22

4.4

-April 14, 2011, Commercial District, Brockton Bay-

I stared at the lemon tea in my hands and drank slowly. It wasn't as bad as I remembered, then again my body has different tastes now… You'd think I would've gotten used to it by now. Taylor, meanwhile, stares at me. I'm well aware that she's looking at everything within several blocks, as well as learning ciphers so as to decipher my notebooks. She insisted on having a day to ourselves, and I couldn't find it in me to say no. Although drinking in full costume on a rooftop is actually nice. Of course, Taylor hadn't drunk anything, despite me modifying her mask to allow it to open at the mouth.

Currently, we're overlooking the more populated part of the district that has been repaired. Danny asked me to not precisely fix the infrastructures since that would cut people out of a job, but he also pointed out some areas I could reinforce so as to allow the people that are working to be safer. I didn't like it. It felt wrong to leave it half done; yet this was the best possible route. And so Taylor got some extra alchemy training in the morning, and I got to help others without the need to kick ass every hour. I blankly stared ahead as the tea cooled in my hands. 

"So… I want to say I'm sorry for implying you don't care." Taylor said with some level of contrition in her tone, her hands fidgeted slightly, and I could tell she was trying not to send her feelings into the swarm. I appreciate that. "I… You-you deserve better than that. Marie, I'm worried about you, about how each time you suit up, you come back less and less like my little cousin."

"I-"

"Let me finish, Marie you… you called me your sister, you meant it, and then you nearly died. Came back only to almost die again, let yourself be captured by the PRT; a decision that I still don't understand, killed Alabaster, killed Victor's power and proceeded to somehow improve our standing with the PRT." I could hear the frustration mounting up in her voice, I wanted to interrupt her but for once I listened to that little voice in the back of my head that told me to shut up and listen. "And the worst part is I can't bring myself to care about any of that since my only thought was how to break you out of the birdcage if shit went sideways. Dammit Marie, why are you like this? Why won't you let me help you?"

"You help! You helped a lot Taylor, while I was down, you're the one that kept the peace. Even now, how many people are you looking after? How many crimes have you stopped?" I reply despite my words feeling hollow next to hers. She does have a point. As much as I hate to admit it, I have been trying to do everything by myself.

"Marie, why do you keep looking down on me?"

"I don't." I answered, and it was true. Wasn't it? Reflection is an odd thing, I can justify my actions as only I can do X or Y safely. However, there's some truth to her words. Deep inside, did I believe her to be weak? Did I underestimate her?

"Then why don't you let me help you?" She asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. I breathe out and look to the sky. It's cloudy, and yet there's some patches of clear blue. What do I tell her? The truth? How do I tell her: I'd rather burn the world before losing any of you. How do I tell her that I've seen her kill herself over everyone, read as she stopped being herself and became Khepri? How do I tell her the whole truth? 

My hands shake, and my throat dries up as what I want to say forms at the tip of my tongue. Breathing out, I say,

"Because I have one fear. One very exploitable fear, you getting hurt. Uncle getting hurt. Lisa, Brian, Emily… Hell even Belle and Quinn getting hurt fucks with me. It fucks with me a lot." I could feel the pain building inside my heart, reliving the memories of a few days ago, it hurt. "During the Bakuda incident, I was intercepted by the travelers and Circus. The latter said that Coil had Emily. I… I lost it Taylor. I was so angry I stopped caring, if I had a cooler head maybe I could've done more. Maybe I wouldn't have killed Circus, maybe I would've spared Coil for the moment… So many choices, lost because I refuse to accept loss." 

Taylor is standing perfectly still, her body language carefully controlled, as far as I can hear her swarms are calm, there's barely even movement in her chest. I look back at the city and wonder if it's still worth fighting over, it would be so easy to leave. Yet… 

" I promised. And I will keep my word. I hope that the hack worked, if we can find Saint, then we can deal with Teacher's plot. If he's in Canada, I'll bring Alec and see if he wants to kill Niko himself or if he wants me to do it. Hopefully with that I can convince Dragon to let Amy talk to her dad. " I think for a moment before Taylor hugs me from behind. I stand perfectly still as she says,

"Everything will be fine, I promise." Her voice doesn't sound broken, it sounds sorrowful, and resolute. Something cracks and I let her hold me for a few minutes. It feels nice, but I know this cannot last for long. I hear gunfire, I smell the fear coming from people below me. Taylor focuses and I hear the screams of the man.

"No rest for the wicked, eh Weaver?" I say with an amused tone. I quickly stand and begin running towards where the shots were fired. Behind me I can barely hear her response,

"None at all, Maeve." Though I can feel her smile behind the mask.

By the time the afternoon rolled over Taylor and I had finished making sure the worst buildings were stable enough and set up some surveillance to monitor the situations, should any occur. Rachel had basically kidnapped me the moment I arrived since I did promise her to check up on her dogs. For my trouble I received several dozen sloppy kisses from very enthusiastic dogs, and some were even not transformed into biological monstrosities. According to her and a very amused Aisha, Cricket had taken over Hookwolf's dog fighting rings, however unlike the human blender she was crap at keeping them safe from Rachel.

One other factor that did help was that Kaiser took my threat seriously, according to Belle's hacks he ordered everyone to retreat to their stronghold near medhall. Which suited me just fine, since all it did was make a target rich environment for me to abuse. However at the moment I didn't feel like invading a Nazi den, which is why I asked everyone to chip in and erode their bases. Brian and Alec were hitting their drug dens with Quinn acting as their heavy hitter, Rachel and Aisha had been hitting their dog fighting rings and some safehouses. Belle and Lisa were performing hacks and keeping an eye on their money, Belle in particular was making sure that if Gesellschaft sent anyone or anything, we would know first. And Amy… Well she's rightfully pissed at me for not talking to Dragon, chewed me out for losing a limb and thanked me for what I did to Victor.

Vicky was pissed at me as well, but that's because I scared her boyfriend. 

"Just so you know, there was no better choice. This way he's more attentive and it'll avoid trouble later on."

Not that she agreed with my vague explanation, but she didn't have to for it to work. Sighing as I headed to my lab to continue my work on Eridium, so far with just a couple of hours of work I had managed to create the refiner I would need for siren abilities. If I understood it correctly I would still be unable to choose which power would manifest, but at the very least I could avoid Tyreen's variant. The idea of sucking up life just to live is not something I'm interested in. That leaves:

Phase walkPhase lockPhase shiftPhase tranceAnimal Control

And that last one worried me, especially since I had a gut feeling that it would involve a lot of gene splicing on my end to truly take advantage of it. Then again, if I used Eridium I could power it up to human control.

"All that's missing is to make the gene bath and make a small fuck ton of eridium." I muttered as I finished programming the refiner. It wasn't pretty, it looked closer to Dead Space 2's eye surgery machine, but the needle would just emit the eridium in energy waves instead of going into my eye. Although admittedly injecting pure eridium into my bloodstream was an alternative, though that could make me go psycho…

" Putting that as plan G then. " I thought to myself as my eyes wandered to the room where the triforce was being made. For a moment I felt a need to open it and see more of its progress, but I resisted again. Instead I focused on what I could build now, and that inevitably led to me considering making Brockton Bay into a Vault. Or rather just the coast of it into the entrance to one.

Vaults were something of a plan B and C combined for me. They should, in theory, isolate the endbringers from this dimension. By adding a tachyon net I could further isolate them and make sure they can't come back. However I doubted that they could hold Scion or even block his shards. I heard the door open and Dinah entered my lab, surprisingly she was alone.

"Well, what brings you to my neck of the woods?" I asked, while turning away from the Eridium refiner.

"I was wondering if you were willing to let me accompany you, tonight I mean. You're going after Crusader, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am and why do you want to come with me?" I asked out of politeness, I wasn't worried about her chances even with me around fucking over her vision. She wasn't as strong or resilient as Taylor, but outside of high level brutes she could survive whatever the empire threw at her.

"Because…" She begins saying but stalls, either she's nervous or she's asking a question while I'm around. Which means she's asking for pain, fuck…

"Because?" I interrupted her thoughts.

"Because I have people, family, I want to protect as well." She replies, her parents were safe, or as safe as possible, the Mayor making sure that they at least have guards, that only leaves Triumph.

"You know the only person who got hurt was Aegis and he healed, right?" I tell her with some level of annoyance at the implication that I would harm Triumph. 

"That's not why!" She exclaimed far too quickly, looking into my eyes she continued saying, "I trust you Marie, it's just that I ran the numbers and he disappears. That means either he dies, or interacts directly with you." 

I stared at her for a solid minute before sighing and agreeing to let her come with me. "Also bring Amy here, I'll make her a back up costume as well as your own." I added before dismissing her from my lab. 

By the time night fell, Belle, Dinah, Taylor and Brian joined me in my attack on Crusader. Using prescience I located where he would be, what he would be doing and when to strike. He was checking one of the safe houses that Brian and Alec missed, with him around a dozen guards. Taylor had found him within a minute and tagged him with a bug. The building itself was a 2 story house, the basement had 3 levels and one of those was filled with guns. 

We split up, me and Belle would enter through the rooftop, make a lot of noise as we went down. Taylor, Brian and Dinah would take the sewers and Taylor would open a wall so they could sneak in. They all had shields and I even made some gas masks just in case shit went sideways.

"Mother, they'll be fine." Belle reassured me as we landed on the roof. My mouth felt dry, my shoulders tense and my heart was beating wildly. 

" I could've done this by myself, no need to risk anyone ." I thought for a brief moment before being reminded of what Taylor and I had discussed earlier.

"I know, I'm just a worrier." I told Belle as I used alchemy to search for traps and the like, a short burst of electrical light later and I was satisfied that there weren't any traps. Though there were a lot of false walls. Inside them were guns, and some even had drugs. I saw a small swarm of bugs form a thumbs up and I began my loud and explosive entrance.

Despite my best efforts I hadn't been able to fuse the rune bombs with grenade mods, so no infinite Mirv Hex bombs for now. However that didn't mean that it wasn't worth the attempt, the addition of elemental properties to the rune bombs was in a few words destructive. That said, corrosion bombs weren't as effective as I wanted for breaking apart structures. I noted this as the roof collapsed beneath me, unfortunately there wasn't anyone below me so my landing was uninterrupted. I heard footsteps rushing up on the stairs to my left, drew out a hellshock and fired. The man screamed before falling unconscious, his buddy yelped as the body fell on top of him. I heard a few grunts of pain as both of them fell down to the first floor.

"Showtime." I told myself, "Alright you Nazi fucks listen up! Anyone who lays down their arms will just be tied up, and arrested once the police get here. Everyone else gets to play target practice. And Crusader, I know you're here. I can smell your bitch ass hiding, come on out and fight me!" I shouted as a challenge. 

Their answer was rather annoying, about 6 ghosts tried to strangle me, not a single one managed to touch me as Belle broke the floor beneath us, dropping us to a living room. One of the men there took one look at me, dropped his gun and ran, smart man. I only chained him to a wall while avoiding the ghosts. They seemed to be focused solely on me, so I gave Belle the signal to continue on without me.

More ghosts popped up and more or less led me down the hallway into a rather large room. Weirdly large as if it had been expanded, but as far as I knew Vista hated the Nazis. A crackle in the air revealed a tall man, a bit muscular, he wore a two piece suit with dark colors, his mask seemed to sneer at me.

"So you're the infamous Maeve. Heh, I expected someone taller." The bastard son said with confidence, behind him more men appeared. Some wore clown masks, others bird masks, and even one of them had that horse mask. They were all wielding various weapons, and not a single one of them smelled of fear. They also didn't really seem to have a thought in their heads, which meant that he had managed to get his army.

"So kid, I've got my orders, kill you and be done with it. But I'm not one to waste talent, join the elite-" He pitched, I drew the Hellwalker and fired. Several of his men died as their bodies turned to bloody mist and what was left burned.

"Bastard Son, aka the shittier version of Teacher. The chihuahua of the Elite, here's my counter offer, you cut out your intestines and use them as a rope as you hang yourself." I spat out with rage. I wasn't sure if it was towards the Bastard Son or his hidden allies. Very few had teleporting capacity, the most likely group was Toybox. A small part of me was amused at the wisdom that both Paul and Leto had granted me and I had ignored. Always deal with the idiots that carry shit for everyone.

"So quick to fire, how unprofessional. Tell me-" He began saying and I fired again, more of his men died, as I took one step forward Crusader's ghosts grabbed my ankles. I drew out Fi and cut their hands off, in response Bastard Son laughed and snapped his fingers. Several grenades were dropped from various portals, they clicked and the air froze instantly. I removed all the heat from them and took another step towards him.

" Do I kill him now? Or do I wait and see what else he has up his sleeve? " I think to myself for a moment.

"Damn, and they call me a monster." He said as several of his men attacked me with what I could assume were tinkertech blades, and axes. Sparks flew as Fi clashed with them, I focused the heat I drew out of the explosives into Fi and the Master Sword ignited. Brilliant orange flames rose from tip to hilt and I swung. The wave burned the men near me.

"I never said I wasn't. The real question is who is backing you? The empire clearly gave you money, but they don't have the tinkers necessary for this. So that leaves independents, how did you convince Toybox?" I asked him, even as more men tried to attack me, I dodged, stabbed, cut, burned and froze them. They all fall like insects before me, even so the Bastard Son is calm. His trap has yet to be sprung, less than 5 meters from him I hear a crackle of electricity behind me. I jump to the side and raise Fi to block the following strike.

The man was a wall of metal and electricity danced across his armor like a thunderstorm, he had a full face mask and he had a fucking hammer… Motherfucker was aping Thor! I aimed a slash at his neck which he caught with a shield. Sparks danced and shocked me, I grunted in pain and kicked him away.

"Like him? He was tough to get, quite expensive too. So love, what say-" Bastard Son began saying and I threw a corrosion bomb in his direction. One of the grunts jumped and took the explosion, Bastard Son was flung back due to the strength of the blast.

"Shut up, you overgrown chihuahua. I'll deal with you once I'm done with discount Thor here." I spat out and charged towards the man. The tinkertech armor was clearly enhancing his speed and strength, if there were like 5 more of him they would be able to handle pretty much anyone. That said, there's only one of him, and for all the enhancements he clearly had going for him, he still didn't have the advantages I possessed.

The man swung widely and dodged quickly, like a puppet being pulled around, though I couldn't see any strings on him, that didn't mean much in an Era with powers. Regardless I kept my eye on him, slowly poking around his armor, then I struck. I pretended to swing from left to right at his chest, he raised his shield to block, I switched directions mid swing, making a diagonal slice. The Master Sword bit into his armor, glowing blue and as the slash finished I unleashed the sword wave.

Whoever made that suit deserves an award, damn thing took the blast like a champ. Unfortunately a point blank blast is very bad for your insides, especially when you're flung into a wall at high speeds. I heard several bones crack as he dug himself out of the wall. His hammer glowing like a star, he threw it, and dodged it at the last minute and grabbed it.

[Counter measures active.]

I felt a pressure building inside my mind, a voice telling me to let go, to give in. To obey the Bastard Son, I could see a chain forming around me around my mind. It promised power, my body was burning with rage. I could feel something else, a connection to something, I could feel as its gentle light flowed through Sylph, through Fi, through me.

"[We will never bow.]" A voice that wasn't my own said, cutting through the silence. I brought up the hammer and threw it back at the false Thor. It crackled and exploded through his chest with a roar that shook the building. The bastard son took one step back and space warped as he was being teleported out, I swung and the wave sliced his left leg at the knee. He screamed as his leg was left behind. 

Several things happened simultaneously, the entire room began to tremble and several grenades dropped. Not a single one detonated as I flash froze the area. I grab the leg and place it inside the tablet, I could use it later. Maybe see if Amy was willing to clone it and use it to test a plague or two.

[That was close. However we now know that his type of mastery can be overcome through our bond.] Sylph replied, appearing before me, there was a dull type of pain in the back of my eye as her form solidified.

"So that means, Heartbreaker is next."

[Correct, Marie.] Sylph calmly replies as her hand lands on my shoulder. My hand… Her hand… They're the same. [If you keep pushing yourself like this, then the barriers between us will fade.]

"I know. But I can't risk using Eridium, not until Dragon is free at earliest." I reply, dragging my body outside the room. A quick glance assures me that there's no one near me.

[There is no guarantee that the powers of a Siren will allow your mind to hold back our fusion.] Sylph argues as she seems to appear in front of me. The pain intensifies as if nails are digging themselves into my eye. Fuck.

"It doesn't need to hold it back, it just needs to grant me the ability to survive." I manage to grunt out, Sylph seems to be aware of my pain and disappears from my view, though her voice seems to come from my mouth.

[I don't see how Siren powers can help us.] I breathe deeply as I begin heading downstairs. 

"It's a hardware issue, Sirens by nature have to be able to handle large quantities of dimensional energy and data to do their little tricks. So with multidimensional energy I should be able to at least handle the data flow on my end without problems, it would also allow you to expand away from me." I say after making sure no one is listening.

[Ah, a secondary storage. You really are the best host.] Sylph says as she retreats from my mind. As I head down I see the result of Belle's fighting, several skinheads are groaning on the ground with twisted limbs, some deep gouges on the walls and floor, I feel pride for her. As I go deeper into the basement I begin hearing buzzing, it stops for half a second before continuing, as if letting me know that everything is fine.

Dinah is standing on top of a tied up Crusader, in front of them is an old laptop outfitted with a camera and I see Kaiser is looking at me. I visibly shrugged and said,

"I had this speech planned out Kaiser, but you know what? You aren't worth the effort, so I'll just tell you, give yourself up or your men will suffer." I approached Crusader and his eyes widened in realization of what my being here meant. Grabbing him by the neck I dragged him over to the laptop and placed my fingers on his head.

"I know what you tried to do Crusader, and if I wasn't in a bad mood I would've just scalped you. However you can blame Kaiser for what I'll be doing to you." I whispered into his ears before digging my thumbs into his eyes. He screamed and I used alchemy on him. I didn't heal his sight, I didn't break his connection to his shard, I opted for something fitting. I destroyed parts of his brain, the ones that let him move, let him speak, hear, and destroyed his sense of taste and smell. Once I removed my thumbs I recreated his eyes, except he couldn't see anymore.

For a man who tried to kill his sibling due to her disabilities, this was a fitting punishment. I wanted to kill him, a piece of me begged for his blood. But I also wanted him to suffer; the heroes arrived a few seconds later. Triumph and Assault saw me covered in blood, with electrical burns decorating my costume and a near catatonic Crusader beneath me.

"Took you long enough heroes." Dinah said and Triumph tensed. Ah he recognized her, was this what she wanted? "You'll find that this time the Nazis are all accounted for, though you'll want some back up for the transports tomorrow, 80% chance of them being intercepted by Night and Fog. Let's go Maeve." She continued, much to my amusement and Grue filled the area with darkness. By the time we arrived back to base I had told them what happened while they were busy with Crusader.

"Dammit Marie, I can't leave you alone for 5 minutes." Taylor complained as she hugged me, ignoring the blood that now dirtied her costume. 

4.4 end