Bet's Princess of Destruction: Chapter 3

Before I could go on a crusade against arguably the most dangerous parahumans in North America, I needed to get my own proverbial house in order first.

It was all well and good to talk a big game about killing Jack Slash, but the reality was that I currently had the combat experience of… well, a regular person who had never been in a real fight in their life. The knowledge in my head was all theoretical. I knew how to use my abilities, but that wasn’t the same thing as actually using them.

I needed some hands-on practice. If I was going to be going up against serial killers, it would be best to have some actual experience under my belt. Luckily, Brockton Bay had no shortage of learning experiences to draw from.

First thing first though, I needed a better entrance to my apartment.

The parking garage had been a disaster waiting to happen. I’d gotten lucky that the only witness had been a single guy, but that wouldn’t always be the case. I needed somewhere more discreet where I could enter and leave freely.

Somewhere near high traffic, I thought as I left my bench behind. Preferably not near the bad part of town. I don’t want someone following me home only to find out i live in another dimension.

I left the Boardwalk behind, heading inland toward the city proper. The touristy atmosphere faded as I walked, replaced by normal streets that looked marginally well-maintained. Businesses lined the streets, broken up by fast-food restaurants and the occasional government building. For all of its reputation, Brockton Bay looked like any other city that I’d been to. Even if the tech was a few years out of date.

I wandered for maybe twenty minutes, keeping my eyes open for a spot that would suit my needs. It didn’t take me long to find one in the form of a small library settled comfortably in between a post office and another building up for lease. There was an alley between it and the post office, leading to the next block over. Given the location, it wouldn’t see too much traffic, but it also wouldn’t be weird to see someone walking out at pretty much any time of the day.

I glanced down the alley. There was a dumpster near the entrance that partially blocked the view from the street, and it was close enough to the library that a signal would probably reach my apartment—assuming it was the kind with free Wi-Fi.

I ducked into the alley, running my hand along the rough brick to the side of the dumpster, furthest from the alley’s mouth. Concentrating, I reached out with my senses, feeling for the connection to the pocket dimension.

A door materialized in the brick wall just as it had in the parking garage, looking entirely out of place in the dingy alley. I stepped back and a moment later, it faded back into nothing, leaving only rough brick in its place.

Perfect. Now I had a much more discreet way to enter and exit my apartment. The library was also a great source of information, which I desperately needed. Two birds, one stone.

I headed inside, pushing through the glass doors into a cozy little building. The library was small, with only a few shelves and no kids’ section to speak of, but it had what I was looking for. Computers, and access to the internet.

“Welcome. Is there anything I can help you with?” The attendant at the desk asked kindly as I approached. I gave her a smile and a quick shake of my head, pointing at the computer.

“I just need to use your computer for a little bit. Is that alright?”

She nodded, the look on her face suggesting that this was a common ask. “Go right ahead. Since there’s nobody in here right now, you can take as long as you like. Just please stay on appropriate websites.”

“Thank you so much.” I said, while internally I wondered how many people broke that rule for her to actually ask.

I settled into the worn chair in front of the computer, the seat creaking under my weight as it adjusted to my presence. The monitor was ancient, even by twenty-ten standards, but it worked.

I wiggled the mouse, waking the old machine up with a quiet whir. A basic internet browser opened automatically, the homepage set to a local news site. Perfect.

The date at the top of the screen read January 8th, 2011. A few months before the start of canon, if memory served.

I drummed my fingers against the desk, processing that information. Winter break for most schools in the area had ended on the third, meaning the first week back had just passed. Taylor had triggered the first week back after winter break–that much I remembered.

Which meant it had already happened.

Somewhere in this city, a teenage girl with an insect-controlling power was probably lying in her bed right now, traumatized and exhausted. Or maybe plotting. It was hard to say which.

I felt a brief flash of regret. I could have prevented it, theoretically. The Locker was a horrific event that no one should have had to endure. If I’d arrived a week earlier, maybe I could have done something, but I hadn’t. I’d arrived too late, and now Taylor Hebert was a parahuman.

I pushed the regret aside. Dwelling on it wouldn’t change anything. What mattered now was what I did with the time I had.

I clicked over to a search engine, pulling up information on local news. The Brockton Bay Gazette, local TV stations, even some cape focused forums. I needed to get a feel for the current state of the city, see what had changed from what I remembered.

The first thing I noticed was that things were quieter than I expected. Lung hadn’t made any big moves and while the Empire Eighty-Eight was as active as ever, they weren’t exactly executing minorities in the streets or firebombing businesses. They were just... Around.

The Merchants didn’t exist yet, at least not in any large capacity. Skidmark was still around and so was Squealer, but they had yet to form the massive gang that they had post-Leviathan. Hopefully now that I was here, they never would.

The Undersiders were active, though low-key, still flying under the radar and sticking to small targets. Coil hadn’t made a move for Dinah, and in all likelihood, the girl hadn’t even Triggered yet. That meant that I could nip that in the bud if I played it smart.

I leaned back in the chair, the wood creaking in protest as I took a moment to think.

All things considered, I’d been dropped at a pretty good time in canon. A lot of the big stuff hadn’t happened yet, which meant I could prevent it, or at the very least manipulate things in my favor to make sure they didn’t spiral completely out of control like in the original timeline.

I spent a little longer scrolling through news articles and forum posts, getting a read on the general mood of the city and how things were moving along in the cape scene. Eventually, I absorbed as much as I could in a single sitting and pushed away from the computer.

The attendant glanced up from her book as I passed her by, offering me a polite smile. “All finished?”

“Yes. Thank you for letting me use the computer,” I said, returning the smile. “Have a good day.”

“You too, dear,” she replied, already turning back to her book.

I pushed through the glass doors and back out onto the street to find that the afternoon sun had shifted its position across the sky, casting an early evening glow over the city. It was still plenty bright out, but the day was gradually waning.

I shoved my hands into my pockets, trailing my way into the street and then deeper into the city. I made sure to catalogue the street names as I went, mentally mapping out the area so I could find my way back to the library later.

My thoughts churned as I walked, sorting through everything I’d learned and trying to formulate a concrete plan. My knowledge of Worm was relatively sparse, but I was pretty sure I had enough knowledge of the big events to prevent most of the bad stuff from happening.

Now, the butterflies that came from my meddling on the other hand...

Well, it’s not like it could end up much worse than it did in the source material, I thought bleakly as I stepped around a man tying his shoes in the middle of the sidewalk.

As long as Scion bit the big one before he went off the deep end, I’d consider it a net positive no matter what happened, honestly.

I sort of wandered around for a little while, just trying to get my thoughts in order and form some sort of tangible plan for the next few months. I couldn’t do anything about the Nine until they popped their heads up again so that was on hold for the moment, but there was still some good I could do here in the meantime. Brockton Bay was in no small demand for heroes.

As if the world itself wanted to prove my point, the world around me was suddenly filled with a distinct pop-pop noise that stopped me in my tracks. I froze misstep, turning in the direction of the noise as the people around me continued on their way.

It was distant, easily mistaken for a car backfiring or simple machinery from this far away, at least to normal ears. My heightened sense of hearing picked up what the other didn't–the sound of bullets breaking the sound barrier, of men cursing each other out or shouting in pain. A shootout was happening only a few blocks away.

Well I guess I take back what I said about it being quiet, I thought dryly as I ducked into a nearby alley, making sure no one followed.

Part of me balked at the idea of walking into an active firefight, but a much bigger part of me knew that this was literally what I asked for. And it wasn’t like I was going to ignore people possibly dying with this much power at my fingertips.

I reached inward, tapping into the heritage that had been granted to me alongside this body. It was strange, kinda like flexing a muscle that I’d never had before, but the knowledge in my head guided me through it and a moment later, massive leathery wings erupted from my back.

I turned to look at them, flexing my shoulder blades as I gave them an experimental flap. Large and leathery, they were lighter than they look, and honestly kind of beautiful in a spooky sort of way.

I took a breath, rolled my neck, and then pushed off the ground with my wings and magic at the same time.

The feeling of my sudden flight was indescribable. One moment I was standing in a dirty alley, and the next I was shooting upward, wind rushing past my face as my wings carried me into the sky. I could hear shouts from down below as people took in my ascent, before they faded into the wind. My stomach lurched at the sudden ascent, but I righted myself quickly, hovering above the rooftops as I got my bearings.

The view was incredible, a sprawl of glass and stone and a sparkling ocean in the distance. So high up, the gross human smells that always lighter in the background of any large city disappeared, leaving only the scent of fresh air and a tinge of salt.

Though I wished to take in the view, I didn’t really have the time at the moment.

Later, I told myself, turning toward the sound of active gunfire.

My wings carried me forward with incredible speed, the buildings passing me by far faster than if I were in a car. Like magic, flying came instinctually for me, and I found myself adjusting automatically to bank around buildings, as if I had done so a million times before.

In the end, it only took a few seconds to reach the source of the commotion. I landed on a rooftop overlooking a narrow street, my wings disappearing into my back. Below me, a rather active gang fight was in full swing between two small groups.

The first group clearly ABB, sporting the signature red and green that the gang was known for. Across the street, being pelted with bullets and returning fire where they could, was a smattering of men in predominantly red with shaved heads: the E88.

It was clear that the latter were the ones who had been attacked. There were about as many of them as the ABB, but from their positions crouched among cars and inside the business, they were in a much more defensive position.

I observed them for a moment, taking in the sight with a frown. A few civilians had been caught in the crossfire, huddled between or behind the shooting men as they tried not to catch a stray bullet.

My frown deepened as I watched the exchange of bullets. Neither side seemed to be winning, but they also didn’t seem to care about the collateral damage they were causing. Windows were shattered, cars were riddled with holes, and every now and then a stray bullet would ping off something that probably wasn’t meant to be shot.

And there, caught in the middle of it all, was a little girl.

She couldn’t have been older than seven or eight, clutching her hands to her chest as she cowered behind a fallen trash can. Her parents were nowhere to be seen, though if I had to guess, they were probably one of the people huddled inside one of the businesses.

The girl was crying, tears streaming down her face as she shook with terror. It was warranted, as the target of the ABB’s ire was only a small distance away. If she stood, she was liable to be shot.

Taking this all in, my decision was obvious. My face hardened and I stepped up to the lip of the roof and then off of it, plummeting toward the street below. Wind whistled past my ears as I fell, my eyes locked on the little girl as I flared my wings to catch the air and guide my fall.

My shoes cracked the pavement just in front of the trashcan as I interposed myself between the girl and the guns firing in her direction. My hands were already moving, surrounded by a crimson glow as I set the world in front of me alight with my magic.

Bullets disintegrated in midair and a section of the concrete in front of me simply ceased to exist as the Power of Destruction erased any and all obstacles in its path. I held my magic back, keeping the destruction localized in front of me so I didn’t accidentally erase someone from existence.

The sound of gunfire stopped almost immediately, replaced by a ringing silence as everyone stared at the destructive shield I had created in the middle of the street. After a moment, the shield flickered and faded, its purpose served.

I stared at the gathered gang members, magic rising off my skin like tongues of dark fire. My wings flared out behind me as I gave them a dark look, hoping that I looked as intimidating as I felt..

“That’s enough,” I spoke, trying to put as much authority into my voice as possible. “You’re endangering innocent civilians. Pack it up and go home or I will make you.”

There was a pause as the two groups stared at me, processing the appearance of a new cape. I could see the uncertainty in their eyes, the calculation as they tried to decide whether I was worth the trouble.

Neither side seemed to fancy their chances against an unknown variable. The ABB members were already lowering their weapons, glancing at each other as if silently agreeing that this wasn’t their fight anymore. The Empire thugs looked similarly hesitant, clearly unwilling to test whether I could do to them what I’d done to those bullets.

Good. Maybe this would be easier than I thought.

I kept my hands raised, magic still flickering at my fingertips as I waited for them to make their move. The little girl behind me had stopped crying, reduced to quiet sniffles as she clutched at the hem of my jacket with tiny trembling hands.

“Leave,” I repeated. “This isn’t worth it.”

For a moment, it looked like they might actually listen. The ABB members were backing away, retreating toward the end of the street, while the Empire guys stayed where they were, seemingly content to let their attackers leave.

Then I felt a surge of malicious intent so powerful it was almost startling. It was like a cold iron spike had been driven into the side of my head, and I whipped around my eyes catching sight of a red oni mask staring at me from atop a nearby van.

Shit, I thought, just as the figure twitched and the malice I was detecting split in two.

The Oni Lee in front of me remained motionless, but I knew it wasn’t really him anymore. The person in front of me was nothing more than a distraction, already preparing to fade into nonexistence as it fulfilled its last job of keeping my eyes away from the real threat approaching from behind.

Already clued into this fact, I turned, my magic surging as I formed a condensed barrier of energy in front of my unprotected side just in time to catch the knife that had been aimed to stick me.

The blade skittered off my barrier with a ringing sound, the condensed magic holding firm against the attack. The masked figure stumbled slightly, thrown off by the unexpected resistance, and I didn’t give him time to recover, slamming my fist into his face with every ounce of strength I had.

My fist went straight through him, layers of fine ash collapsing in on themselves as the clone’s life was snuffed out in a single blow. The lack of resistance was a bit jarring, but I knew how his power worked and turned to face the new source of malice perched on the building to my right.

The real Oni Lee stood on the rooftop, his mask gleaming as he stared down at me. He didn’t speak, but I could feel murderous intent radiating off him. It seemed that the Oni wasn’t as braindead as the fans believed.

I would have preferred to cut my teeth on Skidmark or Crusader, I thought as I readied myself. But this’ll have to do.

One moment he was on the rooftop, and the next he was gone, a cloud of ash marking where he had been. I spun, my senses straining to track the negativity that followed him wherever he went.

I threw myself to the side as a knife whistled through the air where my neck had been a moment before. The clone that had appeared behind me was already dissolving, but the real Lee had already moved again, skipping from behind me and onto a nearby car, leaving a clone in his place in that split-second he had been near me.

He’s fast, I thought even as I disintegrated the new clone. Dangerous too. If I didn’t have my Senjutsu, I would have died twice already.

I guess such skill was expected of Lung’s second-in-command. When you were as strong as he was, it only made sense you’d want your subordinates to be just as deadly.

We engaged in a dance of death, losing focus for all else except for each other. It was quickly apparent that we were out of stalemate. My powers wouldn’t let Lee pull his usual tricks, and the man was far too fast and far too skilled for me to get a bead on for any real amount of time. Every time I thought I had him, he was already somewhere else, leaving behind a disposable copy to harry me while he repositioned.

The gang members on both sides had fled at this point, leaving the street empty save for me, Oni Lee, and the little girl who was still cowering behind the trash can. I wanted to move away from her so she didn’t get caught up in this, but I knew if I let my attention waver for even a second, it would likely end with a knife in my stomach.

Focus, I thought, keeping my attention on the murderous cape. I felt his intention divide, one staying put while the other appeared directly in front of me. I raised my hand, destroying the clone with a thought, but the real Lee had already teleported again, this time behind me.

I spun, catching his knife on a barrier and lashed out with a kick that passed through dissolving ash.

He was testing me. I could sense his frustration. I was fast enough to keep up, but just barely, and I could feel my own frustration starting to build. I needed to end this before I started making mistakes.

I changed tactics.

The next time I sensed him, I immediately lashed out with the Power of Destruction, sending a wave of annihilating energy toward the rooftop.

He was gone before the blast arrived, but this time instead of simply waiting for him to reappear and attack I again, I followed, my wings carrying me upward as I pursued.

Oni Lee wasn’t used to being hunted, that much was clear. I closed the distance, another blast of destruction barely missing him as he teleported away at the last second. He left a clone in his wake, but I was already turning, following the real threat.

“You can’t hide from me,” I said, my voice low as I sent another blast toward a fire escape where he’d appeared.

He vanished again, but I was already tracking him, my senses attuned to the negativity that surrounded him like a shroud. Another clone dissolved into ash as my fist passed through it, but I was already moving, already turning toward where I could feel him next.

I had him on the back foot. He was teleporting more frantically now, staying for barely a second before moving again. His clones were becoming more sporadic, less coordinated. He’d realized that his usual tactics weren’t working and was struggling to adapt.

Just a little more, I thought, preparing another blast as I felt him appear on a streetlight behind me. I spun, raising my hand–

And was completely blindsided as the little girl that I had been keeping an eye on finally decided to move.

She’d been frozen behind that trash can for the entire fight, too terrified to do anything but cower. But something had shifted, maybe the instinct to run finally overriding her fear, because suddenly she was up and sprinting toward one of the storefronts in quite possibly the most distracting way she could have.

“MOMMY!”

Her scream pierced through the chaos, and my attention snapped toward her without thinking. In that split second of distraction, Oni Lee struck.

I sensed him appear directly in front of me a fraction of a second too late. His knife was already moving, aimed at my throat, and I didn’t have time to raise a proper barrier.

I reacted on instinct, raising my hands in a warding gesture as twin blasts of Destruction burst from my hands. One went to the knife, burning it from existence alongside a small chunk of the hand holding it...

The other completely erased Oni Lee’s legs from thigh to toe tip.

And this time, he didn’t turn to ash.

Time seemed so slow down as Oni Lee and I locked eyes through the slits in his mask, before he fell forward, his body landing in front of me with a horrifically wet sound. Blood began to pool around him, spurting from his stumps in quantities that could fill a bucket in seconds, and I almost retched as the smell of iron filled my nostrils .

“Fuck\!” I shouted, my hands coming up to my mouth as the horror of what I’d just done washed over me.

I stared down at the man’s body, watching in something like horrified fascination as the blood spread outward in a steadily growing pool. He was still alive, somehow, though unconscious, his breathing ragged and shallow as his body struggled to contain the damage I’d inflicted on it.

He wasn’t screaming, and it was clear to see that he had completely passed out from the shock or something. Small mercies, I supposed.

I forced down the nausea threatening to crawl up my throat and knelt beside him, my hands hovering over the ruined stumps of his legs. I didn’t mean to do that, and I would admit to panicking a little bit over the idea that I might have just killed someone without even meaning to.

“Okay, okay, okay,” I muttered, my heart slamming against my ribs. “I can fix this. Yeah, I got this.”

Senjutsu could heal, bolster life force, repair damage that conventional medicine couldn’t touch. I might not be a master, but the knowledge in my head told me I could at least stop the bleeding enough to keep him from dying.

I placed my hands on his stumps, reaching inward for the power and pushing it into his body, coaxing his body to heal. I could feel his life force flickering like a candle in the wind, guttering and weak as his body tried and failed to repair the catastrophic damage.

“Come on...” I muttered, pushing my own life force into him.

Slowly, but surely, bleeding stopped. I watched as the ragged edges of his wounds began to knit together, flesh and muscle sewing themselves closed over the exposed bone. It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough to keep him from dying before the ambulance arrived.

By the time I was done, he was still unconscious, but he wasn’t actively dying anymore. The stumps of his legs were sealed, ugly and scarred but whole enough to prevent fatal blood loss.

I sat back on my heels, sighing in relief and slight exhaustion. I felt drained, like I’d just run a marathon, and my whole body ached with exhaustion.

A sound from behind me drew my attention.

I turned to find the little girl I’d been protecting standing a few feet away, her eyes wide and watery as she stared at Oni Lee’s unconscious form. She was shaking, her small hands clutching each other in front of her chest.

“It’s okay,” I said, rising to my feet and trying to make my voice as gentle as possible. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”

The girl didn’t respond. Instead, she pointed past me, toward one of the storefronts with shattered windows.

“My mommy,” she whispered. “She’s not moving.”

I followed her gesture, my heart sinking as I spotted a figure slumped against the wall inside one of the shops. A woman, probably in her mid-thirties, with dark hair and a green blouse that was stained crimson in places.

“Stay here,” I told the girl, already moving toward the store.

The woman was alive, but barely. A bullet had caught her in the side, and she’d been bleeding for a while judging by the pool around ber. Her breathing was shallow, her skin pale and clammy to the touch.

I cursed under my breath, placing my hands over the wound. This was worse than Oni Lee. At least with him, I’d only had to seal the stumps. This woman had a hole in her organs, and I wasn’t sure I had enough energy left to fix it.

Still, I had to try to at least stabilize her until someone showed up to help. With how much gunfire was being thrown around, there was no chance that the police or PRT weren’t right around the corner.

The woman’s breathing steadied slightly, her color improving marginally as the wound began to close. She wasn’t actively dying anymore., but at the rate we were going, I’d still be more comfortable getting her to a hospital.

The sound of sirens suddenly pierced the air, quickly growing louder and closer by the second. I looked up to see two police cars screeching around the corner, their lights flashing as they pulled up to the scene. Officers spilled out, weapons already unholstered as they took in the scene.

“Hands where I can see them\!” one of the officers shouted, his gun trained on me.

I raised my hands slowly, making sure to keep my movements as non-threatening as possible.

“I’m a hero,” I said loudly. “I’m just keeping this woman stable until the ambulance arrives.”

The officer’s eyes flicked between me and the unconscious woman, then to the blood-soaked floor around us. His partner was already moving toward Oni Lee’s body, his gun still raised.

“Holy shit,” the partner breathed as he got close enough to see the state of the cape. “That’s Oni Lee!”

His words aroused shock from his companions, and everyone’s attention quickly turned to the ABB lieutenant lying unconscious in the middle of the road.

The officer closest to me stared at the body, before looking at me in disbelief. “Is this your work?”

“Yeah. I mean, I didn’t mean to do that,” I said, gesturing vaguely at the cape’s missing legs. “But he’s alive. I made sure he didn’t bleed out.”

The officer’s eyes flicked down to the woman I was leaning over, understanding crossing his face. “You’re a healer,” he said more than asked. I nodded anyway, and he laughed, shoulders slumping slightly. “Well shit. Thanks for keeping him alive. Probably more than he deserves but it saves us the paperwork.”

Noticing that he no longer had his weapon trained on me, I nodded toward the nearby building. “There were some civilians hiding from the gunfire in that building. I don’t know if any of them are injured.”

“We’ll take a look,” the officer said, giving me a nod.

Just then, the sound of more sirens approached, and an ambulance pulled up behind the police cars. Paramedics spilled out with a stretcher, and I stepped away from the woman so they could tend to her.

As I did so, the little girl who had been standing nearby as I tended to her mom latched onto my side. I stumbled, and my face softened as I looked down to find tears rolling down her cheeks as she clung to me.

“It’s okay,” I said softly, placing a hand on her head. “Your mom’s going to be fine. The doctors are going to take care of her.”

The girl didn’t respond, just buried her face deeper into my side. Her small fingers were gripping the fabric of my jacket so tight I could hear the leather creaking.

The paramedics loaded the woman onto the stretcher, moving quickly yet carefully. One of them glanced at me, then at the girl attached to my hip.

“Ma’am, we need to take her to get looked at as well,” he said, gesturing for the girl to come with him. “Come on, sweetie, you can ride with your mommy.”

The girl shook her head violently, letting out a distressed whine that tugged at my heart. She wasn’t letting go and didn’t look like she would any time soon.

“She’s been through a lot,” I said, sighing. “I don’t think she’s going to let go.”

The paramedic looked uncertain, glancing at his partner for guidance. The other man shrugged, clearly just as unsure about how to handle the situation.

I looked down at the girl, then at the stretcher where her mother was being loaded into the ambulance. The woman was still unconscious, but stable. She’d pull through, but I didn’t think telling her daughter that would help

“I’ll go with her,” I decided. “I can keep her calm until we get to the hospital.”

The paramedics exchanged another look, but ultimately nodded. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than traumatizing the kid further.

“Alright, hop in,” one of them said, gesturing toward the back of the ambulance.

I climbed inside, the little girl still clinging to me as I settled onto one of the benches. The paramedics secured the mother’s stretcher, then took their own seats as the ambulance pulled away from the scene.