17

Summoner - Chapter 17 - SomeoneYouWontRemember - Parahumans Series

Chapter 17

Notes:

"Repeat my orders." She said quietly.

Bakuda nodded above her as she used her lap as a pillow, still half-dead and trying to claw back to the land of living on the couch.

With one ear muff just slightly open, she was able to hear Bakuda list them off.

"Rule one, refrain from killing people unless necessary for your own survival. Rule two, absolute secrecy. Rule three, act normal. Rule four, if something big is going down or is about to, notify you immediately. Rule five, do not be overzealous about any of these rules and put your own survival above them if necessary, barring rule two. Rule six, in the event of my death, try to become a good hero, take care of yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally, and move on with your life as best as you can. Seek therapy, long term. Rule seven, start a decent exercise, combat, and shooting range regimen." Bakuda quoted, before a small gasp left her.

"Wait, were you calling me fat…?" Bakuda murmured, sounding momentarily offended, and Taylor let out a tiny sigh, torn between ignoring her stupid rambles and the small note of insecurity in Bakuda's voice.

"No, Bakuda. You're just soft." She murmured, then tapped her thigh. It squished under the jeans. "I'm enjoying it right now, but in melee fights the average grunt could destroy you, and I need you alive even if worse comes to worst. Okay?" She whispered, her eyes slipping shut at last, but not before she noted the frankly creepily happy expression on Bakuda's face.

Damn it, what was it? What did she even say this time …?

"Your name. Real one." She demanded, barely a whisper.

"Mia Emertson." Bakuda said without the slightest hint of hesitation, and she huffed through her nose in amusement.

"Really nice name, actually. Nice to meet you, Mia. Brush my hair until we both fall asleep. Wake me up before it hits eleven PM."

"Yes! Okay." Mia whisper-shouted in glee.

Immediately, Mia's fingers began brushing her hair back, and Taylor pretty much melted. It was bizarre how something so simple felt so nice. And it did actually help with the headache. Honestly, she had been planning on having Bakuda as a pet of sorts, on some kind of permanent probation, but it was already extremely hard not to like the… new version of her that she made. Because this was obviously not the same person .

But now she was more tempted to just treat her like a little sister that had a very strange obsession with her big sister.

That was not a great analogy especially considering the physical age gap, but it was the only one she could come up with that wasn't creepy or weirdly sexual in any manner, so she was gonna roll with it.

She was woken up by Bakuda in full costume, a really nice costume of white and black and yellow and wires and grenades on her hips. Her white helmet and respirator were on too, making her voice sound distinctly robotic. Cool effect.

"Lung wants me for a meeting. He's mad at Coil. Thinking of trashing his territory up sometime soon. Probably about that. I dunno. I have to go. It's also about eleven twenty right now." Bakuda informed her as she gently shook her awake, and Taylor groggily blinked at her for a moment as the words registered.

Then she sighed, low and long. Her migraine had turned into a headache by now, but she still felt like shit.

"Fuck. I'm going then. See ya."

Bakuda nodded frantically.

"Sure thing, boss."

She went to get up, couldn't. She glanced down.

"... You can let go now." She dryly commented, and Bakuda's hand jerked back.

"Oh s-sorry. Uh. Bye." Bakuda mumbled, then got up, and with the most supreme reluctance, turned away and walked away to climb up the ladder that led to her safehouse.

She sighed again, and activated Teleport. A small collection of mental images bloomed in her mind. She chose her attic.

Purple swirls and ribbons of energy began to spring around her, with a wavering sound of whistling air, over the course of four seconds coalescing into a vortex of purple that surrounded her from head to toe.

As she popped back into her attic and fell onto the hard floor with a wince, she idly wondered why the fuck this stupid summoner spell couldn't be any less flashy and most importantly, less loud.

Lisa blinked at Taylor incredulously, brows raising as she stared at her boss with pink fluffy earmuffs on, laying on the couch with a blanket on top of her and staring up at the ceiling like a literal corpse in a coffin, eyes glazed over.

She tapped her shoulder, went to take an earmuff off, and only got a heated slap on the wrist for it, Taylor hissing like a grumpy snake at her.

"Migraine. Power overuse. Meditating. Be quiet." Taylor grumbled, and with brows raised in bemusement, she decided to wait for tomorrow to tell her what she'd found and try to get her to agree to help her find the girl.

Not that she got much info, despite spending over twelve fucking hours on her feet and running around until she got a lead. Then another unconnected one and just gradually thinning what was bullshit and what wasn't.

She learned a lot, but not enough to find her yet.

The girl's name was Emily, and she was so scared and lonely that she tried to befriend a pair of homeless guys at the homeless shelter, who quickly realized the girl was a cape due to Merchant rumors going down the grapevine. One of them tried to sell the info to the assholes, and ended up scaring the girl away, and then a week ago, the Empire somehow heard and had put a bunch of homeless guys on their payroll to watch out for a girl of Emily's description in the homeless shelters and soup kitchens, however few of those there were left in Brockton.

That was just two days ago.

They just had to buy a police and PRT radio scanner and go grab the girl before the PRT did, probably the next time she went to rob a place for some money. And the girl had to eat somehow, so it was only a matter of time until she did.

Taylor had said by next week she'd start getting some decent money in from a small time drug deal she had with fucking Faultline of all people, so she might have to get on her for that.

And as if the name called the devil, Taylor grunted before she could begin her short trip to the shower, still on the first step of the stairs. She turned, head peeking around the wall.

"Lisa. Faultline's grabbing Canary tomorrow, eleven in the morning. Her transport is going through Montreal. I'm going personally, want to be there when they free her. You coming?" Taylor spoke, softly and slowly, still drilling holes into the ceiling with her eyes.

"Yep. Also, you're not gonna… you know…?" She gestured, a little concerned.

Taylor didn't say anything.

"Master her…?" She explained, hoping that Taylor wouldn't do that to a woman that was more innocent than Lisa herself just because of her power, and Taylor scowled in reply.

"No. I want her, bad, but she hasn't done anything wrong. I'm not Mastering innocents if I don't absolutely have to for some reason. I'll try to recruit her normally. If she tries to Master any one of us, then I'll make her ours by force. Now go away. Talking hurts. Noise bad."

Lisa rolled her eyes.

"Sound evil, feather girl go get, unga bunga." She half-mocked with a light chuckle, and went to take her shower.

"Hilarious." Taylor dryly intoned from downstairs behind her, and Lisa didn't care, because she was always the target audience of her own jokes and she found it funny.

After a very awkward conversation with Taylor's dad that yes, they had been late because they were going around having fun and trying to find Lisa a job, and no, that it did not involve drugs or alcohol despite Taylor's near comatose state from her headache, and that yes they were safe, a point he harped on until she actually had to whip the gun out to show him how safe they were, she finally went to bed.

Tomorrow after breakfast, the moment Mr. Hebert walked out the door, Taylor sighed as she put the last dish on the drying rack, turning to face her.

"I got Bakuda. She's ours. Loyal as can be. Left her as a mole of sorts in the ABB. We've got about two hours until Faultline hits the transport, then about a half hour drive to the drop-off. Gotta be up in Montreal by eleven thirty or so. I'll go and pick her up myself, fly back with her. Sure you wanna come? We'll be flying to and from."

She hesitated for a moment, then put the towel down and sighed in bewilderment.

"You got Bakuda? Already? Damn, you work fast. It's a bit scary, honestly." Lisa chuckled, because to some extent, it was. "Alright. I was always a bit curious about what flying is like."

"SLOW THE FUCK DOOOOOOWN YOU WITCH-" Lisa demanded, then trailed off into a high-pitched scream as the sound barrier broke around the dark purple bubble, covering her in a foggy cone.

Taylor turned left and just laughed in an echoing voice that wasn't hers, nothing but a purple tether connecting them and saving Lisa from splattering against the countryside as a red smear. It was kind of mean to laugh at her, but the way she had been so cocky and confident about flying until she grabbed her with Syndra The Dark Sovereign's power and began flying was incredibly amusing.

Really, such a drama queen. She was fine. Floating in a bubble of purple energy, in fact. Nothing was going to touch her. Not even the air.

"We're going to be late if I slow down! Need to meet her face to face when she's released so she knows who to be thankful to!"

"I'M QUITTING!" Lisa screamed as the sky rumbled around them with nonexistent thunder as if they were a jet.

Which, they might be. How fast was a jet? It sure sounded roughly the same.

"Two weeks notice!" She chirped back, a wide grin on her face.

"I HATE Y-"

She sped up.

Lisa's words trailed off to a high pitched squeal.

The small headache she was still nursing would probably get quite a bit worse by the time they'd get back, but it was worth it.