With Great Power: Teaming Up
Double post today! Dragon's Progeny will update tonight!
~~~
Taylor's web shooters fit snugly against her wrists as she clipped them on. She examined them, making sure that everything was in order, and hummed slightly as she saw the rust and shaky welds that she had made.
She really needed to start earning some money so that she could make some better equipment. There was no telling how long these would last in their current state. Unfortunately, between heroing and school, there was no way she was gonna be able to hold down even a part-time job so she wasn't really sure how she was going to do that.
She turned to the side, “Hey Emma, is it stealing if I only take money from criminals? I mean, it’s not like they’ll need it in jail and it's probably stolen anyway, so it’s fair game right?”
The response that came was swift and succinct, “Don’t talk to me.”
Taylor sighed, looking at Emma who was faced away from her on her bed, typing furiously on her laptop as she ignored Taylor’s presence, “Are you still mad at me, Ems?”
“What did I literally just say?”
Taylor frowned. It was hard to talk to Emma when she was like this. This being the stubborn refusal to even look at Taylor that had stemmed from their recent argument. Emma didn’t agree with Taylor’s decision to go after the scarred woman with the help of Sophia, and no matter how much Taylor argued that she would be fine and that this was necessary, she refused to see any sort of reason.
Taylor didn’t realize it, but the incident in the alley had left her friend with more scars than what was just apparent on the surface. She felt horrible for not realizing that Emma likely had some form of PTSD stemming from that day, but Emma had always been good at hiding things from her.
It was one of the first times in a long time that they had actually had an argument, if you could even really call it that, and it had basically ended with Emma throwing her arms up in the air and yelling at Taylor that she could do whatever she wanted. She was the one with super powers and working legs.
Taylor felt awful, especially after that comment, but after a full day of thinking it over, she knew that there was no way she was going to let this opportunity go to waste. Here was a chance to put away the woman responsible for putting Emma in that wheelchair before she had a chance to hurt anyone else.
If she just let it go, what would happen if Sophia didn't manage to catch her alone? Taylor might have been indirectly responsible for causing some other girls to go through what she and Emma went through and most likely much worse. She couldn't let that happen.
Pulling on her mask, Taylor walked over to the bed and grabbed her goggles. As she reached out, a hand latched on to her wrist, making her pause and look over to Emma who was still staunchly looking away from her.
“Emma?” She questioned, watching as the girl finally looked at her. She was shocked to see tears on Emma's face, but her eyes didn't look sad. They were angry.
“I’m still mad at you.” Emma said as her hand tightened on Taylor's wrist, “But if you're going to do this no matter what I say, then at least promise me you won't risk your life to get that bitch. I hate her with every fiber of my being, but if letting her get away means you come back, then do it, okay?”
“I'll be okay, Emma.” Taylor said, gently pulling her hand out of the girl's grip, or tried to at least. Emma’s hand tightened on her wrist to the point that Taylor wondered if she was the one who had gotten super strength instead of her. She leaned in really close, staring Taylor in the eyes with a deep intensity.
“No, Taylor, I need you to promise me.” She said, and Taylor’s eyes widened at the slight tremor in her voice, “I can handle it if she gets away but if you get hurt, then I won’t ever be able to forgive myself.”
Taylor’s heart squeezed at her tone and she knelt down, wrapping an arm around Emma’s shoulder and bringing her in for a hug, “I promise that nothing bad is going to happen to me. I’ve already taken down a ton of people just like her, there’s no way I’ll let her get the drop on me.”
“But if she does-”
“If she does then I won’t take any chances. I’ll run away even if I have to leave Sophia behind to do it.” She said, squeezing harder. She wasn’t actually going to do that. Even if Sophia would probably be more than fine with it, she wouldn’t just abandon the girl no matter how much she weirded her out.
Emma didn’t need to know that though, and her words had the intended effect of calming the girl down as the tension in her shoulders went away and they sagged slightly. She returned Taylor’s hug, pressing her head into her taller friend’s shoulder as Taylor did the best to make her worry disappear.
They stayed like they that for a long moment before the moment was broken by the redhead herself. “Alright, this is getting gay. Get off.” Emma said, pushing Taylor away. Her nose wrinkled, “Ew, you got your dad’s body wash all over me. Now people are gonna think we did something.”
Taylor wasn’t offended by the gesture and she stepped back, pulling on her goggles as Emma reached towards her nightstand, “And what’s wrong with that? Don’t you want to be gay with your best friend?”
“And live up to every stereotype ever? No thank you.” Emma sniffed as she pulled out a small bottle of perfume “Falling in love with your best friend who saved your life and waits on you hand and foot only happens in cheesy romance novels or hallmark movies. I’m afraid you’re staying firmly in the friend zone.”
She smirked, and Taylor was glad to see the usual spark had returned to her eyes, “Besides, I could never be with someone taller than me. Don’t you know what that would do to my self image?”
“Well considering you’re short in the first place, as well as the whole wheelchair thing, I’d say you’re gonna have a tough job finding anybody shorter than you for a while, Ems.” Taylor shot back, giggling as her friend’s jaw dropped.
“You… I can’t even believe you just said that.” Emma’s face was ablaze with mock outrage, and she jabbed a finger at the open window nearby, “Get out of my house, Taylor Hebert. And don’t come back.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Taylor said cheekily, ducking the bottle of perfume that was flung at her head as she practically danced towards the open window. She stepped out, shivering at the cold and once again thanking Emma’s design skills for providing her with a hoodie during the coldest time of the year.
Emma’s face sobered as her friend prepared to leave, “Be careful, Taylor.” She called after her, and Taylor gave her a salute, closing the window behind her and swinging off into the night.
~~~
The conversation with Emma was still lingering in Taylor's head as she swung through the city several minutes later. She was filled with a strange mix of anticipation and dread as she approached the restaurant that Sophia had asked her to meet at.
Attaching a web to a nearby sign, Taylor swung down to the roof, landing in a crouch on the gravel surface. She stood, looking around for the other heroine who had asked her to meet, but she didn't need to bother.
“I'm glad you could make it.” Sophia said as she stood up and walked out of the shadows obscuring her. She was in full Shadow Stalker get-up, and her mask gleamed in the moonlight, glaring at Taylor silently as the girl approached, “I knew I was right about you.”
“I almost didn't make it.” Taylor said as the other girl walked up to her, “Emma didn't want me to come.”
“Why should that matter? She your girlfriend or something?” She asked and Taylor shook her head, not letting the girl get under her skin.
“No, but she is my best friend and her opinion is important to me.” Taylor followed Stalker to the edge of the building, speaking quietly, “She didn't want me to come because she thought I'd get hurt, but this is the only way I can get justice for what happened to her.”
“You don't have to explain anything to me.” Stalker said, “I know why you're here.”
Taylor gave her a look behind her goggles, “And that would be?”
“You're a predator, like me.” She responded, making Taylor pause, “You aren't gonna let someone like her get away with what she did because it's not in your nature. Just like letting someone get away from me isn't mine.”
There were several things that Taylor wanted to say in response to that, and her mouth opened almost automatically as the words fought to get out.
“Okay, first of all, don't ever call me a predator again.” She said, “I don't want to end up on a list in the PRT records room.”
Shadow Stalker frowned at what Taylor was insinuating, That's not-”
“Second,” Taylor held a finger up, “I'm here because my friend got shot in the stomach and the woman who did it hasn't been buried below the jail yet. The police aren’t helping, you said that you know where she is and since I’m a hero now, I can put her away myself. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to go ahead and do that before she gets away.”
“Fair enough.” Shadow Stalker shrugged, stepping to the edge of the roof, “Follow me then. It isn’t too far away from here.”
She stepped off of the roof and activated her power, floating away on the breeze to land gently on the one next door. Taylor jumped after her and together, the two of them made their way away from the docks and towards a long row of abandoned warehouses that were within sight of where they had originally been.
“I didn’t know the ABB operated this close to the docks.” Taylor said with a slight frown as Shadow Stalker stopped on one of the roofs, “I thought they were closer to downtown.”
“Territories shift all the time. Comes with the trade or whatever. I think they just moved into this one recently because they don’t have shit set up in there.” Shadow Stalker said, kneeling down on the edge of the warehouse and propping her crossbow beside her. She pointed at a building across the street, one with around five or so people mingling around it conspicuously, “That’s the one we want. I’ve been following that woman’s trail for a while and she’s been working here every night the past week.”
“We'll get in through the windows up there.” Stalker pointed at the windows lining the top of the building, “I checked and they're loose and unlocked. Since you can climb walls or whatever, it should be easy to get in. Once we're inside, we'll take down that scarred bitch and anyone else in there.”
“Do we have a number?” Taylor asked, watching the men down below carefully
“Not too many. Yesterday it was practically empty.”
That was good Taylor didn't want to make this any more of an incident than it was already gonna be. She'd rather get in and out as quickly as possible so that nobody got hurt..
She took a deep breath, adjusting her goggles before glaring down at the warehouse, "Alright, let's do this then.”
“Follow my lead.”
Shadow Stalker had been right when she said that she and Taylor made a good team. Their shared propensity towards stealth made it extremely easy to take out all five guards without raising the alarm. Taylor webbed the last one to the wall, hanging him up and out of sight of anyone who might pass by. Shadow Stalker was standing below, examining her work with her hands on her hips.
“That's pretty useful. Usually I just have to nail them up there.” She said as Taylor finished hitching the men up.
“No nailing while I'm around please. It isn't very heroic.” Taylor said as she crawled further up the wall towards the window, "I'm already not really sure how this is gonna work out. Don't give me another reason to worry.”
As Taylor unlatched the window, Shadow Stalker shook her head, “These guys don't deserve mercy. You'll learn that eventually.”
“Does that have something to do with your… predator thing?”
“Nah, they're just scum. Roughing them up a bit is the least they deserve. If you ask me, they should just be thrown in a ditch and left to rot.”
Though this little team up with Shadow Stalker hadn't lasted for more than an hour, Taylor was already beginning to build a mental image of what the girl was all about. Needless to say, she was already second guessing this partnership.
“Ooh, mass graves. Classy.” She said as she pulled open the window, “I think the Empire has those patented right now so if you want to try your hand at grave keeping, you might want to try their youth group. I think they're accepting new members. Window's open, by the way”
Shadow Stalker snorted, “Sure, I'll get right on that.”
Bending down, the teen jumped upwards, shifting states in midair and becoming a gaseous mass of shadows that carried her momentum, bringing her up towards the open window. She grabbed onto the lip as she returned to human form, hauling herself up and inside the building as Taylor followed close behind.
Inside, the two heroes dropped down onto a catwalk running along the outer edge of the building. It was dark inside, and the noise coming from down below masked their entrance as they ducked into the shadows around them to observe.
“Wow. That's a lot of bad guys.” Taylor whispered as she saw what was going on down below.
Stalker was wrong when she said there wouldn't be that many people inside. At least two dozen ABB goons were running around down below doing random things. She saw around five carrying boxes from a truck into a nearby room, another sorting through a box full of white bricks, and even more just messing with guns
She slowly turned to give Shadow Stalker a glare, and the girl actually had the decency to seem embarrassed, “I guess they were just having a slow day, yesterday. That's a lot more than I remember.”
“I’ve had goldfish with better memory. And counting skills.” Taylor huffed as she turned back to the floor, “Should we call for reinforcements? We could leave and report this to the PRT and get some help.”
Stalker immediately shook her head, “No, we can still do this. We just need to be careful and pick them off one by one. I've done it before.’
Taylor doubted the veracity of that statement. She was almost certain that they wouldn't be able to take care of an entire building full of armed men by themselves, but as she went to tell the other girl just how stupid and borderline insane that sounded, her eyes caught on a figure standing near the truck being unloaded, and all thoughts of leaving fled her mind.
Because standing right there, having a heated conversation with a man in a bright green jacket, was the same scarred face covered by a cheap mask. The sounds of the hustling warehouse were drowned out as every iota of Taylor's attention was focused on the woman she had come here for.
Her argument with the man in the jacket was becoming more heated and drawing the eyes of everyone in the warehouse. Men stopped what they were doing and put down their boxes to watch as she yelled at the man who had caught her ire, and as her voice grew loud enough that even Taylor could hear it, she listened in on what was being said.
“-nd I can't believe you're so fucking stupid! We could have made at least forty k off of that bitch if you and your buddies didn't fuck everything up!” She screamed, getting into the man's face, “That shit comes out of my pay! You're fucking with my money here, not the ABB's!”
The man flinched back, “I didn't know! My buddy had his eye on her for a while and I figured since we were friends you know, I'd give him a discount!”
“Oh, he was your friend? I'm sorry, I didn't realize.” The woman's demeanor did a one-eighty and suddenly she was all smiles, “Well if he was your friend, then I guess there's no problem with it, right?”
The man was confused by the sudden shift in personality, but he nodded hesitantly. Quicker than anybody could react to, the woman pulled a gun from under her shirt and jabbed it at the man with enthusiasm.
BANG
Taylor and everyone else flinched at the gunshot that boomed in their ears. The man the scarred woman was arguing with fell backwards, clutching his leg as blood poured out of his shattered kneecap.
“NO, DIPSHIT! WE DON'T GIVE DISCOUNTS ON VIRGINS TO ANYBODY!” She screamed at the writhing man as she loomed over him, “If you and your buddies want to fuck around with one of the used girls then fine, but you don't get to fuck with my cut because you can't keep it in your goddamn pants!”
The man wasn't even listening, too busy clutching himself and rocking back and forth as he tried to stem the bleeding. His wailing annoyed the woman who aimed at him again, “Stop fucking whining!”
She pulled the trigger, but nothing came out. Everyone in the warehouse stared at her as she slowly brought her gun up to her face, taking in the thick webbing that had spread across the barrel.
Taylor looked down at her hand and the fingers depressing the button on her web shooters. She didn't even realize she moved.
Staring down at her webbed up hand, the scarred woman slowly turned around and looked up, locking on to where Taylor was crouched on the railing of the catwalk up above. There was a beat as their eyes met, before a wide smile spread across her face underneath her mask.
“Well would you look at this!” She said, gesturing at Taylor and drawing the eyes of everyone in the building to her position, “I didn’t realize we’d have guests tonight!”
As dozens of eyes and weapons turned towards her and Shadow Stalker sighed in the darkness behind her, Taylor realized that she may have jumped the gun just a bit.