With Great Power: The End of Darkness
Taylor would admit she was having more fun with this than she probably should have been.
“Hey! Give me a boost!”
The words echoed through the ruinous cavern, catching the attention of Glory Girl who was busy recovering from a rather nasty strike from their current opponent, a hulking troll with pocked green skin and bulging muscles that seemed to hate their guts for just existing. His legs were webbed together, keeping him rooted in place, but his skin was hard to cut and he hit like a truck which made the heroines cautious to get anywhere near him. At least until Taylor concocted her insane plan.
Taylor ran towards Glory Girl in a dead sprint, and it took only a moment for the other girl to understand what she intended to do thanks to her earlier shout. Grinning, Glory Girl planted her sword in the ground and clasped her fingers together, leaning down to place them against the floor as she angled herself towards the troll. Taylor planted her foot in the girl’s hand and Glory Girl wasted no time in launching her forward with a loud shout.
The heroine’s enhanced strength sent Taylor flying like a rocket, straight at the troll. It snapped at her as she flew past, trying to catch her in its teeth but she was moving way too fast for it to react to. As she soared past it, she turned in midair and slung two webs onto its shoulders. They pulled taut, threads straining to the point of snapping, before launching her back towards the troll.
“Down you go!” Taylor’s padded knees slammed into the monster’s face with a thunderous clap, causing it to reel backwards. But since its legs were still webbed to the ground, it had nowhere to go but down. It fell onto its back with a loud groan, stubby arms flailing angrily as it tried to get to the cheeky cape still attached to its face.
As her ride came to an end, Taylor rolled off of the troll just in time for Glory Girl to come down from above, slamming her sword down on the troll’s thick neck and decapitating it in a spurt of dark green blood that flew absolutely everywhere, painting them and the cavern floor.
As the monster faded into pixelated dust, Glory Girl stood and shook out her hair, sending splatters of green flying in every direction. She sheathed her sword, glancing at Taylor, “That entire maneuver was completely unnecessary.”
“Yeah, but it was fun.” responded Taylor as she led the way out of the room and into the next corridor, “Gotta spice things up every now and then, you know?”
The two of them had been here for a while, going on an hour and a half if she had to make some sort of estimate, just slowly making their way through the dungeon and fighting whatever monster came their way. As one could expect, the novelty of the experience had mostly worn off for the two of them. Taylor was still having fun, Glory Girl less so, but both of them were ready to leave and put this whole experience to rest.
“You know, despite everything that Uber and Leet are known for, this place is actually pretty well put together.” Taylor commented as they made their way to the next monster room.
“True,” agreed Glory Girl, “I half expected something to explode by now. Or all of it.”
Taylor nodded. Uber and Leet weren’t exactly known for their stellar craftsmanship, or more accurately, Leet wasn’t. For a Tinker who seemed to be able to build anything that came to his mind, a good percentage of his repertoire had a habit of malfunctioning in one nasty way or another. There was actually a thread on PHO completely dedicated to showcasing these failures which Taylor was guilty of visiting once or twice just to get a good laugh.
Taylor glanced around, “Now that you said that, I kinda want to get out of here as soon as possible. I know roasted spider is a delicacy in some countries, but I don't want to end up on someone's dinner plate.”
Though she said that, they both knew that they had no control of where or when the would be able to escape the cube. Their adventure had been mostly linear so far. They would clear out a room of monsters and move onto the next one, with little to no deviation from the standard formula apart from the clear progression in the strength and power of the monsters they faced though.
The troll they had just killed had been the strongest thing they'd fought so far, being actually challenging to defeat compared to most of the other ones they'd fought. Following the limited amount of video game logic Taylor had access to, that meant that should be coming across the boss sometime soon. Or at least she hoped.
They made quick work of the next room, this one full of a horde of undead knights with rusted armor that barely clung to their bony bodies.
As Taylor dented armor with her fists and severed spines with her daggers, she was actually thankful for the chance to use her powers like this, against monsters who she had no issues killing instead of purse snatchers or burglars. It gave her the chance to test out moves that she otherwise wouldn’t ever be able to actually use.
“They could make a lot more money if they just charged admission for something like this.” Taylor called as she flipped over a skeleton and kicked him into his buddies. Broken bones rolled across the floor and she turned, catching a rusted sword with the edge of her dagger, “Like, imagine running a campaign and actually getting to play through it with your players. People would pay a good chunk of change just for a few minutes of this!”
“That would require Uber and Leet to have actual business acumen.” Glory Girl swiped her sword in one wide arc. Three heads went flying, “And care about anything other than video games which we both know is never going to happen.”
True enough, Taylor supposed. Uber and Leet were pretty set on their theme. As far as she knew, they hadn't deviated from it so far.
They emptied the room of enemies fairly quickly and moved onto the next, and it was immediately apparent that this one was different
Taylor looked up at the heavy wooden doors trimmed with burnished gold. They were bigger than the ones on the other rooms, over ten feet tall and almost as wide, with giant knockers in the middle of each of them.
“So… this is definitely the boss room, right?” asked Glory Girl.
Taylor nodded slowly, “Probably. I don't see any other reason why these doors would be so different to all of the others. Unless they’re just messing with us.”
“I wouldn't put it past them.” Glory Girl grumbled as Taylor stepped forward and pushed on the doors. They were heavy, more like giant slabs of stone than the wood they appeared to be, but Taylor was able to move them easily.
The doors slowly creaked open to reveal a large, open chamber filled with smog and darkness so thick that it even swallowed the light of the torches outside. Taylor couldn't make out much through the thick fog, but she got the vague impression of thick, stone pillars reaching towards the ceiling and displacing the smog around them.
“Oh yeah. Definitely a boss room.” Glory Girl said as she peeked past Taylor, “Let's finally get this over with and arrest those dweebs.”
“You mean the ones who probably aren't here?” said Taylor, mimicking her words from earlier.
“Look, just getting out of here is a win in my book. I'll take what I can get.” The heroine grumbled as they strolled inside.
The moment they crossed the cusp of the doorway, the doors behind them slammed shut, just as they had when they first entered the castle, making them both jump at the deafening noise. Then, a deep, rumbling voice rumbled from the darkness around them.
“Who dares intrude upon my innermost sanctum?” It growled, before the fog around them was driven away by light as dozens of torches burned to life along the walls, revealing the chamber in all of its glory.
The walls were a dark, intimidating stone and so was the floor itself. Pillars of obsidian were interspersed deliberately throughout the room, supporting the high ceiling and adding an air of mysticism thanks to the idols carved upon their surfaces. At the rear of the room was a massive black throne made of the deepest obsidian and shining gold, and upon it sat the gnarliest monster that the pair had come across so far.
He was massive, creating fifteen feet easily even though he was sitting down. His head was the shape of a bull and his naked torso and arms were covered in bristling black fur. Dark horns burst from his forehead, curling into the air with wicked intent, and a pair of leathery wings stretched from his back as he slowly stood, seeking more like massive tarps than anything that would allow this creature to fly.
At his feet lied a mace of jagged iron which he reached down to grab, wrapping his thick fingers around the even thicker handle and hefting it upwards as his crimson eyes glared at the heroine’s with malicious intent.
“Ah. More heroes.” His lips twisted into a snarl, “I thought that I had seen the last of you when I decimated the holy kingdom of Fastria, yet you fools continue to assault my castle in hopes of putting an end to my endless malice. Well then…”
He whirled around, slamming his mace into his throne. The strike was devastating, scattering shards of obsidian and twisted bits of gold all across the floor. Steam poured from the creature’s lips as he turned to them, seeming even angrier than before, “I, Malchir, King of Darkness and ruler of all things vile and evil in this realm, will do to you just as I have done to all who have come before you. Your corpses will serve as warning to those who come after.”
Taylor and Glory Girl stared at the menacing monster for a long moment, before slowly looking to one another.
Taylor nodded at Malchir, “Is it just me or is this…”
“Kind of scary, yeah.” Glory Girl finished for her, actually looking somewhat intimidated by the hulking monstrosity that they were set to face, “I can't believe I'm about to say this, but those two nerds actually managed to make something cool. I almost feel bad that we're gonna have to wreck it.”
“You will wreck nothing! Prepare to embrace oblivion, heroes!” Malchir flapped his massive wings a single time and the movement was enough to send him flying towards them at incredible speed. He hefted his mace, slamming it into the ground as the two heroines jumped to the side and cratering it massively.
“Woah! Take it easy man!” Taylor said as she dodged the flying debris. Malchir turned and swatted at her with a fuzzy hand but she zipped out of his reach as Glory Girl came flying in, slashing him across his exposed ribs with her sword.
Black blood flowed like bubbling tar as a massive gash was torn in the creature's side and Malchir roared in anger, “Your oaths will not protect you from my wrath, Paladin!”
He turned and opened his maw, sending a stream of orange flames at Glory Girl as she circled around for another attack. The heroine's eyes widened and she scrambled backwards, bringing up her shield in a desperate defence as the flames licked at her armor, “He shoots fire!?”
“Of course he does!” Taylor yelled back, “What kind of demon king can't breathe fire?”
“A normal one!?” Glory Girl darted out of range as Malchir's attention turned to Taylor instead. His eyes were blazing with hatred and steam wafted from his nostrils as he snorted, making the heroine grin.
“Oh he's mad. And he's coming right at me…” Taylor tensed as Malchir pointed his head down, rushing at her horns-first. She leapt off the pillar as he reached her, leaving him to slam into it like a runaway freight train.
"Andale, toro! Andale!” Taylor mocked as she jumped to another pillar, leaping off just in time as Malchir's hand slammed through it, “Ooh! Almost got me that time!”
Taylor landed on the ground just behind him and was about to yell another mocking remark, but her instincts suddenly screamed at her and the king of darkness whirled around with speed belying his size, slamming his mace down on her comparatively tiny body with a roar.
“Spidey!” Glory Girl screamed as the heroine's body disappeared underneath the twisted bulb of iron. Though she knew that this was all just a game constructed by a pair of idiotic villains with too much time on their hands, she also knew that what they felt in here was real. Did she just watch her friend die!?
The mace suddenly shifted, trembling as if it was being shaken by its user. Malchir grunted, bracing his weapon with both hands, but it wasn't enough and slowly hit surely, the mace began to rise upwards.
To Glory Girl’s relief and shock, the other heroine was actually lifting the massive weapon with nothing but her bare hands, grunting as she slowly forced it off of her body.
Taylor's arms shook as she fought against the weight of the mace and Malchir himself. For the first time in a while, she was actually exerting herself as she lifted the minivan sized piece of metal off of her body and above her head, “Jeez! This thing is-ngh! Super heavy! Couldn't you have gone with something a little bit lighter?*
“Impossible!” Malchir roared. He tried to force her back down but Taylor was too strong, making him growl in frustration, “No mere mortal has survived a direct attack from my weapon!”
“Yeah well I've never been hit with a mace before, so I guess we're all going for new experiences right now.” Taylor heaved the mace to the side and zipped to the ceiling, landing on another pillar and launching herself off in an instant, cocking a fist back, “Here! Have another one!”
The heroine's fist slammed into Malchir's jaw and sent him reeling. Her super strength combined with the speed she was moving was more than enough to unbalance the giant bull-man and he stumbled backwards, clutching his face in agony, before tripping on a stray piece of pillar that he had knocked loose.
His landing soon the entire chamber, much louder and heavier compared to Taylor's as the heroine's feet touched the ground once more. Glory Girl floated down next to her.
“Damn, Spidey! You hit harder than I thought.” she said, watching as Taylor cradled her hand with a grimace.
“His face hits hard.” the heroine huffed, “I think I dislocated my thumb.”
Glory Girl hummed and stepped closer, grabbing her hand before Taylor could protest. She ran a finger along the bulge near Taylor's palm, making the girl wince, “Oh yeah, that's pretty bad. Hold on a second. I’ll fix it.”
Taylor blinked as Glory Girl grabbed her thumb, “Wait wha–”
Pain pulsed through Taylor's hand as Glory Girl suddenly jerked her thumb in one direction, and then another. The joint popped loudly, making Taylor help as her thumb was forced back into its proper place.
“There you go.” said Glory Girl as Taylor flexed her finger with a grimace. It was sore but not nearly as much as it had been just moments ago.
“Thanks.” She said, before giving the girl a sly glance, “You've done that before, haven't you?”
Glory Girl returned the look, “Just a couple times.”
A groan caught their attention and they turned in unison. Malchir was slowly getting up, shaking his head angrily as if to get rid of a daze. For being a hologram or robot or whatever, he was acting pretty realistically, almost like a real person was controlling him or something. Uber or Leet were probably somewhere nearby, pulling the strings on the king of darkness.
Malchir pulled his hand away from his face, revealing a glitching patch of fur on his cheek. It flickered in and out of existence, temporarily revealing a smooth metal frame underneath it. Robot then.
“You pitiful creatures! Cling to your false hope of victory. It will make it so much sweeter when I rob you of it!”
“Scary.” Glory Girl commented as they watched him get to his feet. Taylor nodded but she wasn’t really paying attention to that. Instead, her eyes were on Malchir’s feet and the heavy iron boots that they were enclosed in. They looked heavy and more importantly, clunky, and as she stared at them, an idea slowly began to take shape in her head.
“Hey, I might have a plan on how to beat this guy.” Taylor said, catching her companion’s attention, ‘I’ll need your help, but if it works, we can end this quickly and get out of here.”
“I’m all for anything that gets us out of here faster. Let me hear it.”
“Well first of all.” Taylor licked her lips, grinning at her next words, “I need to weave a web.”
Taylor explained her plan in broad strokes, keeping an eye on Malchir in case he decided to try and attack them both while they were distracted. He was just standing there, staring at them intimidatingly from across the room. Was he waiting for them to finish talking? Guess Uber and leet were feeling a little generous with this boss.
Glory Girl was grinning as she finished explaining her plan to her. The heroine shook her head fondly, “You’re one tricky bitch, Spidey. All right, what do you need me to do?”
“Just distract him.” Taylor said, checking her web shooters despite knowing they were pretty much full. She’d barely used them since they got in here, at least compared to how much she used while she was swinging which was good because this was gonna take a lot of fluid.
“I can be distracting!” Glory Girl said, floating upwards with a wide grin.
The golden paladin practically radiated confidence as she floated high above the ground, brazenly exposing herself and begging the King of Darkness to do something about it. To add to the spectacle, she brandished her sword and shield, banging the weapons together loudly to create a cacophony of sound too obnoxious to ignore.
“Hey Malchir! What did Uber and Leet think they were doing when they designed you? Well I say designed but it looks more like they just threw everything at the wall and tried to see what stuck.”
Malchir hefted his mace, slamming the twisted head into one palm as he glared at the taunting heroine, “I know not who people you are referring to are, but if you wish to offer prayers to false gods then be my guest! Your idolatry will not save you from my wrath!”
“They’re the furthest thing from gods, actually. More like goblins than anything.” Glory Girl said as Malchir charged at her
As Glory Girl distracted Malchir, Taylor began to lay out her trap. Like her namesake, she skittered around the battlefield, hiding behind pillars when the monster’s gaze turned her way and darting to and fro as her creation slowly but surely took shape.
Geometric patterns unfolded in front of her eyes, stress points and cascading failures playing themselves out her mind’s eye as she slung webs with much more purpose than she ever had before. She barely even had to think about what she was doing beyond the end result, as if the actions required to reach the image in her mind were engrained into her muscles from her birth.
Perhaps this was another aspect of her power or maybe she was just some sort of geometry savant, she didn't know. What she did know was that this trap was absolutely going to work. As long as Glory Girl could keep Malchir distracted for just a few more seconds…
As if the mere thought were a curse, Glory Girl suddenly shouted in pain up above. One of Malchir’s strikes had managed to slip past her guard and slam into the heroine herself. She was sent flying, smashing into and then through one of the dozens of massive pillars scattered around the room. Her sword slipped out of her grip, joining the rest of the debris on the ground as she rolled across the floor and came to a stop by the far wall, groaning in pain.
Taylor felt a smidge of worry for her fellow heroine but her attention was taken by Malchir as the monster turned towards her next, snorting angrily as he saw her skulking around like a spider in the dark, “Do you think hiding from me will accomplish anything, you pitiful wretch?”
Keeping her cool so as not to reveal her trap, Taylor hummed, zipping up to a nearby pillar that left her at eye level with the King of Darkness. Sitting sideways, she crossed her legs, putting her hand to her chin in a thinking pose, “No, but I was checking the view from down there and I have to ask, how much shampoo do you go through when you shower? I mean, assuming you even do. You seem like the type to let it marinate. It’s a bold choice, I’ll admit. Especially considering how big you are. I bet your fur absolutely reeks by the time you’re done torturing the innocent or whatever it is you do down here.”
Her barrage of insults did their job masterfully, taking Malchir’s attention off of whatever she had been doing away from Glory Girl and putting it all on her instead. Crimson eyes narrowed and blackened lips lifted in an angry snarl.
“I will show you exactly what I do to innocent souls, whelp! The Paladin received a merciful end but I will ensure that yours is long and excruciating!"
Taylor dodged the gout of fire that he tried to launch at her, leaping back to another pillar and sticking to it instead, “Woah there! I was just asking an honest question man. Personal hygiene is important. You can’t make a good first impression if you’re stinking up every room you enter. Tell you what, I know a pretty good website where you can find bulk discounts for Head and Shoulders. Though I guess you’d need the next level after that, huh? Head and Body? Ooh! Head to feet! That’s the one you need!”
“Cease your incessant prattling and fight me!” Malichor roared, swinging his mace at her.
Taylor ducked out of the way, jumping up and over the monster’s body as his mace shattered the pillar she had been standing on. Dust flew in every direction, masking the heroine’s presence as she reached out with her webs, swinging around and building momentum as she headed straight for Malchir’s face.
“If you insist!”
Having learned her lesson from last time, Taylor used her foot instead of her fist, kicking Malchir in the face just as hard as she had hit him earlier. And just like earlier, her strike unbalanced him enough that he couldn’t regain his composure, not with those heavy boots and greaves tipping him over. He fell backwards, roaring in rage and swinging at her blindly, before his momentum was suddenly slowed by the thick strands of webbing that Taylor had secretly been connecting between two pillars, just out of his line of sight.
Malchir’s immense weight caught on the web that Taylor had weaved, holding fast for just a moment, before the heavy pillars they were connected to suddenly shuddered and collapsed inwards. Though Taylor’s webs had withstood his bulk, his immense weight brought the pillars anyway, even as he tangled himself in the clinging webs. Taylor swooped down as he struggled, sending out a thick, constant stream of webs at his legs and sticking them to the ground as well, effectively constricting him like a mouse on a glue trap.
“ARRGH! WHAT IS THIS!? You pitiful Rogue! I demand you free me!” Malchir pulled against his binds to no avail.
“Sorry to say, no amount of shampoo is gonna get you out of that mess.” Taylor said as she leapt towards the bound demon lord, “But don’t worry, I think I have another solution!”
Taylor knew her daggers were too small to do any significant damage so the heroine didn’t even bother to unsheathe them. Instead she sent a web down to Glory Girl’s fallen sword and yanked it into her own hands, grabbing the leather-bound hilt with both hands as she came down upon Malchir like a meteor.
The sharp blade seemed to sing in her hands as she brought it to bear, slamming it down in the center of Malchir’s chest with a triumphant shout. It sank into the monster’s flesh like it belonged there, carving into him down to the hilt and leaving the gilded crossguard pressed firmly against his furry chest. Malchir lurched, a roar of absolute agony escaping him that only grew louder as Taylor twisted the weapon harshly, sending black ichor flying in every direction.
“NOOOOO! HOW CAN THIS BE!?” He screamed as life leaked from his body in thick, inky spurts, “CURSE YOU, HEROES! YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE LAST OF ME!”
Taylor flinched back as Malchir’s body was suddenly engulfed in brightly colored flames. They consumed him from his feet up to the tip of his head, burning away flesh and fur and even her webs, but oddly enough, they didn’t seem to harm Taylor in the slightest, feeling like nothing but tepid tap water lapping against her body.
Malchir’s body disappeared from underneath the heroine, sending Taylor into the curtain of flames which quickly vanished as well. Confused, the heroine looked around before her eyes caught on Glory Girl slowly getting to her feet a few feet away, seemingly hurt.
Dropping the sword, she jogged over, helping her friend get to her feet, “You alright?”
Glory Girl nodded, grimacing slightly, “Yeah, I’m fine. I think I pinched a nerve in my back.”
“You mean when you used it to break through a stone pillar thicker than both of us combined?” Taylor joked.
“Yeah. Probably around then.” Glory Girl grinned, before glancing over at the area where Malchir’s body had disappeared, “You got him? I was face down in the dirt so I didn’t really see.”
“Yeah, I got him. The plan worked perfectly.” Taylor tilted her head, glancing at her friend as she rubbed her back, “Well, almost perfectly. I didn't think you’d get hit like that, sorry.”
Glory Girl waved her off, “It’s fine. Honestly the landing hurt more than hitting the pillar. I’m gonna be digging gravel out of my hair for a week.”
“You think things in here will carry over?” Taylor asked.
“Knowing my luck it will.”
“I don't think that’s how this works. None of this is real, and I doubt Uber and Leet would put actual rocks in here just to mess with you.”
“You don’t know those two like I do.” Glory Girl growled, eyes flashing with distant annoyance and making Taylor wonder what exactly they did to her to make her despise them like this.
“I guess we’ll have to get out first to find out.” Taylor let the subject drop with a shrug, “Speaking of which… What now? We beat the bad guy, right? Shouldn’t those two have let us out by now?”
As if to answer her question, a loud chime of victory rang through the cavern, loud and almost melodious. The voice from the beginning of their adventure burst to life along the walls and ceiling, coming from every direction all at once just as Malchir’s had when he first appeared.
“WELL DONE, BRAVE CHAMPIONS! YOU HAVE DEFEATED THE UNDYING ONE AND BROUGHT PEACE TO THE LANDS ONCE MORE!”
“Undying one? Getting stabbed in the chest and setting yourself on fire usually kills most things, doesn’t it?” Taylor asked. Glory Girl just shrugged, paying more attention to the voice up above instead.
“YOUR JOURNEY HERE IS OVER, BUT DO NOT FEAR FOR MANY MORE PERILOUS ADVENTURES LIE IN YOUR FUTURE! TAKE PRIDE IN YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND THE RENOWN THAT THEY WILL AWARD YOU AND MOST IMPORTANTLY… Thank you for playing Uber and Leet’s Dark Descent! Check out our streams for more content, and we hope to see you again real soon!”
The world suddenly shifted on its axis, swirling and shaking just like when they had been sucked into the cube. Taylor’s stomach churned as starbursts of colors passed by her eyes, before they were replaced by a sheet of bright blue interspersed with flakes of white.
Wind whipped through her hair and it took only a moment for Taylor to realize that she had been sent out of the cube or, more accurately, launched out of it like a bottle rocket with a short fuse.
Thanks to her powers, Taylor gained control of her wild flight fairly quickly and put her feet underneath her, landing sideways on a flag pole that bent underneath her weight. She looked around, noting that she was back in the real world and more importantly, her normal costume. The game was over.
She had been launched a pretty good distance away from the parking lot and even the mall itself, into the parking lot of the business across the street. There was a small crowd of people gathering around her below and she gave them a cheerful wave that was captured by the flash of several cameras, before a deep, mechanical whine caught her attention.
She glanced upwards just in time to see the cube that had been the cause of all this trouble in the first place begin to glow brightly. The black, staticky surface shifted until it was a blinding white, before it suddenly began to tremble and then shrink in small bursts, gradually becoming smaller and smaller until it was only a tenth of its once gigantic size, at which point it began to glow even brighter.
It was only thanks to Taylor’s goggles that she was even able to see what happened next, such was the intensity of the light spewing out of the cube. Dark green lines seemed to crawl over the device’s surface, slowly covering it in a thin green film that did nothing to diminish its brightness. They pulsed once, then twice, before disappearing entirely and taking the device with them, leaving only a small hole in the parking lot where the cube had once been.
Taylor was sure that nobody else had seen it because even the people close to her were rubbing spots out of their eyes after being blinded. She briefly wondered what that glow had been. She had never seen anything like it in Uber and Leet’s previous videos. If they had access to a teleporter, they definitely would have been able to get up to many more shenanigans than they already did.
‘Thought it’s not like I’ve seen them use a giant alternate reality cube either.’ Taylor mused as she swung towards the parking lot, leaving her adoring audience behind to nurse their retina, ‘I guess those two really stepped up their game. This was fun, but I hope they don’t cause too much trouble in the future.’
Heads turned Taylor’s way as she landed in the parking lot, joining the mingling crowd of heroes and police that had been investigating the cube. Gallant and Vista were still present, but there were a few new faces as well. Velocity was there, in all of his red, spandex-ey splendor, and so was Armsmaster.
They were probably just the first to show up, Taylor reasoned. Velocity was the fastest cape in the city so he would be the first to respond to an issue like this and Armsmaster was their resident Tinker so of course he had to come. Taylor wasn’t really looking forward to trying to hold a conversation with him after their last interaction, but luckily Glory Girl was already present so she probably wouldn't have to personally recount much.
“Looks like the cavalry finally arrived!” She called as she jogged up to them. She gave Glory Girl a grin which was immediately returned, “You guys wouldn’t believe the adventure we just went on. It was an action-packed journey full of adventures, thrills, and a giant spider that might have been a distant cousin. I didn't have the chance to ask him though and he never attended any of the family barbecues so I’m not really sure.”
Taylor’s joke didn’t really land with the adults but the younger group was much more receptive, cracking a few smiles and even giving a chuckle that the young heroine really hoped wasn’t just out of pity. Gallant stepped forward, holding out a phone for Taylor to view, “You’d be surprised.”
Taylor squinted at the screen, having a bit of trouble seeing it through the lenses of her goggles but after a moment, the image focused and she was surprised to see herself fighting Malchir. The video was paused on the final, definitive blow she had landed on the king’s chest. With her cloak fluttering behind her and her hands gripping the sword that she had plunged into the King of Darkness’s chest, she looked pretty freaking awesome in her own humble opinion.
“What? You didn’t think Uber and Leet were gonna stream the whole thing?” Vista asked, smirking at the surprise on her face.
“I guess I just forgot about it in the heat of the moment.” Taylor said absently as she scrolled back through the video. The entire adventure was here, achieved for the world to see on Uber and Leet’s website. It already had over three-hundred-thousand views.
“You’re famous now, Spidey.” Glory Girl said, patting Taylor on the back just hard enough to hurt, “Congrats. But don’t let it go to your head.”
“I… am the most humble person to ever exist.” Taylor said slowly as Gallant took the phone back, “A few hundred thousand people knowing my name could never go to my head.”
Glory Girl snorted, “Humble, huh? Yeah, I can tell. You’re a real saint, Spidey.”
Taylor turned and stared at her for a long moment, eyes searching for something specific. Glory Girl, not understanding the reason behind the sudden intensity in her gaze, coughed uncomfortably after around fifteen seconds of prolonged staring, “Uh… Is everything alright? You’re kinda freaking me out here.”
“She’s not the only one.” Vista agreed, giving Taylor a weird look. The heroine ignored her, pointing instead towards the bright blonde strands waterfalling from under Glory Girl’s tiara.
“Your hair.” She said, “It doesn’t have any gravel in it.”
Glory Girl blinked, grabbing a handful of golden silk and running a hand through it. She blinked again, before letting out a loud, startled laugh, “Seriously? That’s why you’re staring at me?”
Taylor nodded smugly, “I told you that nothing would carry over. They weren’t gonna put rocks in your hair just to mess with you. That’d be borderline psychopathic.”
Glory Girl shook her head, chuckling lowly as the rest of the group stared at them like they were insane, “I guess I was. But I still maintain that those two have done pettier things for less. It was a valid concern.”
“If you say so.”
“I do say so.”
Velocity cleared his throat, reminding the group that the Protectorate heroes were even there. He smiled as Taylor turned her attention to him, but it was strained, almost forced. Either he was having a bad day or something about Taylor really rubbed him the wrong way.
“You must be Widow.” He said, making Taylor nod, “I’m glad that you aren’t hurt but in the future, I’d like to ask you to leave the potentially dangerous tinker-tech to the professionals. If that wasn’t one of Uber and Leet’s contraptions, then there’s no telling what it could have done to you.”
Taylor frowned, a little bit confused, “Uh, I didn’t touch it. The only reason I was dragged in in the first place was because I was trying to stop Glory Girl from messing with it.” She jabbed a thumb at the heroine who sheepishly waved. Velocity paused. Clearly he hadn’t known that.
“Is that so?” He asked, seeming genuinely surprised as he realized his mistake, “In that case, I’m sorry for assuming. Usually when there’s an issue like this, the rookie is to blame. I should have realized that Glory Girl’s headstrong nature might have been the cause for all this in the first place.”
“Hey!” Glory Girl drew herself up but a glance from Taylor made her instantly deflate. She sighed, almost drooping as she hung her head, “That’s fair.”
“While you were inside, did you gain any insight into how the contraption worked?” Armsmaster cut in, looking at Taylor specifically. The heroine shook her head, unable to recall anything of the sort and he frowned, “I see.”
He walked away without another word, leaving Taylor wondering if she had said something wrong. Velocity sighed as she turned to him, giving her a tight smile, “He’s just a little frustrated. When the cube disappeared, nothing was left behind for him to analyze which kind of defeats the whole point of him being here in the first place.”
So he was feeling useless? Taylor didn’t really understand it but she knew that most Tinkers had some sort of quirk or another so she didn’t pry.
“Wait, everything disappeared?" Glory Girl asked, looking annoyed, “What about Uber and Leet?”
“If they were here, then they aren’t anymore.” Velocity shrugged, “We couldn’t find any sign of them nearby and Armsmaster said that there weren’t any rogue transmissions in the area. If they were here, they were probably in the cube with you.”
“Of course they got away.” Glory Girl spat, clearly unhappy to hear that. Taylor patted her on the arm sympathetically, knowing that she had been looking forward to making them pay for trapping them both in there like that.
After that, it was just a matter of giving a few statements to the heroes and Taylor was free to leave. Since the whole thing was caught on video – and apparently streamed on the outside of the cube as well just for anyone passing by – she didn't have to go into detail about what happened.
When all was said and done, Taylor bid the Wards and Glory Girl farewell before heading off towards Emma's house. That whole experience, while kind of fun, was also super draining and so she was pretty much done with heroing for the day. She was just going to spend the rest of the day hanging out with Emma and filling her in on the adventure she had been on.
You know, assuming the girl wasn't one of the quarter-million people who watched the whole thing happen.