Dragon's Progeny: Chapter 35

The storm was growing. Tammi wasn’t sure who the hell Yuko was fighting right now but if it was making her pull out this kind of power, it couldn’t be good.

“There’s no way that she’s fighting Kaiser, right? No, he wouldn’t come in person to deal with her. He’d send Hookwolf or Krieg to deal with it.” Tammi worried at her lip, wondering what sort of opponent her girlfriend was currently facing.

Was it even the Empire? Oni Lee hadn’t given her any specifics about the fight beyond the location so it could be the heroes for all Tammi knew.

“Yeah right.” She scoffed, straightening her board as it wobbled underneath her. “There’s no chance in hell it’s not them. The heroes aren’t stupid enough to try and fight her in public. Too worried about the civvies.”

Hookwolf on the other hand…

Tammi urged her board faster, her worry for Yuko’s wellbeing exceeding her fear of falling from this height. She flew above the street, leaning forward as she gained even more speed until she was moving faster than the cars below her. As she zipped past buildings and street signs, she saw several people standing on the sidewalk recording her with their phones as she passed. She held back a scoff at the stupidity on display, the people clearly lacking any sort of self-preservation as they stood out in the middle of the street despite the fight happening only a few blocks away.

She ignored them all, focusing on flying. The storm up ahead looked like a whirling wall of white and she felt a small sliver of fear creep up her spine as she prepared to fly directly into the frigid expanse. She was glad she was wearing a hoodie.

Tammi’s attention was torn from the storm and to the street below as a shrill scream rang out, and as she looked below her, her eyes widened as she was met with a wave of solid white fog rushing up from the ground directly towards her.

“What the shit!?” Startled, Tammi pivoted on her board and swerved around the fog in a blind panic. She succeeded in avoiding it, but also managed to unbalance herself in the process, her longboard slipping from underneath her feet and sending her careening towards a nearby roof with a scream.

She landed roughly, grunting as she fell and rolled on the gravel rooftop, scraping herself up in the process. Her board landed behind her, sliding and coming to rest against the raised wall only a few feet away from where she stopped.

Dazed and confused, Tammi was slow to recover from the fall. She stood up shakily, wincing as her scraped up palms came into contact with the concrete, before looking around as she wondered who the hell was responsible for her fall.

The same fog that had attacked her flowed over the edge of the roof, becoming thicker as it came together only a few feet away from her. Tammi tensed, taking half a step back as a figure materialized out of the fog. One she unfortunately recognized.

“What’s the rush, Tammi?” Despite not seeing him in years, Geoff’s smile was just as fake as she remembered, “You seem quite eager to get somewhere. Would you mind telling me where you were going?”

Tammi hadn’t seen Geoff or his wife since Agnes had visited her with the couple years ago – a particularly bad memory among all the others involving the woman – and the sight of the man’s face brought back unpleasant feelings. A sickening, curling tension manifested deep in her gut at the sight of all-white costume. She didn’t even know he had powers.

“None of your fucking business, Geoff.” She backed away from the smiling man, “Fuck off and leave me alone!”

Geoff made a displeased face, “Watch your tone, Tammi. I thought that time around more civilized company would have helped curb that foul mouth of yours. What would Agnes say if she heard you speaking that way?”

Tammi growled at her aunt’s name, her suspicions proven correct. She had sent him, hadn’t she? She should have guessed. “Agnes needs to stay the fuck out of my life! I left the Empire, she doesn’t have any control over what I do anymore!”

“Come on now, Tammi, there’s no need for such hostility.” Geoff’s tone was disappointed, “She’s your family. Family always wants what is best for you, even if you don’t see it yet.”

“She just wants to use me!” Tammi snarled, “I’m not going back! I’m where I want to be now! With people who actually care about me!”

“Don’t be silly, Agnes cares about you, Tammi. She sent me to bring you back. To reunite the two of you as family.”

“No, she doesn’t. She never did!” Tammi shot back heatedly. She reached down towards her waist where her gun was holstered, “Kaiser and Agnes never saw me as anything but a tool. That’s all that anyone in the Empire ever saw me as!”

“You mean to say that your new master doesn’t? All parahumans are tools, Tammi. That’s how the world works.”

Tammi snarled at the implication, “She isn't like that! She actually cares about me, which is more I can say for any of you!”

The man's face was intrigued, “What has she done to inspire such loyalty, I wonder? You've never shown such ferocity towards our own cause.”

“Yeah, who would have fucking guessed, right?” Tammi spat viciously, “I guess being treated like a person really helps keep your soldiers in line! Maybe Agnes and the Empire should try it out some time!”

Geoff sighed, “I can see that you won’t listen to reason. Your aunt asked us to keep you unharmed, but I’m sure she will understand when I explain to her how stubborn you were being.”

Tammi didn’t respond, just eying the man warily, and the moment he took a step forward, she burst into motion. Her hand reached under her hoodie and wrapped around the handle of her pistol, flicking the safety off in a slightly-fumbling motion, before pointing it directly at him.

The pistol barked in her hand once, twice, three times as she aimed directly for the man’s chest. None of the bullets hit their mark. The moment she pulled out the gun, Geoff wasn’t human anymore, having gone back to that misty state that he had attacked her with at the start. The bullets went straight through him as he flowed backwards on an unseen current, sliding off the edge of the roof and disappearing from sight.

Screams echoed from down below but Tammi ignored them as she put one hand in her pocket, using her power on the ball bearings held inside. They began floating around her as she slowly made her way towards her fallen longboard, keeping an eye out for Geoff in case he decided to reappear.

She couldn’t waste time with this asshole. Yuko needed her.

~~~

Vicky was beginning to think that the universe had it out for her or something. All she had wanted was a nice, quiet shopping trip with her favorite cousin after school. An afternoon not spent worrying about what the next creep would pull while she was patrolling or the ticking time bomb that was the gangs here recently. She wanted one day to just relax. Just one.

Having to fly through a freaking snowstorm in the middle of spring was not her idea of relaxing

‘Where the hell did this storm even come from? We left like two minutes ago and it’s already so strong I can barely see!’ She thought, irritated.

Vicky squinted, trying her best to see through the flurry of ice and snow with little success, before turning to look at her cousin as she asked her something that she couldn’t quite hear, “What?”

“I said, who do you think is doing this?” Crystal had to shout to be heard above the wind raging around them. She and Eric weren’t lucky enough to have her shield so Eric was projecting one in front of them while being carried in Crystal’s arms. As usual, he looked embarrassed but resigned about the whole situation.

Vicky huffed, “It’s gotta be Yosei, I mean, who else could it be? Nobody else around here can do anything like this except maybe Uber and Leet and we would have heard if they were streaming. Maybe she finally decided to stop acting like she’s better than everyone else and is showing her true colors.”

“Wait, what?” Eric looked nervous at the idea of fighting Yosei, “Uh, then shouldn’t we have some backup or something? I don’t think the three of us are going to be able to do anything…”

“I called Dean. He said we should be getting some backup if we can keep her busy for a few minutes.”

“I thought they weren’t allowed to fight her.” Crystal said.

“Well, considering you can probably see this storm from the Docks, I think they’d make an exception this time.” Vicky said dryly, before something suddenly caught her attention. She narrowed her eyes as she caught sight of a figure standing right in the eye of the storm, right next to the giant spire that had caught their attention in the first place.

Yosei looked significantly less put together than she had ever seen or heard the woman being. Her long blue and white robes had tears in them and her face was twisted in anger as she looked around her like she was fighting ghosts.

She suddenly turned and held a hand out, blasting a torrent of what looked like frost out of her palm and into the storm around her. Vicky couldn’t see the target but judging by the look on Yosei’s face, she didn’t hit what she was aiming for.

They came to a stop high above the woman, watching her look around. “Is she fighting someone?” Crystal asked as they hovered above her.

“Looks like it.” Vicky narrowed her eyes as Yosei glanced up at them, clearly showing that she knew they were there, “I’m gonna head down there and see what’s up. Watch my back, alright?”

“We’ve got you, Vicky.”

Nodding, Vicky began rocketing down towards Yosei, coming at her like a speeding bullet. She had no intention of actually hitting the ABB cape but she was still surprised as Yosei reacted to her before she reached her, jumping out of her path without even looking her way.

Vicky slowed down to a comfortable speed as she reached the other cape, hovering above the ground a few feet away from Yosei who eyed her warily.

“Glory Girl.” The woman greeted with a slight inclination of her head, “What a pleasant surprise. Will the others be joining us?”

“That depends.” Vicky crossed her arms, glaring at her, “Are you planning to fight us?”

“Not unless you decide to attack me first. I had no intention of gaining the attention of the heroes this afternoon, nor do I wish to engage in a conflict with you at the moment.”

“You didn’t want to get our attention?” Vicky looked around them skeptically, “You aren’t doing a very good job of being inconspicuous.”

“An unfortunate side effect of my power.” Yosei didn't look at her, keeping her eyes on the storm raging around them. “I didn't know before choosing this form, but I can assure you, I'm not causing this storm on purpose. It is completely autonomous.”

“Well stop it then! People might get hurt!” Vicky demanded.

“Believe me, I would if I could. Unfortunately, doing so would leave me quite exposed to the person currently in the fog, and I have no intention of being caught off guard by her.”

So she was fighting someone, and that someone was apparently still around. Vicky looked around at the snowstorm as Crystal and Eric floated down beside her, but she couldn't see a thing. The snow was way too thick, “Who's in there? Someone I know?”

“Doubtful. Her name is Night. A member of the Empire I haven't seen before, or at least I believe so.” Yosei answered promptly, “She and her partner attacked me in my civilian identity on my way back from the mall. She is a Changer who seems to work off of eyesight. My own power has put me at a disadvantage in this scenario as she has ample cover to use against me.”

“Wait, they attacked you in your civilian identity?” Crystal looked perturbed, a feeling shared by both of her cousins.

Yosei nodded, “Indeed. I was merely shopping at the mall when I was set upon by the two of them and was forced to defend myself. This form because I believed it would be the most useful against two unknown opponents. I was mistaken.”

Vicky shared a look with Eric and he immediately understood. With a gesture, multiple glowing blue shield snapped into place around them all, protecting them from attacks from all sides. Eric’s shields were the strongest in the family, even stronger than Vicky’s own shield given that it could stand up to more than one good hit. They were as safe as they were going to be.

“There, nobody can get to us now without getting through his shield. Now shut off your power.” Vicky commanded.

Yosei raised an eyebrow at her tone but complied. Just like when she transformed against her in the warehouse months ago, mist began seeping off of the woman in an incredible quantity, obscuring her completely from sight. Eric and Crystal took a startled step back but Vicky stayed rooted in place, keeping an eye out for any shifty behavior from the woman.

Luckily, as the mist cleared, it didn’t reveal another monstrous creature, but instead a normal looking human being. Yosei was much younger than Vicky though. She had been expecting a woman in her mid-twenties, maybe a little older given the way she talked. Instead, as the mist cleared completely and she was fully revealed, she was met with someone around Crystal’s age.

The moment Yosei was human again, the storm around them stopped raging so fiercely. It was actually kind of shocking how quickly it went from the most active storm Vicky had ever seen outside of movies to barely a flurry of snowflakes blowing in the remaining wind. It took less than five seconds to fade away completely.

The clearing storm also meant that they finally had a view of the person Yosei had been fighting, standing only a few feet away and looking… surprisingly unsurprised to suddenly be in view.

Turning towards her, Vicky looked the woman up and down, taking in her bright blonde hair and clearly villainous attire, and had to begrudgingly decide that Yosei probably wasn't lying. This woman was definitely with the Empire at the very least.

Night took them all in, looking as if she were actually thinking about trying her luck against four separate capes at the same time, before an odd smile crossed her face

“Well this is no fun.” Night said to Yosei, “We were having such a lovely time! Why'd you have to go and ruin it by allowing the heroes to join?”

“She didn't allow us to do anything!” Vicky glared at the woman who regarded her with obvious disinterest, “Attacking someone in their civilian identity, in public especially, is going to catch our attention. You really didn't think we wouldn't notice you trying to pull that shit?”

Attacking someone in their civilian identity was a bit of a hot button issue for Vicky. For all of New Wave, really. After what happened to Fleur, hearing that the Empire was up to its old tricks made her blood boil.

“You wouldn't have noticed anything if our friend here had just come along quietly.” Night said with a disappointed look towards Yosei, “We really just wanted to ask you some questions, dear. Why did you have to go and make such a big issue out of it?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have a habit of willingly going places with racist bigots who call me an animal to my face.” Yosei responded scathingly.

“You need to learn to put aside your differences sometimes. You can’t be going around holding such unreasonable grudges.” Night tutted, reaching down towards her waist. Vicky tensed as the woman grabbed what was clearly a grenade and unclipped it from her belt, holding it in one hand.

She shared a look with Eric who nodded and strengthened his shield, the glowing field around them becoming darker as he layered another shield atop his current one.

Ignoring the change, Night gave Yosei a smile, “This has been lovely but I’m afraid we’ll have to continue this another time, dear. Other things require my attention at the moment.”

Before any of them could react, the woman tossed the grenade up into the air in front of her and turned away, covering herself with her cloak. “Look away!” Yosei shouted to them all, and Vicky automatically followed her instructions and turned away from the flying object, shutting her eyes tightly.

Even though she was looking away with her eyes closed, it felt like someone had shined a light directly into her eyes as the grenade went off with a pop loud enough to make her ears ring.

“Fuck!” Vicky cursed, rubbing her eyes furiously, “What was that!?”

“A flashbang, I believe.” Yosei answered as she slowly opened her eyes. Spots danced in her vision, like she had been staring at a bright light for too long, and she frowned.

“Flashbangs don’t fucking do that! It’s the middle of the day and I could see that flash behind my eyelids.” Vicky blinked her eyes harshly, already feeling a headache coming on from the experience.

Yosei conceded her point, “You’re right, it was much brighter than any of the ones she used previously. It might have been modified in some way, or perhaps even tinkertech. Either way, it doesn’t change the outcome. She's gone now.”

Vicky turned around at the woman’s words, searching for any sign of Night through her blurry vision. Yosei was right, the woman was gone, with the only evidence of her disappearance being an open drainage cover nearby, leading into the sewers.

“Oh no you don’t!” Vicky raised up to follow the woman, not willing to let her get away with what she had done.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Yosei called out before she could follow after Night. Annoyed, Vicky looked back towards the woman with a questioning look, “I already told you, her power works based on sight. There’s likely very little light down there. You would be at a major disadvantage.”

Though Vicky could see the wisdom in the woman’s words, all Yosei had succeeded in doing was pulling the blonde’s ire from Night to her instead. Vicky turned towards her, a glare coming to her face, “Alright then, I’ll let her go. In exchange, you can tell me what the hell you were thinking, endangering the lives of everyone around here!”

Yosei sighed, “I merely defended myself. I am not responsible for the Empire’s apparent desire to harass an innocent civilian.”

“No, but you are responsible for how you decide to defend yourself.” Vicky exclaimed. She gestured around them at the destroyed park, “Look at what you did! What if someone was hurt by that storm!?”

Even in just the short amount of time that Yosei had been fighting, her storm had done an incredible amount of damage to the park around them. Trees had been stripped of leaves and branches and some of the weaker ones had even been knocked over. The benches that had sat in their spots for years were nowhere to be found, and even the stone bird-baths had been tossed around like toys.

And yet as usual, Yosei acted like she didn’t care at all.

“Nobody else was within the storm while it was active.” Yosei's voice was infuriatingly calm, and Vicky's fists clenched as she stared at the woman's placid expression, “I had an awareness of everyone and everything that inhabited my storm. No civilians were harmed or even present while it raged.”

That explained how she knew they were there. Still…

“That's besides the point!” Vicky exclaimed, getting closer, “You didn't know that nobody would be in it when you started it! That storm spread at least three blocks in minutes! You endangered dozens of lives!”

Yosei finally showed some sort of emotion. An annoyed scowl appeared on her face, and Vicky almost lost her cool at the sight of it.

“And what would you have had me do? I don't know how my powers work until I have transformed. I made a mistake, it is as simple as that.”

Her lack of concern about the situation was starting to get on Vicky’s nerves. It was like she didn’t care at all that she might have hurt someone with this stunt she pulled. She really was just like her dad.

“Yeah? Well here's something else that's simple.” Vicky drew herself up, her feet leaving the ground as she loomed over Yosei imperiously. At the same time, she pushed out her aura, sending out waves of fear and unease towards the woman in front of her as an intimidation tactic, “You're under arrest.”

“Vicky!” Crystal whispered furiously, shocked by her cousin’s proclamation. Vicky ignored her, staring down at the ABB leader who seemed unmoved in the face of her words and power. This close though, Vicky could see the surprise in her eyes. She hadn't expected this.

“Is that so?” Yosei's voice was as calm as ever, but Vicky could detect a hint of uncertainty behind her careful tone, “And exactly what makes you think you are in the position to arrest me? Our last battle did not go in your favor if I recall correctly.”

“I was unprepared and I know how your power works now. You need time to transform. And I can close the distance between us in a tenth of a second if I see even a tiny bit of that mist.” Vicky glared at Yosei who stared back placidly, “By all means though, go ahead and try. I’ve been meaning to get some payback for what you did that night.”

Yosei’s eyes searched her own for any signs of uncertainty. Vicky made sure that she found none. “Are you truly willing to engage me in battle after such a display? You must know that you stand little chance against me.”

Vicky smirked, “Try. Me.”

Yosei’s eyes flicked behind Vicky, but she didn’t turn to see what the woman was looking at, remaining steadfast in the face of adversity, “Is there really no chance that this does not end in conflict? We don’t have to do this, you know? This doesn’t have to end with a fight.”

Vicky’s eyes narrowed and behind her, she could hear Crystal and Eric shift uncertainly, “Not on your life.”

Yosei didn’t say anything for a moment, before she let out a small sigh, “I see. That is unfortunate. Lee?”

Vicky’s eyes widened and her heart sank as Eric screamed behind her. She whirled around angrily to find that another person had joined their group, standing just behind her cousin and holding an extremely sharp knife to his jugular. The bright red eyes of Oni Lee’s mask stared into her own as he held the scared teen hostage for his master.

Quickly getting over her surprise, Crystal held up a hand glowing with magenta energy, aimed directly at the side of the demon’s head as her face twisted into an expression of rictus anger, “Let him go!”

Oni Lee didn’t even give an indication that he heard the command. Even as Vicky’s cousin aimed at him with enough energy to blast a hole through concrete, he continued to hold that knife to Eric’s throat, not moving an inch in the face of his probable demise.

“I had hoped that we could simply go our separate ways after this incident.” Vicky’s fists clenched at Yosei’s disappointed tone, “It is truly unfortunate that you are so determined to seek conflict.”

“This is how you treat the people who helped you out?” Vicky snarled, her aura flaring with her anger, “You have your lackeys threaten to kill them?”

“I told you things did not have to be this way. I was more than willing to let bygones be bygones.”

“Tell him to let Eric go or I’m going to blast his head off!” Crystal demanded, her hand glowing brighter.

“And Eric will still bleed out through a brand new hole in his throat.” Yosei said. Vicky swallowed hard, her fists clenching at the look in the woman’s eye, “Lee is willing to die for me, make no mistake about that. But are you willing to consign your cousin to death just because you cannot let go of past grievances?”

Vicky snarled and Yosei flinched as she turned the full power of her aura on the woman, “When I’m done with you, you’ll have to breathe through a tube!”

“Just the same as your cousin, right?”

Vicky raised herself up and Crystal gasped in fear, “Vicky! Don’t!”

BANG

A distant sound interrupted them, halting all conversation in its tracks. It sounded like someone had hammered a nail a bit too hard into a plank of wood. The noise echoed along the silent buildings around them, reverberating again and again as it rang in the ears of everyone present, and Vicky’s heart sank as she recognized the noise from many late night patrols.

She looked at her cousins with a scrutinizing gaze, searching for anything that might indicate that her fears had been realized, only to feel stark relief as she saw nothing was amiss. They seemed as fine as ever, if a bit startled by the noise.

‘But that means…’ 

Vicky slowly turned around, looking at Yosei who seemed just as surprised by the noise as she was. Together, their gazes moved downwards, and a baffled expression came to the ABB cape’s face as she took in the growing red stain in her abdomen, just before another shot rang out and Oni Lee’s head exploded into fine ash.