that was instant access to nine lifetimes of Hermetic theory. But I could have, if I had wanted to. Because it was my choice. My life.
There had to be some way to find a balance- some understanding of myself that wasn't just ego-death as some twisted form of self-medication. To be the continuation of what had come before without abandoning who I actually was.
I suspected I'd be working on that balance for a long time. For now, perhaps it was enough to know that I needed it.
Of course it would be just after I'd essentially kicked myself out of my house that I came to realization that I needed to slow things down, take a breath, actually think about what was going on instead of burying myself in a crusade against the first villain group that caught my eye.
I didn't exactly regret my actions against the Empire, but I couldn't just blindly stay the course either. I needed to actually make some decisions for myself.
I needed to decide if I even wanted any of this.
Which seemed ridiculous- it felt like every part of me was telling me that the Order of Hermes was my home, its magic my calling and best destiny. I'd Awoken- there was no going back.
But that didn't mean that I had to just go along- and it certainly didn't mean that I had to go running around fighting villains. I could go anywhere, do anything.
Did I want this?
I did love it, though. Magic. Not just because it had been everything to some prior versions of myself. I loved it for me. All the trappings and ancient esoterica aside, the Order's core philosophy of self-improvement and empowerment, still spoke to me in a profound way. I had been brought low. The Trio had made me think that I was powerless, and so I had made that my reality. Now I knew it was only because I had let it be so. Now I knew that nothing and no-one could ever make me powerless again.
Parahumans have powers. I am power.
Me. Taylor.
That was what the Order of Hermes had given me.
It was more than enough for me to stay the course- with magic, that is. I still had serious practical concerns about what I'd been doing- the truth was, even ignoring all of my emotional turmoil, I still felt foolish- although there wasn't technically anything wrong about my anti-Empire plan, subconsciously designed to put myself in danger or no, there was still a lot missing from it. I very easily could have taken things more slowly. Gathered more information. God, I hadn't even bothered to look for a Node. Not exactly good strategy.
Of course it would be just after I'd essentially kicked myself out of my house that I came to realization that I needed to slow things down, take a breath, actually think about what was going on instead of burying myself in a crusade against the first villain group that caught my eye.
At least it was the kind of immediate concern that I could deal with without having to answer any deep philosophical questions about who I was and what I wanted.
It took another four or five minutes for a bus to show up. This time, I boarded it (thankfully I still had a good amount of cash in my pockets). I didn't exactly have a destination in mind, but being in motion was better than sitting at a bus stop near my house in a fugue state. Dad had said he'd called the cops to look for me. If he thought he needed to do it to save me from the Empire, he would probably call the PRT as well, to save me. And the one thing I absolutely could not do was go into the system. Even if I trusted the PRT, which after the whole Shadow Stalker thing, I obviously couldn't, letting them get hold of me- even them knowing where I was- was potentially a death sentence.
I didn't know for sure if the enemy was still out there, Earth Bet had me. It had Vampires. I had to assume that the Technocracy might be out there as well. All the Parahumans running rampant and destroying things left and right might argue against it, but on the other hand the PRT evidently thought that looking for that brain thing- the Gemma?- was a valid Parahuman test.
Any Orphans magi who Awakened on Bet would probably come to the conclusion that they were Parahuman, but they wouldn't have a Gemma- I didn't. So the fact that the PRT still looked for a Gemma as a sign indicated that they hadn't encountered anyone like that- and I would think most of those people would eventually go Marauder- even if a Marauder who thought they were a Superhero would probably stand out, although that might actually explain Eidolon.
Which seemed to mean that anyone Awakening on Bet post-Scion had been found... and a lot of the options for people doing the finding were very, very bad for me.
A further irony, then- just as I commit myself to not give up on being Taylor Hebert, I find myself in a position where that identity is probably about to be compromised.
But all of this was just dancing around the real question-the one I still didn't really want to face. How the hell did I have past-life memories of being a mage in the 80s and 90s that didn't include Scion's arrival?
The last thing I remembered- chronologically (all of my deaths felt like they'd happened equally recently, ie: last December) was staring up at the Qui La Machina in the skies over Mus as I lay, dying, in the rubble. In 1995. And there sure as hell hadn't been any Parahumans in that world.
What had happened?
Was that Aleph? Some other Earth, out there in the Multiverse? I'd never heard of anything like a parallel Earth out there in the Umbra and I had no idea where or how you'd even begin to find something like that. Whatever this reality was still functioned in familiar ways- my magic worked. I'd even dox'd myself at least once. Had the timeline changed, somehow? It's not like global-scale reality distortions were completely unprecedented- witness Czar Vargo, not that you could anymore (and at least the lack of airships in Bet's skies meant that if that maniac had blasted himself into an alternate reality it thankfully wasn't this one- small mercies).
None of this was immediately important, but it was weighing on me- there was a reason I'd been trying not to think about it. It made me feel startlingly alone, even by my Taylor-recent standards of isolation. I didn't like to think that I was the only mage out here. Like I had to carry the entire world on my shoulders. Frankly, it scared me. But if I had to, I would try.
I had always wanted to be a hero, after all.
But right now I just wanted to get some sleep.
I rode the bus until I got to a part of town I didn't know especially well, and then wandered around for a while until I managed to catch a cab to the nearest motel- thankfully, I had enough cash to pay for a room for the afternoon.
It was only when I went to set an alarm on the burner phone I was still carrying that I realized that I'd actually taken the damn thing home. I didn't think that it was being tracked, but it was still the kind of stupid mistake that I couldn't afford to be making, no matter how tired I was. Damn it, I needed to be smarter about this.
But first I needed the sun to set.
I'd spent the last 24 hours nearly being killed by the Empire, killing Crusader, battling the Protectorate, burning down my life and my relationship with my dad, and going through an emotional breakdown/Seeking that led to the realization that I hadn't wanted to be me anymore- even if it meant risking getting hurt. So I don't know if it was surprising or not that I was asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.
I felt a little better when I woke up- physically, at least, I was definitely more rested. Everything else could wait- I just didn't feel safe in a motel. The idea that the Empire would be checking every motel and hotel in Brockton Bay for a girl matching what was probably only a vague description seemed absurd, but they certainly had the manpower to pay one or two of their grunts to try if they really wanted to. I needed a better solution for my living situation, and unfortunately for me I only had one sort-of good idea about how to handle it.
Well, one really bad idea that at least probably wouldn't blow up in my face instantly.
It was long after dark by the time I finally got to Elysium. I was using my familiar darkness spell to cover my face, and had set myself up with as many protections as I could think of and put together sitting on my motel bed without half my tools.
There was actually a line outside the club this time, but I'd thought to text ahead and whatever minion was monitoring my phone had told me that I'd be met at the same service entrance I'd used previously.
The minion turned out to be that same redhead I'd seen before- this time she was dressed like the living archetype of a secretary, with her hair up in a prim bun. She introduced herself as Laura, but very pointedly didn't ask me any questions, apart from if I needed anything, and then led me through the back halls to the elevator and up to the same private meeting room.
The Vampire was there, waiting for me.
If not for the fact that he was wearing a different suit- red, this time, which felt a little on the nose- I might have thought that he hadn't moved since the last time we'd talked. Sitting in the same chair, statue-still. He had a large wine glass in one hand, filled halfway to the brim with something dark and sticky. I shuddered, slightly, unable to stop myself.
He smiled, and gestured- with the wine glass!- to the empty chair across from him. I sat, reluctantly.
"Welcome," he said, taking an ostentatious sip. "You look... well, considering how busy you've been, of late. What is it? Nine buildings burned, the deaths of Stormtiger and Crusader, and now this little dust-up with the Protectorate?"
"Most of those buildings weren't me," I said, striving for calm, trying to ignore the irritation that I felt at having not even noticed the Empire's frame until, essentially, just now.
"No?" He laughed- a surprisingly warm sound, all things considered, to the point where I had to fight the urge to smile at him. "The city seems to blame you for them. Sly of Kaiser, to concoct a scenario that discredits you while also feeding his supporters' absurd little persecution complex. So. What brings you here?"
I hesitated.
"I need a favor," I said.
The Vampire smiled.
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Insert my user-name here as I rise from my (metaphorical) grave! Just a little introspection to get back into the swing of things and set up where she's at, mentally.
Terms to know: Qui La Machina is the name of a type of Technocratic spaceship (don't ask me why or what it's supposed to mean), Mus is the secret moon of Mercury on which the Order of Hermes had established a Wizard's School until, as Taylor notes, it was attacked and destroyed in 1995, OWoD-Timeline, "dox'd" is a slangy way to refer to suffering Paradox.
edit: and a Node is like a natural font of Quintessence aka Vis (Primal Energy etc), which is the raw material that everything is ultimately made up of, which magi can harvest and use to empower their spells. Think mana, except a lot of magic can be done without it (it just makes it easier), excluding specific uses like creating something from nothing or making permanent changes.
And Vargo, the Czar of Terra, well, I'm sure we all remember the man who tried to end WW1 by deploying his massive fleet of airships above the world's major cities and demanding the combatant governments surrender to him back in 1914 (I decided that I needed to throw the reference in there, sue me, although he is an obvious go-to example of massive reality-rewriting paradox backlash), right?Last edited: 24/11/2023 Award ReplyReport237Behold!24/11/2023NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Awaken 2.2 New View contentBehold!impervious to your most powerful magnetic fieldsAward Recipient12/1/2024Add bookmark#169So the penthouse suite at the Hotel Polidori was bigger than my entire house. It was one of the nicer hotels in Brockton Bay- not exactly the Ritz, but still far too upscale for Taylor Hebert- never mind that I could remember growing up in castles, now. At least it was probably one of the last places anyone (dad) would think to look for me.
It was worse that I was here by the grace of the one person- being- in the city that I didn't want to owe favors to. But I didn't exactly see an alternative, besides homelessness or living day-to-day in some motel, so long as I could scrounge up the cash by robbing Empire operations.
So I had told the Vampire that I thought that the Empire might know where I lived. I don't know exactly what I'd expected, but free access to the nicest room in one of the nicest hotels in the city wasn't it. It had even specifically told me to stay as long as I wanted, and not worry about the bill.
Needless to say, I was worried.
But it was good to have somewhere to sleep. And the shower here was incredible. Less good was the fact that the staff seemed to be treating me with a kind of nervous deference that made me think that they'd been threatened with dire consequences if I was unhappy with my stay, which meant that I didn't really want to think about what they probably assumed was going on here- hopefully they just thought I was the owner's niece or something. The real problem was that it made me stand out in their minds- even if they weren't gossiping about me now, they'd probably remember me if anyone came asking.
Not ideal.
I did what I could to check the place over for bugs and cameras and whatever- both in terms of looking around and magically- to the extent that I was willing to. After all, if the suite was being watched, there were lots of things I really did not want caught on video. I didn't have a great solution to that yet, so for now I avoided any elaborate rituals, and made do. I couldn't find anything, although it was a little hard to tell with all the other signals around- hotel wifi, people's phones, etc, it wasn't exactly easy to sort out what was what without a more complex spell.
I didn't actually even know if the Vampire owned this place, although it seemed like an unavoidable conclusion. Better to be over-cautious, and get out of here as quickly as possible.
But for now, I just needed to sleep. Anything else could wait.
Thankfully, I was too tired to dream- or at least I couldn't remember having any.
The next morning, I took another long, luxurious shower, put on the complimentary bathrobe, and ordered a huge breakfast.
The food was delicious, but I barely tasted it- I had a lot on my mind; a host of problems of all kinds. Sorting myself out mentally was obviously going to be an ongoing thing, and in the meantime I had a lot of practical issues that needed dealing with as well.
Obviously my top priority going forward was to secure enough money to get myself somewhere to live, which probably meant taking cash from the Empire as picking a fight with multiple gangs seemed like a needless risk. Looking 15 made things more complicated, but enough cash could solve that problem too- so my secondary priority was making the right criminal contacts to get fake documents that would let me buy or even rent a new place to live. Ideally, without involving the vampire again.
My next highest priority was finding a Cray. Having ready access to Vis would make things much easier going forward. Normally, wandering around looking for Nodes to tap was a great way to get yourself killed, but since I couldn't imagine how or why Parahumans would use a Cray, or even be aware of them at all, this was a rare situation where finding a defended Cray was actually a more attractive possibility. Good odds of finding allies, or at the very least confirming the presence of enemies. But if I was actually somehow the only mage in this city and/or all of Earth Bet, I could potentially pick and choose from a totally open field- so long as I made sure to stay out of the woods.
My next priority was probably finding out who those cape kids who were waiting for me after my base blew up- call them Skull, Purple, and Carnival. I'd done some research on the local cape scene, and vaguely remembered reading about a team of small-time thieves that I thought might be them. I couldn't really remember any names- I kept wanting to call the team the Undecideds, which I knew couldn't be right. I'd try a memory-enhancing spell later, if it didn't come back to me.
The point was there was no reason some petty smash-and-grab thieves would try to approach me like that- even if they were in the area, why would they go towards the sounds of explosions and combat? Skull had offered to help hide me from the Empire and the Protectorate- so they knew who I was, and where to find me, and had been willing to approach me essentially in the middle of a fight- pretty extreme measures to, what, try to recruit someone who would only put a target on their backs for the Empire anyway?
None of it added up.
I also needed to figure out a way to get my various journals back from my house. Sooner or later, dad would find them. The thought of him reading my bullying journal made me squirm, even now- especially after how our last conversation had gone. Him finding the notebooks I'd been filling with magical theory was less... shameful, but significantly more dangerous. I'd written in maybe six or seven different languages, none of them English, so I wasn't exactly worried about anyone understanding any of it. Any serious investigator would probably be able to deduce the subject matter by the symbols- the Key of Solomon was probably on the internet these days. The books were also physical evidence that indicated Taylor Hebert was fluent in several languages I couldn't possibly know. If, or when, Dad showed it to the police or PRT, my notebooks would eventually end up scanned, photographed, or otherwise entered into their computer systems- which I had to assume were being monitored by the black hats.
Again, caution.
Next-to-last on my list- more of an ongoing project- was the need to replenish, upgrade and expand my arsenal of tools and foci. I needed to be prepared for everything, and it wasn't like I could just requisition components or books anymore. Which was going to be a lot of work that would require a lot of money. But I didn't even have a Parma- a realization that had hit me like a thunderbolt, enough to make me cringe as I contemplated what in the world I could have possibly been thinking, running around without one. For weeks. I didn't actually think that the parma magica would be useful against Parahumans, but still. I hadn't even thought of it.
Actually constructing one would be a little problematic- I needed a proper object as a vessel, a symbolic representation of my confidence and will, and it was depressingly difficult to think of what that could be, given how much I'd been beaten down last year. Even with that sorted, I still needed to work on my Ars Potentiae- every time I tried to remember how to do it, the details kept... going out of focus- memories of different hands working on the same task, competing for space in my brain.
Lastly, the Empire needed to be destroyed. I had been using that fight as an excuse to avoid dealing with my various issues, but that didn't mean it wasn't worth doing. I even still felt like my basic strategy of breaking the gang by taking out their capes made sense, if approached with a little more care.
So, I had my goals:
-Get Money/resources, including permanent housing
-Find a Cray
-Identify Mysterious Teen Capes
-Retrieve Journals
-Gather tools
-Continue Studies
-Finish the Empire
I wasn't exactly thrilled with the fact that I'd placed improving my command of the Spheres at nearly the bottom of that list, but the needs of my current situation made it seem fairly unavoidable.
Of those, recovering things from my house seemed like the easiest to immediately accomplish. I just had to wait for dad to leave the house at some point. Today was Saturday, so there was a pretty good chance he'd be home all day, unless he was out looking for me. Waiting until Monday probably made the most sense. Which reminded me that I needed to be wary of the BBPD, since dad had apparently reported me as a missing person or something.
Instead, I decided to take the rest of today off. I didn't feel great about it- it was surprisingly hard to stifle the urge to do something, but I managed. I had had a long couple of days/weeks/months, with no end in sight. I had no idea when I would next have a day without anything to do. Just for a little while, I would rest. Plus, who knew when the next time I would be in a fancy hotel. So I forced myself- and I did have to force myself- to stretch out on the bed, turn on the tv, and order more room service.
I lasted less than an hour- just long enough to catch a news broadcast, which included a short piece on the explosion in the storage lot. Apparently "Elementalist" had destroyed the place in order to escape Armsmaster and the Protectorate, the latest in 'my' ongoing arson spree. It was a strange feeling- I wasn't used to being publicly wanted like this. It also reminded me that, unless I wanted to be saddled with that forever I needed to actually think of a cape name, in spite of the fact that the idea felt faintly absurd.
After that I found I couldn't lie around anymore. Putting on yesterday's clothes made me strongly reconsider my idea of waiting to break into my house for some things until Monday, but first I wanted to go to the library, to do a little more cape research.
Apparently they called themselves the Undersiders, for some reason, and their known members were Grue, Tattletale, Regent and one I evidently hadn't seen called Hellhound. But there was still nothing I could find anywhere online that shed any light on why they'd been there.
After more hours of 'research'- mostly reading online gossip about what the Empire might be up to- I decided to give up and go back to the hotel. I could have a late lunch, and find out if the hotel had laundry service.
I spent most of Sunday wandering around town, looking for temporary ritual spaces. I'd decided the night before that the obvious flaw in my previous plan was that once my base at the storage lot was compromised, I had no fallback. It's not like I had been expecting my home life to implode, but still, I should have been more prepared. So I was looking around town, marking locations in my memory- abandoned shops, abandoned homes, abandoned warehouses, and so on. Too many of them were obviously occupied, but I was slowly building a list of places I could go for a few hours when I needed to. They were all thoroughly terrible ritual spaces, but I didn't exactly have better options.
At one point early in the day, I did actually duck into a rotting old garage and spent an hour or so carefully casting a spell to open my senses to nearby Nodes.
I also spent some of that time walking through Brockton Bay's too-few public parks, looking at the trees, hoping to find one that had been struck by lightning. An oak, for preference. I had a bad moment where I thought a cop might have recognized me, but I managed to get away before he could get any closer, and he didn't seem to want to keep following- so maybe it was nothing.
I also found a moment to hit another ATM, using my spell to make it spit out a couple thousand dollars, and then took the afternoon to buy a new backpack and some essentials- toothbrush, comb, glasses case, and a few extra clothes.
All in all, it was a decent day's work, only spoiled by the fact that I hadn't spotted a Node yet. Not that I seriously expected to, but it would have been nice. But I gave up early and went back to the hotel- I needed a good night's sleep. Tomorrow I was going to break in to my house and get my stuff, which meant getting up early and casting several spells on myself first.
I just hoped dad wouldn't be there.
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A/N: yeah, another setup chapter- next time things will start happening, I swear
Cray is an old fashioned term for a Node (taylor's use of mage terms wanders across the centuries sometimes). The Parma Magica is a spell that creates a shield against hostile magic, which was created by Bonisagus, founder of the Order of Hermes and was instrumental in the creation of the Order because sharing the knowledge of how to do it let otherwise extremely paranoid mages feel safe around each other, basically. She needs Prime (Ars Potentiae) 3 to actually make one though.
I think that's it from me, so enjoy!