Going for a Walk (Hellsing Ultimate Abridged/Worm crossover)

Taylor sat in the interrogation room, humming quietly to herself. There was a single table in the middle of the room, with chairs on either side and a lamp hanging from the ceiling. Classic interrogation room. She was willing to bet there was a one-way mirror somewhere too. She was hoping the Protectorate wouldn’t take too long to the interview, as she did want to be home in time for dinner. That and she wanted to call her dad. Her dad would probably be worried about her.

She was brought out of her musings when the door to the room opened, and in stepped none other than Miss Militia, one of the only heroic capes in the protectorate that was allowed to use guns.

“I wonder if she can conjure up a cannon…” Alucard mused.

“Miss Militia, huh? I figured Armsmaster would want to conduct the interview.” Taylor commented, ignoring Alucard.

The older woman nodded and sat in the chair across from Taylor, “Initially, he did, but he decided it would be better if I was the one to interview you instead. I have a particular insight into parahumans who’s powers, in your own words, don’t have a non-lethal option.” she explained.

“It’s because you can summon guns, right? You don’t really have a choice either.”

Miss Militia nodded, “To an extent, yes. I have managed to find a work-around, but I will admit that lethal options are much easier to come up with and use.”

Taylor nodded, “Alright, fair enough. So, what do want to know?” she asked.

“Firstly, what’s your name? The upper echelons of the PRT gave you the designation ‘Rend’ but I very much doubt it’s what you had in mind.”

“She’s got that right. Seriously, who picks these names!?”

“Well… I’ve pretty much decided on Carmilla, one of the older Vampires in fiction. Since, well, my powers kinda fit the whole vampire shtick.” Taylor explained.

Miss Militia tilted her head, “And I believe that’s a perfect segue into my next question. What exactly are your powers? We have a guess that your a brute, and a striker and Master on top of that, but we don’t have much else.”

“Ah, yeah, that’s uh… that’s a bit complicated. I’m… kind of a little bit of everything. I guess you would probably have to classify me as a changer first and foremost, since I can increase and change my muscle mass, regenerate, and if I can ever figure out how to do it, I can even full-on shapeshift. I’m not strictly speaking a striker, given that my… well, I can turn people into those zombie things that you’ve been dealing with by biting them and draining them of blood. I… can’t really control them, but-”

“Actually Tay-Tay, you can. You just need to know where they are. They’re kinda stupid, but yes, you can sick ‘em on someone.”

“Ok, scratch that, I can control them, but only somewhat. And I need to know where they are, and presumably, I need line of sight.”

Miss Militia raised an eyebrow, “Presumably?” she asked.

Taylor shrugged, “Like, up until I read the post on PHO detailing the aftermath of my… walk, I didn’t even realize draining people of blood actually did that.”

Miss Militia hummed, “Beyond that, I need to ask what exactly happened when you fought with the Empire Eighty-Eight. All we found was a… rather gruesome scene, with several of the corpses getting up and walking again, trying to assault the troopers and medics.”

Taylor winced, “Yeah, that was… an accident. There was a shootout going on at the time, between the police and the Empire. I tried to disable the gang members, but, well…” she trailed off, muttering something under her breath.

Miss Militia leaned her elbows on the table, clasping her hands together, “What happened?”

“... I punched a guy’s jaw off.”

Miss Militia winced internally, “We found the body, though, compared to what else happened though, that seems like one of the tamer things you did.”

Taylor shook her head, “Yeah, but… at that point, I hadn’t done anything like that before, and I froze. I was still me when I did that. After that, the rest of them tried to kill me, beating me down with bats, pipes, and… well, at the time I knew I had regeneration, but I didn’t know if it would be enough to keep me alive. I thought… I thought I might have died there. I know now that it wasn’t anything close to being able to kill me, but… it was still terrifying. After that, well, I saw red, and I don’t really remember all that much.”

“Blood Rage is a thing. A wonderful, beautiful thing.”

Miss Militia nodded, “Manslaughter in Self defense, then. Well, that at least makes clearing your name a fair bit easier. What about what happened with the Merchants? We’re still working on digging up the wreckage from Squealer’s vehicle, and we have yet to recover either her or Skidmark’s bodies. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but killing capes, aside from those with kill orders, is generally frowned upon, even in self-defense.”

Taylor chuckled a bit, her cheeks going red as she scratched the back of her head, “Yeah, that was… a bit of an accident, actually. I was out shopping at the thrift store when Skidmark tried to rob the place. I tried to get them to surrender, but… well, one of them shot me, Skidmark and Squealer drove off, and I ended up chasing after them. I managed to climb onto the vehicle and ended up fighting the two of them inside the cabin. I didn’t even realize we were headed towards the docks until we were already driving off of it.”

“And Squealers arm?” Miss Militia asked.

“That, ah, that was due to her arm being in my mouth before the thing exploded.”

The protectorate cape took a deep breath, before sighing, “Alright, I think that’s enough for those topics. I believe we should talk about your future, and, potentially, if you were willing to go through a rebrand -- you could keep the name Carmilla, as long as it hasn’t already been taken -- you could join the Wards.”

Taylor squirmed somewhat in her seat, “I… don’t really think that would be a great idea.”

Miss Militia raised an eyebrow, “Why not? We could provide you with recourses, training, support, and a myriad of other things. Including a proper costume.”

“What’s this about a costume? Sorry, I wasn’t exactly listening.”

“It’s… well, there’s a couple of problems with me joining. I don’t eat, at least, not as normal people do. I drink blood instead. I’m not sure how long I can go without, as I’ve only had my powers for less than a week, but… I don’t really know what happens if I stop. I could get weaker, I could starve, or I could go into a blood rage as I did with the Empire.” Taylor explained.

“That, and PR is a bitch to deal with. Seriously, one guy we had tried to get Integra to tell me to wear pink. Pink!”

“Pink?” Taylor said aloud, causing Miss Militia’s eyes to zero in on her.

“Pink?” The older hero asked.

Taylor cursed under her breath, “Not the time, Alucard.” She said, before sighing and turning back to Miss Militia, “That’s the other thing. I… kinda, talk to my power.”

“You… talk, to your power. How so?”

Taylor nodded, “Yeah. There’s a voice in my head. A chatty one, too, always providing commentary and advice. Sometimes it’s helpful, other times…”

“Hey, I’ll have you know I give great advice!... This place could really use a stripper pole.”

“... not so helpful.”

Miss Militia stared at Taylor for a good ten seconds before sighing, “Armsmaster theorized that you might be having auditory hallucinations. I suppose your power is responsible for that?”

Taylor winced, “Ish, yeah. He usually tries to get a response out of me, or makes comments about people around me.”

“‘He’?”

“Yeah, he. Sounds like a he, talks like a he, and thinks like a he.”

Miss Militia raised an eyebrow, “Thinks?”

Taylor rolled her eyes, “Usually uses the head between his legs for thinking.”

“Aww, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Taylor frowned, “He is also fairly insufferable.”

Miss Militia winced, “I’m sorry you have to go through that.”

“Eh, it’s not all that bad. He only ever thinks like that about people around me, not about me personally… probably because I threatened to jump off a cliff if he kept commenting on my lack of breasts.”

“You threatened him by almost committing suicide?” she asked, a niggling worry crawling into the back of her head.

“I threatened to take away his entertainment is what I did.” Taylor corrected.

“And I will admit, making comments like that about a minor is beneath me. I should’ve done better.”

Taylor twisted her head to the side, “You’re apologizing now of all times?”

Miss Militia sighed. Taylor was not the first unhinged cape she’d ever delt with, nor did she feel would be the last, but with her arguing with the voice in her head, getting anything done would be… problematic.

After getting Alucard to shut up for a second, Taylor turned back to Miss Militia, “Ok, well, what else did you want to know?” she asked.

“I believe that’s most of the questions answered, but, I still want to ask you again if your sure you don’t want to join the wards,” she asked.

Taylor shrugged, “The free costume is very tempting, and… honestly if you give me a few days to think about it, I might even say yes. But, for now? I don’t really want to join. That might change, but, well, like I said. You have a lot of restrictions, and while I will be working with you, I’d much rather sign up as an independent.”

Miss Militia sighed, “Well, I suppose that’s fair. Still, I do have a proposition for you. Director Piggot has okayed it, given that you seem sane enough, by cape standards at least. I would like to suggest you at least meet with the rest of the Wards, perhaps get to know them a bit. It might just change your mind.”

“Meet with the local superpowered kiddies? What fun!”

Tayor considered the proposition, thinking of the pros and cons of doing it. Really, there weren’t that many cons.

“Alright, I’m game for that.”

 

AN: You may recognize this as the previous chapter I upload here. I ended up skipping a chapter, so I went back and fixed it and am only now uploading this here. Hopefully, a double post will keep you entertained.

[-----]

Sophia Hess had what many people would believe would be a rather twisted worldview. There were two types of people in the world; Predators, and prey. Her entire lifestyle had been based around. As a vigilante, she would save those willing to fight their way out of their situations, even if they weren’t actually able to fight off those who were attacking them. If they froze up, if they were weak… well, she left them in their weakness.

In her civilian life, she did much the same, trying to toughen up the weak as best she could. It was what she did with Emma, using the Hebert girl as a tool to work up Emma’s strength. At first, she was also trying to see if she could build up Hebert, but… the girl was weak, timid, and unwilling to fight back, which is what resulted in their plan to shove the girl in the locker.

Everything seemed like it was going smoothly, too, until they found the locker nearly destroyed, the door torn off its hinges, and a trail of much leading outside the building. Sophia wondered, especially when Taylor hadn’t shown up to school in the three days since if the girl had triggered and broken open the locker herself.

Part of her felt that it might actually have been a good thing, that triggering might have given the girl some backbone, but the other half of Sophia’s mind was enraged at the mere thought of someone as weak as her getting any kind of power.

This was why she found herself unable to speak when not only did Taylor Hebert trigger, she had triggered and was now known by the PRT. She was Rend. The cape that killed thirty members of the E88, along with Stormtiger.

Oh, Sophia probably wasn’t supposed to know, as Hebert even had her own mask on -- as much as a pair of round, orange-tinted sunglasses could count as a mask. But the body-shape, the voice, the hair, all of it matched Hebert.

Everything except her attitude.

“So, you go into a blood rage when you get shot?” Clockblocker asked, “Like, a berserker form in video games?”

Taylor shook her head, “Not quite. It actually takes quite a bit of damage before I get to that point, and even then, I’m pretty sure my emotions play a pretty big factor in it all. If I’m angry or scared to the extreme, that’d probably be enough to do it, even if the physical damage wasn’t enough to justify it.” she explained.

Vista was the one to speak up next, the idealistic, naive little girl asking the question everyone had on their minds, “So… do you, y’know, feel bad about killing all those people?” she asked… ok, scratch naive off that list. Vista had seen enough shit that she could probably match stories with some fully experienced Protectorate capes.

Taylor shrugged, “I mean, they’re Nazi’s, who gives a shit?” she asked.

Aegis winced, “I’d, uh, prefer it if you kept the language to a minimum around the younger of us.” he said.

Vista shot him a glare, “Aegis, I’m thirteen, not six.”

Clock snorted, “Yeah, besides, I’ve heard worse come out of her mouth. Though I have to wonder, did you actually pick Rend, or was that just some PRT decided temporary name?” he asked.

Taylor shook her head, “Nah, that was something the PRT gave me. I actually decided on Carmilla, just today.”

Vista tilted her head, “Carmilla? What’s that supposed to be?” she asked.

“One of the oldest vampires in fic-- sorry, history.”

Sophia remained silent, trying to puzzle out her feelings on Taylor’s new attitude. She seemed more… upbeat, if nothing else. She didn’t flinch when someone got close to her, she didn’t try to shrink into herself. She was standing up straight, her hands in her pockets, her whole being radiating confidence. What the hell happened to you in the past few days?

“Hey, Stalker, you were a vigilante for a while, what do you think of me?” Taylor asked, making Sophia blink behind her mask.

She stared at the vampiric cape for a second, looking her up and down, “You’re strong. That’s pretty much all I can say.” Taylor’s grin faltered for a moment, before returning to it’s full, fanged glory/

Sophia hoped, prayed that Taylor didn’t recognize her voice. She’d only said a few words, and her mask muffled her voice somewhat, but when Taylor’s grin grew a bit more malicious than it had been a moment ago, she started to doubt she managed to fool her.

Taylor stalked up to Sophia, her grin widening ever-so-slightly, “Well now, you sure that’s all you have to say? I’d thought you’d be a bit more talkative, given your reputation.” she offered.

Sophia shook her head, “You’re strong, that’s plenty to get by in my book.” Keep speech to a minimum, and maybe she would ignore her.

Taylor shrugged, turning around to face the others, “Fair enough, I suppose. Anywho, I only see four wards here, where’s everyone else?” she asked.

“Gallant and Triumph are out on patrol on the moment and Kid Win is on the console. They should be getting back any minute though.” Aegis explained.

Speak of the devil, the door opened and Gallant and Triumph walked inside, with Triumph wearing his lion themed outfit and Gallant wearing his armor.

“Hey everyone, we’re back, hows- oh, who are you?” Triumph asked, looking directly at Taylor, “New cape?”

Taylor shrugged, “Kinda, yeah. I’m Carmilla, formerly known to the Protectorate as Rend.”

Triumph and Gallant both seemed to freeze up for a second, and while Triumph seemed to shrug it off, Gallant kept looking at Taylor. Sophia knew he could sense emotions, and was probably sensing Taylor’s at the moment. If she had recognized Sophia… well, Gallant would probably know.

“Well, I suppose you’re safe enough if Piggot is letting you meet the wards,” He stepped forward, offering Taylor a hand, “I’m Triumph, the leader of the Wards.”

Taylor shook his hand, and opened her mouth to say something before Clockblocker opened his mouth, “Not for much longer you aren’t!” he jeered.

That got a chuckle from everyone else in the room, save Taylor, who just looked at Triumph quizzically, “Oh? What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

Triumph shook his head, a grin on his face, “Ah, I’m just turning eighteen in a few days, after that I’ll be a full-on Protectorate member and I’ll pass on the leadership of the wards to Aegis.” he explained.

Taylor nodded, “I suppose that makes sense… wait, you’re almost eighteen?” she asked.

Triumph nodded, “Yeah, yeah I am. Why do you ask?”

Taylor paused, frowning a bit and whispering something under her breath that Sophia didn’t catch, “Sorry, just… you look a bit younger, is all.”

Triumph shrugged, “Fair enough, I suppose. Anyway, I’m guessing you being here is the DIrector’s attempt at trying to get you to join the Wards?” he asked.

“Yeah, pretty much. It’s a very tempting offer, and there’s a lot I like about the idea. Still, there is one thing…”

Triumph tilted his head to the side, “Oh? What is it?”

Taylor chuckled, “Now, before I say, I would just like to say that my power doesn’t technically, have a non-lethal option. However, as long as I don’t take too much damage, or I’m not emotionally distressed, I’m pretty much good. However, if get my head cut off or something like that...”

“... Get your head cut off?” Triumph asked, A slightly worried look coming onto his face.

“Don’t worry about it. Look, all I want to say is that I’d like to spar with some of you,” she said.

Everyone’s eyes were on her at the word ‘spar’, including Miss Militia’s. The American themed cape had been sitting in at the back of the room, watching the capes interact as well as acting as a form of insurance in case things got… violent.

“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” Miss Militia stated.

For once, Sophia agreed. She was not sparing with the cape that had killed thirty people plus Stormtiger and walked away virtually unharmed, especially if that cape knew that she was probably the one that had made her trigger in the first place.

“Oh, well… I guess that’s okay then. Still, I’d kinda like to see where I stand in terms of everyone else here.”

… phew, she wasn’t going to end up fighting anyone and ask to fight Sophia afterward.

“Now hold on a minute, how about we spar? I’m pretty sure my redundant biology can keep up. Plus, even if you do manage to do some serious damage to me, the worst that’ll happen is we end up calling in Panacea.” Aegis announced.

… Goddamnit Carlos…

 

Aegis stood at one end of the arena while Taylor stood on the other, with the rest of the Wards standing behind the wall of plexiglass that was meant to protect against Blasters when testing their powers. Miss Militia stood with them, shoulders tensed.

“So, I’m guessing the rule is to fight until you yield?” Taylor asked.

Aegis shrugged, “Depends on how far we’d have to go to yield. When it’s two brutes like us fighting, we usually stop when one of us has the other disabled, or once some minor damage has been done.”

“Well, that’s no fun…”

Taylor chuckled, “How about we rescind the second rule? My brute power is kinda based around me getting hurt. If we stopped the second I started bleeding, the fight wouldn’t last all that long.” she explained.

“Oh? Your power doesn’t make you more durable?” Aegis asked.

Taylor wobbled her hand back and forth, “Eh, sort of. Nothing a normal human can’t reach though, my main ability is being able to just straight up regenerate. Gunshots, cut off limbs, stab wounds, I’ll come back from just about anything.”

Aegis chuckled somewhat, “Well then, that’s a bit extreme. Any idea what the limit is?” he asked.

Taylor paused, before whispering under her breath, “Alucard? What can actually hurt me?” she asked quietly.

“Holy water burns like a bitch and doesn’t regenerate all that fast. A stake through the heart, decapitation, that kinda thing will actually make you work for your regeneration, but now that you’ve eaten a few people it’ll take a bit more than that,” he explained.

“What was that?” Aegis asked, “I didn’t hear you.”

Taylor shook her head, “... Holy water I guess? I mean, I’m basically a vampire.”

Aegis chuckled, “Yeah, right, we’ll have to try that sometime.”

“Please don’t, it stains… flesh, I mean. It stains flesh. It actually works as a pretty good cum stain remover all things considered.”

Taylor nearly balked at Alucard’s words but managed to keep her reactions under control. As morbidly interesting as Alucard’s information was, Miss Militia had recommended that she not let the Wards know she had a voice in her head… at least not until she’d joined them first.

The more she thought about it, the more tempted she was at the prospect of joining the Wards. Everyone she’d met so far was actually pretty nice, and even though she was pretty sure most of them were pretty scared of her considering what she’d done to the Empire, she felt some actual genuine attempts from them to get to know her.

And then, there was Shadow Stalker. Who, as she had found out through a combination of vampire senses and a bit of puzzling together, also happened to be none other than Sophia fucking Hess.

“You ready to go, then?” Aegis asked, interrupting Taylor’s thoughts.

Taylor shook her head, “I suppose I am, though, I do want to know one thing; You think Shadow Stalker would be willing to spar with me after this?” She asked.

Aegis tilted his head quizzically, “I mean, she’s normally up for a spar, though I’ll warn you she’s a bit brutal.”

Taylor nodded, “I’ll take that under consideration. Ready?” she asked, getting into a fighting stance.

Aegis grinned, “Ready.”

“And here we gooo~!”

The moment the words left his mouth, Taylor shot forward, rearing her hand back in an open-palmed punch. She slammed her fist into his chest, sending him flying backward. He hit the plexiglass wall on the other side of the wall, and Taylor swore she could hear something crack.

“Seriously? Only one hit? lame!”

She looked over to the other wards and winced when she saw the expressions of everyone. Vista, Clockblocker, and Triumph all had their mouths hanging open, while Gallant, Miss Militia, and Sophia all had masks that covered the rest of their mouths, limiting her view of their reactions.

“Oops?”

“That… I think you broke my spine.” Aegis said, trying to roll over and pick himself back up.

Taylor walked over and helped him stand back up, though she noticed his posture was slightly off, “Are you okay?” she asked.

Aegis grinned lopsidedly, “Yeah, yeah I’m fine, but I think I get what you mean when you said your powers don’t have a non-lethal option,” He said.

Taylor noticed that his voice sounded… different, somewhat, “What’s with your voice? Are you sure your okay?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry, though… I’m pretty sure you punctured at least one of my lungs. That, and I’m currently repurposing the muscles in my back since I don’t think my spine would actually support my weight. You pack one hell of a punch.” he explained.

Taylor winced, “That bad?”

Aegis shrugged, “This is kinda the reason I even volunteered. You punch anyone else like that, they probably wouldn’t be standing. Why didn’t you hold back though? I figured you’d want to ramp up or something.”

“You wanna break the news or should I?”

Taylor scratched the back of her head sheepishly, “That… was me holding back.”

Aegis stared at her for a full minute before answering, “... Holy shit.”

Taylor nodded, “Yeah, like I said, no non-lethal option.”

Soon enough, the rest of the wards had come out from behind the plexiglass and were all crowding around Taylor, chattering enthusiastically.

“That was awesome! You took him out with one punch!” Clockblocker near shouted, laughing maniacally.

Taylor winced slightly, “I know he says he’s okay but is he really?” She asked.

“Hey!” Aegis retorted, “I said I’m fine!”

Vista shook her head, “Yeah, he should be fine. Broken bones and ruptured organs are nothing for him to worry about, he’ll be back in shape in a few hours.” she explained.

Taylor sighed, “Well, I suppose that’s fair. Still, I didn’t realize I was that strong.”

“Oh come on, you’ve ripped people in half, what did you think was gonna happen?”

Taylor shook her head again, “Still, I didn’t think an open palmed strike would break your spine.”

Aegis shook his head, “Only broke a few ribs with that, actually. It was the hit against the wall that did my back in.”

“Ah, I guess that makes sense. I guess I’m not sparring with Shadow Stalker then? Since, y’know, rib breaking punch and all that.”

Triumph actually chuckled, “I agree, I think anyone without a really high brute rating or, maybe power armor like Armsmaster, should avoid sparring with you until you figure out how to tone down your attacks.”

“I agree. I don’t exactly like the idea of getting my chest punched out.” Sophia said, still remaining a fair few steps away from Taylor.

“Oh! Oh! Opportunity!”

“And why would I do that Stalker? It’s not like you’re the one who caused my trigger event or anything.” Taylor said.

Everyone froze. Sophia stared at Taylor, with sweat beginning to drip on the exposed bits of skin that were visible. Most of the other Wards took a step back, and Miss Militia had formed a heavier looking gun in her hands.

“Blowing your cover so early Tay-Tay? Why so?”

“Uh, Carmilla, what are you talking about?” Triumph asked.

Taylor still had a shit-eating grin on her face, “Oh, nothing much. I figured that considering I am heavily leaning towards joining the Wards at the moment, I might as well point out the one, single reason that I’m still hesitating.”

Taylor saw Gallant shivering in the corner of the group, “Oh god…” he muttered, to quiet for anyone else to hear. Clockblocker looked like he was trying to back away as well, and Miss Militia was steadily raising her weapon in Taylor’s direction.

[-----]

Dennis was scared. Really, really fucking scared. It had started when Carmilla had beaten Aegis in a single, held-back punch. That had made him jump, and instilled a… not necessarily fear, at the time, mostly because she was on their side.

Then she started talking to Sophia.

“And why would I do that Stalker? It’s not like you’re the one who caused my trigger event or anything.” Carmilla said with a grin on her face that spoke volumes.

At those words, Dennis’ mind shut down. Had Shadow Stalker caused someone’s trigger event? If that was the case, that wasn’t something he wanted to know anything about.

“Umm, Carmilla, what are you talking about?” Triumph asked, making Dennis silently wonder why his oh-so-fearless leader had to be so fearless at a time like this.

They should be running from the big scary cape that had killed a bunch of E88 members and was now threatening Shadow Stalker! Not trying to calm her down!

“Oh, nothing much. I figured that considering I am heavily leaning towards joining the Wards at the moment, I might as well point out the one, single reason that I’m still hesitating.”

Dennis paused. If she was actually wanting to join the Wards then Piggot would probably bend over backward in order to get her to join. He slowly started stepping away, hoping to make his way to the doors that led out. He only made it a few steps when the room changed. The lights dimmed, and the faint, ever-present sounds of generators actually stopped.

“Listen, Sophia, I want you to imagine a pressure gauge. You imagining it?”

Oh god, Sophia made Carmilla trigger in her civilian identity!?

He looked to Stalker and saw her nod, before looking back at Carmilla. He gulped at what he saw.

“Good. Now I want you to imagine that pressure gauge with words written on it, ranging from frustrated, mad, angry, pissed, livid, all the way to unimaginable hatred. Now, where do you think my emotions are on that dial, hmm?”

Her eyes were glowing red, now, the lenses on the glasses amplifying the color, making them even brighter as the lights dimmed even further, with several of the ceiling lights actually flickering.

“I… I…”

Dennis didn’t dare move, as he saw a black mist begin to flow out from underneath Carmilla’s coat, slowly covering the floor.

“Hmm? I can’t hear you, say it again. What am I feeling right now?”

“Un… unimaginable hatred…?”

Dennis considered that Sophia was probably right. Why wouldn’t Carmilla be feeling that was if she had caused her trigger event? It also helped that Carmilla’s fangs seemed to glow white, despite not giving off any light of their own, making her seem pretty fucking angry.

Carmilla laughed. It wasn’t the nice kind of laugh either, like the one you had when you were told a funny joke, or when you watched cat video’s on the internet, no… this sounded like pure evil.

“No, no it’s not. It’s actually not that bad.”

Dennis blinked.

“It’s not?”

Carmilla shook her head, “No, the needle is currently spinning around and around while the pipe is leaking steam.”

Dennis gulped. If he got out of this alive, he was never going to be watching any Vampire movies again. He heard someone throw up, and when he took a glance, he saw that Gallant was kneeling over on his hands and knees, dry heaving, with fresh saliva dripping from his lips.

“Now, do you know what’s keeping me from grabbing you and ripping your organs out and painting the PRT rig red?”

Everything seemed to stop breathing for a moment, as Sophia shook her head viciously.

Carmilla laughed again before answering, “I don't either."

 

Taylor lunged. She moved forward faster than anyone in the room could predict, and Sophia’s power was the only thing that reasonably saved her. AS she went incorporeal, Taylor’s arm went right through her, before she skidded to a halt.

Miss Militia opened fire, her rifle firing rubber bullets and targeting Taylor. The pellets bruised and broke the skin, but did little to stop Taylor as she rushed forward again, this time towards Miss Militia.

The Protectorate hero switched to lethal rounds just in time to rip into Taylor’s body, high caliber rounds slamming into her and ripping her flesh apart. Taylor stopped only a few feet from Miss Militia, falling to the ground into a bloody pulp.

Gripping her weapon, Miss Militia looked to Sophia, “Shadow Stalker, you have a lot of explaining to do.”

Sophia shook, staring at the motionless body that the hero had torn to shreds, “If we get out of this alive, I’ll explain everything.”

“‘If’?” Triumph asked, his muscles going tense, “Miss Militia just shot her to a pulp, how is she supposed to-”

“If she’s dead then how come the light’s are still going out!?” Sophia yelled.

Everyone looked up, and sure enough, the light’s continued to dim, until finally, Sophia found herself shrouded in darkness. She called out to the others, trying to get a feel for where they were, but got no answer. They, she heard Taylor laugh again.

“Why so afraid Sophia?” Taylor asked, her voice coming from all directions, “You’re supposed to be a predator, aren’t you?”

Sophia swiveled around, trying to find where the voice was coming from but found only the pitch-black darkness that surrounded her. She took a deep breath and took a step. If she could get to the edge of the arena, she could reorient herself and find a way out, maybe find a way to contact the rest of the protectorate.

“Running won’t do anything, I’m afraid…” Taylor’s voice echoed, making Sophia pick up the pace slightly.

She wasn’t moving fast, but Sophia felt that even at her current pace she should have reached the wall by now. Before she could muse on the subject any further, however, she felt something brush past her. She twisted around, looking back and forth, frantically looking for whatever had touched her.

“I need to get out…” She muttered to herself, turning back to the direction she was going in. She started running.

She ran for a full minute, Taylor’s laugh echoing all the while, causing Sophia to panic. There was no way she wouldn’t have reached the wall of the room by that point, so she had chalked it up to Taylor’s absolutely bullshit powers.

She gulped, halting in her run as she tried to catch her breath, “I need to get the fuck out of here.” she said to herself.

Looking up, she formulated a plan in her head. She’d fallen through floors and gone up through ceiling’s using her power before, but most of the rig was heavily lined with wiring, meaning that it was highly likely that she was surrounded, and couldn’t just phase through the floor.

Deciding to take a risk, Sophia bent her knees, and jumped, going into her breaker state just as she was done accelerating upward, the earth’s gravity becoming less effective on her. She traveled up, and up, and up before she could finally see the room’s ceiling coming toward her. She reached out her arm to try and get through when her world was suddenly filled with pain.

Electricity coursed through her body, shocking her out of her breaker state, and so she fell. From the full height of the ceiling, she hit the floor, all of the air in her lungs exiting her throat. She struggled to breathe, rolling over as she gasped for air. Her whole body hurt, her back ached from the pain caused by the fall, her muscles spasmed from the electric shock, and her lungs burned.

Taylor laughed. Her dark voice taunting, laughing at Sophia’s fate.

Which was why it was all the more confusing when a second voice joined in.

“Ohohohohoho! Oh! Tay-Tay, how about you show her your eyes next, hmm?” a deep, male voice said, echoing the same way Taylor’s had.

“... what the fuck…?” Sophia asked quietly, her voice barely above a strained whisper as she tried to get air to go back into her lungs.

“I don’t know, she seems in pain already… I’m almost tempted to end it now…”

“Only almost?”

“Well, she did shove me into that locker.”

“That she did. How about some good ole’ irony then, huh?”

Taylor laughed again, “I think I can manage that…”

Sophia began to panic. She got up, her limbs screaming at her to stop, “Who the hell is there! Who is that Taylor!?”

“Oh? She can hear me then, can she?” the male voice asked.

“... Huh. I guess you can communicate through telepathy when I’m using it.”

Telepathy!? What the fuck!? Since when could she use fucking telepathy!?

The male voice chuckled. Then laughed. Then, in the darkest, most horrible sound Sophia had ever heard, he cackled.

“Wh-who are you!? What do you want!” Sophia demanded, trying desperately to find a way, any way out of the darkness.

The male voice continued to laugh, before cutting out silently, “Tell you what, little Stalker, how about we play a game?”

Sophia gulped.

“You do as we say, and we lead you back to your teammates.”

“Aren’t they supposed to be her friends?” Taylor’s voice asked, losing a bit of its edge.

“Oh come on, you saw how they acted around her. Betcha she’s a right bitch to them as much as she is to anyone at Winslow.”

“... Yeah, she probably is. In any case, Sophia, I have to agree with Alucard on this one. Playing a game sounds so much more fun than just watching you run around in circles.”

Sophia gulped. They were toying with her. For the longest time, she had been the predator, lying in the grass and waiting for the moment to strike. No, Taylor was the Predator, a cat playing with its food.

“I… fine, I accept! Now just let me get the hell out of here!” she yelled.

“Alright then, Task one; Take off your mask.”

Sophia obeyed without hesitation, ripping the mask off her face and tossing it to the side. Both voices laughed.

“Alright. Turn around.”

Sophia did so and found herself staring at a set of double doors. She rushed forward, gripping the handles and trying to pull it open to no avail. She tried to phase through the doors, only to find that they had multiple electronic systems running through them; locks, alarms, automatic opening, you name it.

“Ah, ah, ah, you’re not getting out that easily.” Taylor’s voice called out, “Now, strip.”

Sophia paused, “What?”

“The lady said, Strip, now I’d recommend getting on with it.” the voice said, laughing again.

Sophia grit her teeth but followed Taylor’s demented commands. She took off her shirt, her pants, her shoes, and before long she was standing there in nothing but her underwear, shivering. It felt cold, too cold. The rig was normally around sixty-eight degrees, but Sophia felt like the air around her was closer to forty.

“Ooooh, so that’s the ass you’re so proud of. Alright then, you followed orders, here you go.” Taylor announced, the double doors opening suddenly.

Sophia moved to grab her fallen clothes, hoping to get a chance to put them back on before an unseen force dragged them out of sight and into the darkness. Sophia froze in fear yet again.

“Oh, no, you don’t get to put those back on, where’s the fun if you just put everything right back on?” The male voice asked, laughing evilly.

Sophia cursed under her breath, before moving through the doors, which shut behind her as soon as she was through. She kept moving, hoping that she would find a way out, or that she could find a weapon of some kind. She followed the long, empty hallway for several minutes before she finally found a door. She tried opening it, and found that the handle turned easily enough, the door swinging open to reveal… the Wards locker room?

“Now, Sophia, I want you to think long and hard about what you did to make me trigger.”

Sophia’s eyes widened and she tried to turn around and run back through the door, only to be met with a solid wall. There was no door, and Sophia felt her breath catch in her throat. She pressed her back up against the wall, panic entering her eyes as she looked at the room in front of her. All at once, every locker in the room opened.

“Now, Sophia, it’s simple; just step into one of these lockers, and you’re home free!”

Sophia shuddered, “Bullshit! This is all bullshit!” She screamed, trying to go into her breaker state and pass through the wall again only to scream in pain as she felt more electricity force its way through her body.

Sophia felt tears streak down her face, the pain coursing through her veins making her curl up on the floor. She heaved, gasping in pain, trying not to start full-on crying.

“Come on, Sophia, just pick one!” Taylor’s voice called out, the last line making Sophia feel like someone had poured ice water down her back.

She looked up and found herself staring down a black, shadow coated locker. She could hear the skittering, clawing, and scratching of centipedes, spiders, rats, and flies, and soon she saw them. Blood red and black colored roaches crawled out of the locker, making Sophia freeze. Her eyes shook in terror, and she sobbed. Tears flowed from her eyes now, both in horror and pain.

“Come on now, Sophia, just get up, and step through the locker.”

Tears ran freely down Sophia’s face as she got up, using all her strength she could manage. She hugged herself, shivering. She looked back into the inky blackness of the locker and was about to take a step forward when the smell hit her.

She wretched, keeling over as she vomited all over the floor, “What the fuck… what the fuck… why are you doing this!?” Sophia screamed.

“You know full well why Hess! You’ve made my life Hell for the past sixteen months! And now it’s time for payback! Now, step. Into. The Locker.”

Sophia sobbed again and took a step forward. Another step, then another, and then another, and soon, she found herself putting one foot on the locker’s entrance. The space was cramped, and she hesitated. She would have to twist herself sideways in order to fit, her shoulders too broad to fit in through the front.

“Get. In!” Taylor ordered.

Sophia twisted herself sideways and went in. She squeezed through, the walls of the locker rubbing against her back and chest uncomfortably. She felt something skitter across her feet, and she whimpered, trying to get back out when the locker door slammed shut. She sobbed, feeling trapped, not daring to go into her shadow form again for fear of getting shocked again. She was cramped in a wet, rancid, and dark locker, just like Taylor had been.

“Alright, you can get out of the locker now,” Taylor said.

Sophia sobbed in relief, pressing one hand on the locker door and pushing.

It didn’t open.

She tried again. And again. And again. Eventually, she was slamming her balled-up fist against the door, screaming, kicking, trying anything and everything try and get out. She went into breaker form again and received another shock. She screamed in pain and sobbed, tears streaming down her face.

“Let me out! Let me out! Get me out of here!” Sophia screamed.

“Why don’t you let yourself out!? How about I leave you here, in the locker with the bugs and filth, just like you did to me!? How about that Sophia Hess, Shadow Stalker, HERO!”

Sophia wailed, screaming in agony as she used her power, again and again, getting shocked every time she did so. She continued to kick, punch, and claw at the door, no longer shouting words but screaming incoherently.

“Or, I could be better than you. Be a real Hero,”

Sophia kicked the locker again, throwing her body against it with as much force as she could.

This time, the locker crashed open.

 

Armsmaster glazed over the report of Carmilla’s latest assault on Empire Eighty-eight territory, feeling his headache grow worse as the report wore on. Luckily she had been sticking to her recent trend of keeping casualties to a minimum, for a given meaning of the word ‘minimum.’

She still killed three people in her latest attack and mutilated six, as well as causing thousands in property damage. She was making waves, and not the good kind.

It had been a week since they had captured her and taken her to the rig, and after finding out that she wanted to be a hero, they had let her be interviewed and vetted. She seemed… amicable, at the very least, and Director Piggot had authorized that she be able to meet and get to know the other wards, in an attempt to sway her opinion.

This turned out to be a very bad idea.

Shadow Stalker, also known as Sophia Hess, had been the cause of Carmilla’s, also known as Taylor Hebert’s, Trigger Event. She had put the girl under an extreme and highly dangerous bullying campaign, and it all culminated in the girl getting shoved into a cramped locker filled with what would unequivocally be called biohazardous waste.

Taylor spent several hours in that locker before she triggered, after which she broke out of the locker and went home.

That night, she went out and killed thirty people and one of the Empire’s most well-known capes.

Two days after that, she killed two Merchants and presumably killed both leading members of the Archer’s Bridge Merchants gang.

After that event was when she was taken into Protectorate custody. After she had been introduced to the wards, she and Aegis had decided to have a spar, something that was very much against regulations, and considering Carmilla’s later actions, could very easily have gotten Aegis killed. Regardless, they went through with it and Aegis was defeated in a single hit.

After establishing that Carmilla was beyond most of the capes in the room at that point, she began talking to Shadow Stalker, accusing her of being the cause of her trigger event. Thing’s escalated and Carmilla showed newfound -- or at the very least showed that she had -- Shaker and Stranger abilities, coating the training arena in a black mist before attempting to attack Shadow Stalker, before being confronted and seemingly disabled by Miss Militia.

Unfortunately, this was not the case, as the rest of the PRT rig was soon flooded with black mist, cutting off radio communication and cutting off all video and audio surveillance. When the mist finally faded, Carmilla herself was nowhere to be found and Shadow Stalker was found curled up in the fetal position on the arena floor, whimpering and muttering to herself.

She was near-catatonic, and it was only after they managed to move her to the psychiatric ward that they were able to bring her out of her shock. When she was finally able to speak, she did so infrequently and only when she needed something outside of her ability. Early evaluations showed signs of depression, shock, and nihilism.

It wasn’t until three days later that Sophia Hess finally confessed to what she had done to Taylor Hebert, admitting to the bullying campaign and exposing everyone involved, including Emma Barnes and Madison Clements as frequent participants and perpetrators. She also admitted to Principal Blackwell and her social worker working to cover up the campaign in order to keep funds flowing into the school.

After her confession, an investigation was immediately launched, and it yielded several disturbing results. Sophia’s was not the first bullying campaign to take place at Winslow, and it certainly wasn’t the only one that the Principal had worked to cover up. On top of this, instead of calling in the who could deal with the biohazard, they simply rinsed out the locker and mopped up the remains, leaving a large portion of the material to rot underneath the lockers.

Had the investigation not been launched when it was, the entire school would likely have been shut down for several days soon after the mess was discovered, the dangerous chemicals being produced by the mold going into the air and potentially causing damage to anyone entering the area.

Sufficed to say, Blackwell and Sophia’s Social worker were both fired almost immediately.

Sophia’s actions would have been enough to send her to juvie, and likely still will be, but Taylor’s own actions were a more pressing matter and one that caused many to wonder if Sohpia still deserved to go. Just one day before the present, Sophia had explained in detail what Taylor had put her through, which had amounted to a much shorter but much denser version of the bullying campaign Sophia had put Taylor through.

Most of the Protectorate was willing to give Taylor a pass for her actions against Shadow Stalker once they had learned of Sophia’s bullying, especially due to the fact that she was not harmed physically as Taylor had been.

Still, Taylor’s chances of becoming a member of the Protectorate still shrank drastically after that event. Even more so when she nearly disappeared off the radar until three days ago, at which point she started making calculated strikes against Empire storehouses and fighting rings. Three attacks, three different locations. Director Piggot was almost leaning towards storming the Hebert household and demanding Taylor’s arrest, but for the moment, the unwritten rules and the fact that Carmilla was fighting the Empire tooth and nail was enough to sway her away from the idea.

Then again, this would all change if Carmilla killed another cape.

In her three attacks, she had only encountered another cape once, on her second night, that cape being Hookwolf during one of his dogfights. The fight had been drawn out into the city streets, but the two capes had broken off from each other before the Protectorate could arrive. The death count was her highest since her first night out, at twelve dead and fourteen hospitalized.

Back in the present, she was still rocking the boat. A couple outside directors had requested the court to give Carmilla a kill order, director Tagg being one of the most fervent, stating that even if she was fighting the gangs now, they couldn’t risk her turning on the protectorate, especially when she had psychologically tortured one of their own Wards.

Director Piggot, while not overly trusting of Carmilla in her own right, was able to fight these requests fairly easily, as the directors that requested it had no say in what happened in her city and it was a bit ridiculous that they were stepping outside their jurisdiction. Outside directors going against one at ground zero had little influence on if a kill order actually went through, and Armsmaster still wondered if there might be some way to get Carmilla to join the protectorate, even in a probationary manner. Unfortunately, it seemed less and less likely as time went on.

“Reading another one of her reports, Colin?” Dragon asked, drawing the Protectorate leader out of his thoughts.

“Yes, it’s a shame things played out the way they did. Had we discovered Shadow Stalker’s actions earlier, she likely wouldn’t have triggered in the first place, and we wouldn’t even be here.” He explained, flipping to the next page of the report.

“I still don’t like what Carmilla put her through, even if she did deserve it. She shouldn’t take the law into her own hands as she did, there’s a system for these kinds of things.” Dragon commented.

Armsmaster side, “Unfortunately, Carmilla didn’t know that. The system screwed her over to begin with, and after that, she doesn’t trust it. And beyond that, I almost wonder if this is possibly the better option.”

Dragon’s avatar raised an eyebrow, “Oh? How so?”

“Note that this isn’t a good outcome by any means, and unfortunate as it might be I don’t think there could have been a good outcome, but as it is Shadow Stalker has been acting far more cooperative since the event. She isn’t showing the same psychopathic tendencies, and the therapist that was assigned to her admitted that she is acting completely differently from what her file suggested she would.” He explained.

“I suppose that makes sense, being mentally tortured in a few minutes by someone who they had done the same to over a period of months can change a person.” Dragon admitted.

“Which is why we are suspending her case. If the event was as bad as it appears to be, she may not even need to spend any time in juvie. She will still be punished for her actions, but the circumstances will certainly provide something of a reprieve.”

“And what of Carmilla? She’s still attacking the Empire, and it seems as though her ratings are changing with every attack.” Dragon asked.

At this, Armsmaster frowned. Carmilla’s profile was an ever-changing one, with the current one listing her as a Brute 7, Changer 6, Shaker 4, Stranger 1, and Master 8. Carmilla was both versatile and powerful, and many among the Protectorate and PRT had wondered if there was still some way to get her on their side. Something most everyone was wondering nowadays.

“At the moment, we’re taking a hands-off approach. Her Master ability is dangerous, and the ghouls she’s been creating are causing problems. Lobotomization seems to return them back to a corpse-like state, so we’ve been doing that to put the bodies into acceptable conditions. Still, if she escalates past what she’s doing now, problems are going to rise quickly.” He explained.

Dragon nodded, “I agree. On another subject, have you put any more thought into your nano-thorn project?”

Arsmaster smiled slightly, putting the file down and facing Dragon. If anyone knew how to get his mind off something dreary, it was her, “Well, I’ve started to…”

 

Wait, I just realized.

I can transfer my shit ton of omakes here.

Ha. Haha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Edit: The first of many







Alucard adopts Taylor



Integra found her eye twitching. " Alucard, explain it to me, again."

" Alright alright, calm your non existant ti-"

" Finish that sentence and I will gut you."

" Fine, fun killer. Anyway, I was just minding my own business when I found my way In someones head. After a whole bunch of shenanigan's and somehow killing a golden space whale thing, I got in my regular body, and this one came back with me." He picked Taylor up by the neck, who was wearing a black and red version of Alucards coat and collar, with a fedora. She was blushing and at least tried to look ashamed.

" Anyway, to cut a long story short, this one is mine now."

" Didn't you say she already had a father?"

" Pshh, details! She drank blood, she has red eyes, and most importantly!" He pushed her closer to the slightly pissed off women, who could already feel a headache building. " She killed Nazis Integra. Its like tradition!"

" And how do you intend to keep her busy? And what about if someone comes looking for her?"

" Then I will introduce them to my new life hackz." As he said that, he let loose for a moment, several bodies standing behind him. The most noticible was a very, very tall women with multiple wings surrounding her.

" Did, did you really just say that with a z?"

" Yes. I'm a baller."

Long silence.

" Just go put her with the Police girl Alucard."

" Got it. Taylor."

" Yes?"

" Tell me, how current are you on your fellow meat bags culture?"

" Pretty up to date. Why?" She was suspicious. This was good.

" YEET!" He tossed the vampire down the hallway, chuckling like a madman as he listened to her scream and curse his name.

 

Cannons and those who love them



Taylor rocked back and forth gently in her chair, ignoring the look Piggot gave her.

Ah, Piggot. A woman who gave Taylor conflicting emotions galore.

It had started off all right, with Piggot doing her best to try and keep Taylor's new tendicies in check. It worked for a time even, with glares and prods and all sorts of other things. But then Alucard figured out she was resisting healing for some reason. After that, he started pestering Taylor over and over to get her to do something about it.

She had tried gently at first, bringing it up after making sure they were alone, in a nice quiet room. All that did was emphasize how loud Piggot could yell at her.

As time went on though, Alucard got more and more insistent about making her do something. The talks became a bit more heated, with threats soon joining.

*At one point Taylor got tired of it and " Kidnapped" Amy at one of their lunch meet ups. Why she had brought flowers she had no idea.

She tossed Amy at Piggot. While hilarious, it pissed both of them of for awhile. But in the end, none of that mattered, as Amy healed Piggot.

Now though, she had a different problem. You see, Piggot was hot now. Like, a step below super model good. Taylor noticed. The PRT noticed. But most importantly, Alucard noticed.

" So, Rend. You have been complaining about Alucard badgering you for something."

Taylor gulped and nodded. Oh god this was embarrassing.

" Tell me."

She turned to either side, somehow just noticing Miss Militia and Armsmaster. " Are, you sure?"

" Now."

She gulped again and cleared her throat. Lowering her voice to meet Alucards, she said " Get that bit*h a cannon. Bit*hs love cannons." Self censoring aside, she lowered her gaze.

There was silence. " Tell Alucard if he calls me that again, I will find a way into your head, pull him out myself, and gut him like a fish."

Taylor flinched. " He says stop, he can only get so erect."

" Just, go."

Taylor gladly did so. After she left, Piggot pulled out a bottle of scotch and three glasses. Pouring them out, she slid them to her coworkers, then started slamming it down like there was no tomorrow.



*expect an omake about this at one point.

 

Emma sighed as she pulled a bayonet out from her sleeve, papers swirling around her as she teleported from gang banger to gang banger.

" Anderson, I know you said I should go out and fight, show people where we stand, but, I think I'm ready for an actual challenge." With a flick of her wrist, another person fell to the ground, three of four bayonets sticking out of their back.

"Now hold your horsies lassie, I know you wanna find someone a bit more your weight class, but the basics are important! Learn how to throw your knives, teleport on command, then we start fighting the big boys."

" Like the Nazis?"

Anderson laughed. " Especially the Nazis. I want that wolfs head on our fire place."

Emma was about to reply when gunshots rang through the night, one slamming into a building not far away from her.

" Hey, Emma, go see whats going on over there."

" Don't need to even say anything." Taking far too much delight in her ability, she teleported to the top of a building where she saw several merchants being ripped apart by someone in a red trench coat and fedora.

' Huh. That looks kinda dangerous. Anderson, I think I'm going to-'

' Jump.'

"What?"

'You heard me lassie. You know Alucard, the vampire I told you about?'

" Yes, i remember." She idly swung one of her blades. " What about them?"

' I am fairly certain that's him. Or someone with him in their head.'

".....ALUCARD!" She crashed onto the ground with two bayonets in each hand, ready to fling them at the vampire. She lifted her head, looking at the vampire with a feral grin on her face. Oddly enough, the hat was covering a good portion of their face, making them unrecognizable.

" Hmm, what's that smell? Oh, its the hypocrisy of the Catholic church!" The vampire sniffed the air. " Hmm, you smell like Anderson, but you don't look like a raging murderholic. Well, except for the blades." The vampire grinned. " OOoooohhhh! So that's who's body your taking your little rest in. A little traitor who can't even do her own dirty work!"

Emma growled and threw her stakes, lodging them in the Vampires gut. " SHut up!"

After a moment, the stakes seemed to ooze out of their gut, blood staining their suit. " Hey, Emma, you know whats good for getting blood stains, along with other kind of stains, out of suits?" The vampire lifted its head enough to reveal-

" TAYLOR!? Wait, don't you dare!"

" Holy water! Did you miss me!"










*Expect more of this too.

 

Madison gets either Winkle or the Captain.
Theo. He goes into Theo.

Here we go!




Madison snapped her pencil in half, prompting Theo to hand her another one. They had a very, strange relationship.

She had woken up one day to hear someone prattling on and on and on about something called Winter Wrap Up. It had been a nice little tune at first, and she was actually very happy! She must have become a cape in her sleep!

But things started going down hill when the voice said she should seek out someone called the Major. He was a nazi. Because of fracking course.


On the other side of the city Theo had woken up with what he was sure was some sort of cape working for his father. All the signs pointed to it after all. Nazi, German accent, what he thought of telepathy, hell the only thing he was missing was a burning hatred for what he considered the lesser races. He considered everyone other than him a lesser race, so hurray for equality?

They umped into each other at the library, making their opposite voice go nuts. Well nuts in Madisons case. The Major seemed slightly more happy but still was fairly condescending.

Somehow, she still wasn't sure, they had started hanging out more. And more. The voice encouraging them to get closer until one day they spilled their guts. Madison learned that Theo was the heir to Empire 88, but didn't believe in their filth. Meanwhile he learned she had done something horrible to a girl named Taylor, and when he looked it up later he agreed it was quite bad.

Their decisions to not bring up their various issues for awhile. Until Madison learned about Major when Theo was sleep talking after a movie once. This led to her spilling about the crazy " Rip Van Winkle" who kept praising the Major. After the other things they learned, they took this well in stride.

Anyway, Madison had snapped her pencil in half because she had just gotten a very strange text from an unknown number.

UN: Is this that crazy bitch with the rifle?

M: Excuse me? Who are you?

UN: Answer me damn it! I've had this damn cat person stuck in my head for a month now!

UN: Keeps calling themself schrodinger.

M: Wait, you dont mean... who are you, really?

M: It's Hookwolf. Now, do I have the right damn number or not?

M: *Sigh, you do. I'll text you an address.

With that unpleasant conversation over, she turned off her phone, turned her head to face Theo, and said in the most deadpan voice the could, " Hookwolf has a cat problem."

 

Omake: A priest and a Doctor have dinner with the Vampire.

Taylor grinned like a loon, sitting between her two friends.

Emma glared at Amy, bayonet in one hand while a fork was in the other.

Amy glared at the girl who held the Judas priest, turning her dinner into a strange sort of smoothie.

' So, Taylor, are you sure this is a good idea?'

' Why wouldn't it be? I mean, you were the one who said my friends knowing each other would be good for me. Well, Emma is my friend again, and Amy really likes hanging around me.' Her hands clenched around her fork and knife, seeming intent on being an oblivious idiot. ' Nothing wrong with my friends knowing each other.'

In the background fire was crackling and bricks has crumbled, several Nazis and gangbangers either drained of blood, some missing an arm, and several with bayonets sticking out of their bodies.

' Because your two friends,' gods she could hear the mental fingers around that one, ' are staring daggers at each other. And the fact that they both wanna bone you, and you just introduced them to a rival, weeeeellllllllllllllll...'

Taylor blanched and let out a groan, slamming her face onto the table, drawing looks from the other two.

' DAMN IT ALUCARD! I, I know that! I was hoping I could get them not to try to kill each other.'

' Don't look at me! I thought you knew and were just going to sit down and convince them to share you or something. You certainly got my taste for dangerous women.'

Taylor ignored her friends looks and shoving of shoulders. Then, one said something to the other, and more than insults went flying.

' Hey, do we have enough cash to pay for this?'

She gave Alucard the mental figure and started sobbing.

 

The major sighed as he leaned back in his chair, blimp in the air and weapons. He wasn't sure how, but he had ended up in this world alone, fully alive after being shot by Integra.

He had found a organization that coincided delightfully with his tastes. That meant they were indeed Nazis. He had quickly risen through the ranks through a mixture of murder and competence.

Of course, when he had heard that the USA branch was having some trouble, he took it upon himself to shape things back into order. And oh my, was he glad he did. A familiar red jacket and red hat made him grin. Of course, that meant he not only had a goal, but now he had a worthy rival to make it worth it. He would conquer this world, all to spite the vampire.

Thus, he built an army of capes and normal. And what better way to introduce himself to the world, than with one thing. " ZEPPLINS!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Simurgh did not get scared. She was the master of fate, the mistresses of doom, the weaver of the end.

But, when she saw the Zepplin, and the red hatted vampire, the two things she could not maybe, she visibly paled.

" Alucard!"

" Major! Your still so, fat!"

" And you are still a pompus idiot! Tell me, how much damage has your two girlfriends caused?"

The vampires voice became much more whiney. " They are not my girlfriends! And if you say one more thing about them, I will eat you! Endbringer truce be dammned!" She then stiffened.

" And just like that, the war begins!" The fat one said with a gleeful smile.

Yes. The Simurgh did not get scared. But she knew when to abandon hope.

 

RETURN OF THE HOLY POPE BOX!

Coil, was not having a good day. Of course, anyone who was a villain tended to not have a good day in the same city as the Simurgh munching vampire, but today was an odd sort of not good day.

It started when he woke up and a man, who claimed to be a priest, had started angrily yelling scripture in his head. Oh, the Master/ Stranger effects were strong that day.

But he soon calmed down, and talked with the voice. It turned out that Alucard was not the only one to arrive, and he originally thought that having a source of information on the vampire would help. It did. On showing him just how utterly screwed he was if he caught his, her? Their, if he caught their attention.

So he stayed low, not causing too much of a mess. All that ended when Alucard went on a romp through the sewers and found his base. He really should have ran then and there, but he had spent far too much money into this place, so he decided to stay and try to push her back.

Several regrets later, he was now in a box. A box of his own making, yes, but a box all the same.

" Ha! Fuck you Alucard! Fuck you fuck you fuck you!" He raised the bird. " I've designed this box to work against your stupid demon vampire powers! It would take the will of god himself to break this!"

She only smirked. " So, your saying it's a holy pope box? One second."

She left in a oozeing river of blood, coming back with someone only a mere minute later. ' Oh, fuck.'

Emma barnes, also known as the Judas priest, stood there with gleaming bayonets and a smile. " Oh my, another one of these?" A sharp cracking sound filled the room as the blade was tossed and pierced it, leaving him defenseless. " Now, remind me, do you prefer my blades in ya gut or your liver?"

" Fuck."




Last cross post. I regret nothing.

 

Taylor stared down at the warehouse below her, grinning like a madwoman. Scurrying along the ground were several Empire skinheads running back and forth carrying crates, boxes, or bags of weapons, ammunition, or drugs. This would be her biggest raid yet, and with a little luck, it would be the one where she could finally get back at that deranged wolf.

“Ok, look, I know he bisected you, but that’s no reason to form a grudge! I was bisected too, and look how I turned out! No grudges held!”

Taylor rolled her eyes, “And what was it you told me to do if I ever formed a grudge against someone?” she asked.

“Nom their head off! That way you won’t have any more grudges!”

Taylor chuckled, “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Still, he’s got some backup this time.”

She looked down at the two visible capes on the ground; Krieg and Cricket being the ones she could see, the former directing the grunts while the latter stayed close to Hookwolf. Those two never left each other’s side, likely due to the fact that both of them had encountered Taylor, if not fought her in Hookwolf’s case.

It had been almost two weeks since she’d fought him the first time, but Hookwolf had been on edge ever since. She’d fought him twice more after that, each time getting a little bit better at dodging his attacks and dishing out her own. Her kill count had officially breached a hundred -- though not all of those were Empire members, she’d had a brief spat with the ABB when she had been tracking Alabastor -- and she was gaining a sort of reputation in Brockton Bay.

Carmilla the Nazi hunter. She chuckled at the name they’d given her, as amusing as it was. It wasn’t really wrong either, as aside from a handful of skirmishes with the other gangs she hadn’t really strayed from the pattern of attacking the Empire.

“Think we can pull this off? There’s at least forty of them down there, and I’m pretty sure they’re prepared for us.” She asked.

Alucard chuckled, “Tay-Tay, I think you already know the answer to that question.”

Taylor’s smile widened, “You sure hitting shuffle will work?” she asked.

“Eh, fifty-fifty.”

“Good enough for me.”

Taylor lifted her cellphone and pressed the shuffle button and putting it into her pocket before she jumped down from her perch on the crane she was standing on.

Spoiler: Party Party Party!

She landed onto a skinhead’s shoulders, knocking him to the ground instantly. Two gangers turned toward her immediately, screaming before aiming their weapons -- compact SMGs by the look of them -- and shooting Taylor. She rushed forward and grabbed the one to her left, pulling him towards her and wrenching the gun out of his hands. She tossed him to the side, before flipping the weapon around in her grip and turning to face the other skinhead still shooting at her. She took a split second to aim, before letting out a short burst, nailing him in the chest.

Shouting started coming from the rest of the area, and a dozen more gang members came around the building just as she started running in their direction. She lept over a few of them, before catching one in the middle of the group in his chest as she landed, breaking his sternum. The others turned to shoot her, but she was already moving. She grabbed one man and tossed him into another, grabbed a pistol out of another man’s torso, and started shooting the men’s knees, sending them tumbling to the ground howling in pain.

One managed to get behind her, slamming a crowbar into the back of her head. She reeled, before whipping around and biting into his neck, ripping his throat out.

She spat out the loose flesh and swallowed the stray drops of blood in her mouth, savoring the taste somewhat. Still not amazing, but definitely better than merchant blood.

"Oi! This is just the foreplay! Save your energy for the main event!" Alucard jeered.

Taylor rolled her eyes at the crazed vampire’s obvious innuendo, "Alright then, now, where are the capes…?” she muttered to herself, right before she felt a bullet hit the back of her head.

She whipped around, looking to see where the bullet had come from, to be met with a single, lone ganger. He was young, probably in his early twenties, and he held a fairly cheap-looking Uzi in both hands.

Taylor blinked, “Do you have life insurance?” She asked.

The man screamed and fired full-auto, filling Taylor with bullets.

“APPARENTLY YOU DO!” She yelled, running toward him. She grabbed his left arm and yanked it, sending him off balance before she pulled his neck toward herself and bit into his neck, draining him of blood.

When she let go, he was nothing more than a dried husk. Taylor licked her lips, reveling in the bloodshed.

“... should I be worried?” she asked herself, “I mean, three weeks ago I’m pretty sure I would have vomited at what I just did.”

Alucard laughed, “Don’t worry about it! You still haven’t killed anyone innocent remember? You’re leagues better than I was at your age!”

“I’m not sure whether to be proud of myself for that fact or ashamed that I’m considering killing several dozen people to still be better than the alternative.” She muttered.

“Hey, you won’t get any shaming from me!”

Taylor was about to retort when she heard a low growl come from behind her. She turned around, a feral grin on her face as she found herself staring down a snarling Hookwolf.

“Oh, you are just a treat.” She said, not a moment before Hookwolf lunged.

The mass of metal and blades slammed into her, shredding her skin and muscle before she was able to pull away. Fortunately for her, she was able to pull her arm back and grab the fallen Uzi, aiming it directly at Hookwolf and firing what ammo was left in it. The shots pinged off of his armor, not really digging deep, but it was enough of a distraction for Taylor to pull herself out from under him.

She was fortunate that Alucard had taught her how to extend her regeneration to her clothes, otherwise, she would probably have been naked in the moonlight. She still didn’t know how to do full shapeshifting, but the clothing regeneration was a step in the right direction.

Brushing herself off, she backflipped away, jumping up onto the warehouse roof. She ran along the sloped roof, soon reaching its peak, just as Hookwolf clawed his way up to the roof himself. She stopped and turned to face him, her grin still covering her face.

“Hey, Hook! You think you’re gonna catch me by just standing there?” Taylor asked, taunting him.

Hookwolf growled and prepared to pounce, but as he did, Taylor kicked on one of the reinforcement beams holding the roof up, nocking the old, rusted beam down into the warehouse below along with a large portion of the metal roof. This had a secondary effect of taking out a lot of the force behind Hookwolf’s lunge, causing him to only make it halfway to her before falling in himself and crashing into the crates that the E88 had been trying to transport.

The screams of several gangers from down below were music to Taylor’s ears, so she gracefully leaped down into the warehouse in order to get at Hookwolf again. She landed on top of the biggest pile of crates in the building, while Hookwolf was still picking himself back up while tossing random crates in his way off to the side violently, likely damaging whatever was inside of them. Several bald gang members were scurrying for their weapons, grabbing them and aiming at Taylor before opening fire again, their shots inaccurate enough that Taylor was able to rush forward and not get hit whilst bullets ricocheted and pinged off the metal containers she stood on.

She jumped from crate to crate, moving faster than the gangers could keep up with before she landed on one of them, knocking the gun out of his hands and picking it up herself. She turned it around and started spraying the room wildly, nailing several others before they had the sense to duck behind cover. Hookwolf lunged for her again, but she dodged backward on top of one of the crates. Hookwolf charged, but instead of leaping up to her, he slammed one shoulder into the crate, knocking her off balance and forcing her to jump off her perch. The crate fell open, several small, round objects falling out of their padded containers.

Taylor blinked, “Grenades?”

“Grenades!”

Hookwolf roared, leaping over the spilled crate and swiping at Taylor with his tail. She tried to dodge, but the weapon caught her in the arm, forcing her to twirl to the side to avoid the limb getting cut off completely. She could regenerate it, yes, but it was always faster if she had the original to reconnect.

An idea was forming in her head, and while it would probably cause the highest amount of destruction she’d yet caused, it would be glorious to watch. She grabbed her wounded arm and bit her sleeve, keeping the arm in place, before she raced forward, ducking under a swipe from Hookwolf and reaching down to grab one of the grenades.

“Ok, remember, cooking the thing is probably a bad idea and beyond that, I don’t think you’ll need more than a few seconds to GTFO.” Alucard advised.

Taylor grinned while trying to keep a grip on her torn arm. She could feel the flesh regenerating, but it felt agonizingly slow. More gangers tried taking pot-shots at her, which she promptly dodged, and Hookwolf tried lunging for her again. Soon enough, though, her arm was healed. Taking the grenade, she grabbed the pin and pulled.

She reared her arm back and shouted, “Hey Hookwolf! Catch!” before tossing the grenade in the living blender’s direction.

The Empire cape noticed what the object was mid-air, and swiped at it, knocking off course…

“Oh, shit…”

Right into a pile of crates, which very likely contained more grenades!

Taylor cackled as the few remaining gangers scrambled for the exit, only to get caught in the massive explosion that followed. Taylor was caught at the edge of it, getting blown through a wall and into the wall of an adjacent warehouse, bending the metal. When she looked up, she witnessed the warehouse in flames. Her handiwork and masterpiece, if she did say so herself.

Prying herself from the bent metal, she walked around the side of the warehouse to the front, where there was actually less damage and about a dozen gangers lay on the ground covered in burns. Six others were unharmed, but it seemed as though they had actually arrived alongside one of the other capes after the explosion had gone off.

Krieg stood at the head of the new group, dressed head to toe in a Nazi officer uniform and a black gas mask, his hands gripped into fists as he stared Taylor down.

“You will pay for this!” Krieg roared, before pointing at her.

The six men that stood behind him stepped forward and aimed very large looking assault rifles at her and opened fire. Taylor twirled to the side, before rushing forward. She was soon among them, tearing off limbs and biting out throats. She was about to go for Krieg himself when she heard a very loud roar come from the warehouse.

Everyone still standing paused and turned to see what had made the sound, looking to find a large, blackened, bent, and furious Hookwolf standing in the doorway of the warehouse.

“I think you might possibly have made him angry,” Alucard commented.

“You think!?”

 

Hookwolf moved, roaring as he tried to clamp his open, moving, bladed mouth down onto Taylor’s head. Unfortunately for him, Taylor was actually pretty fast when she wanted to be. She dodged out of the way, only to get knocked over and disoriented. She stumbled and turned around to see Krieg standing behind her. His power was supposed to disorientate those attacking him, and it seemed as though that worked as an offensive capability as well, as Taylor found herself having a hard time knowing which way was up.

She felt her stomach get pierced by one of Hookwolf’s blades before she was pulled into his mass of writhing metal. Taylor managed to wrench the blade out of herself before she got to that point, however, and began running toward the fallen gang members. She could hear Hookwolf running after her, his mass of metal tearing into the concrete ground.

She spotted what she needed, and dove for it, just as Hookwolf managed to grab her legs and pull her underneath him.

“Any last words, kid?” Hookwolf asked as he pressed one foot onto her chest, the claws sinking into her flesh and organs.

“Does he know it’s hard to talk with shredded lungs?”

Taylor coughed and grinned, “Kinda ‘ard to talk with my lungs gettin’ shredded.” She said, gurgling up a small amount of blood.

Hookwolf laughed and curled his blades, shredding her flesh even further.

“Apparently he does not. Rude.”

Taylor coughed up blood, sending flecks of it into Hookwolf’s eyes, “How ‘bout I jus’ get this over with?” Taylor slurred, before pulling up a pair of pistols and unloading into Hookwolf’s eyes.

Hookwolf screamed, pulling himself off of Taylor and clawing at his eyes. Taylor kicked herself back upright and turned around to see Krieg charging her. She Dodged to the side, landing near one of the bodies of the skinheads. She quickly swapped out one of her pistols for one holstered on the man’s hip and started firing at Krieg while Hookwolf was still distracted. She managed to hit Krieg in the arm, despite the bullets wavering off their intended path.

She was about to turn around and make a break for it, feeling her work was pretty much finished with both Empire capes wounded, their warehouse destroyed, and a dozen of their members dead, when she felt several knives pierce her back. She whipped around just in time to see Cricket toss a knife at her, which it Taylor right between the eyes. Taylor grunted and dropped the empty pistol, reaching up to grab the knife and pull it out of her face.

When she focused back on Cricket, she found her running behind the warehouse again. She was going to give chase when she lost her balance again, falling over thanks to one of Krieg’s disorienting punches.

She grunted, picking herself back up just in time to dodge a wild, flailing Hookwolf trying to attack her and missing horribly. She was about to retaliate again when she felt one of Cricket’s blades land in her shoulder. Again.

“Hit and run tactics? I mean, it’s smart, but it’s really annoying.”

“This is getting ridiculous,” Taylor muttered, pulling the blade out her shoulder.

Krieg went to attack her again, but this time, Taylor spun around and tossed the knife just as the Nazi cape got close enough. The blade hit Krieg’s hand, cutting through his fingers and going through the palm of his hand. He screamed as two of his fingers fell the ground and he backed off, gripping his hand and crying out in pain.

“Ohh, perpetual devil horns. Nice!”

Taylor ignored Alucard’s commentary and swerved around just in time to catch one of Cricket’s knives as it soared toward her. The blade dug into her palm and fingers, the tip just inches from her face. She pulled up her one remaining pistol and emptied the magazine in the direction the knife had come from, managing to hit the cape in the leg as she turned to run, stumbling to the ground.

“Anyone else!?” Taylor asked, spreading her arms out wide.

Hookwolf growled from behind her, and she groaned, turning to face him. One of his eyes was closed, hidden behind the mass of blades that was his face. The other was bloodshot, staring Taylor down viciously.

“Does the metal doggy wanna play fetch!?”

“You wanna keep going!?” Taylor shouted, flipping around Cricket’s blade and pointing at Hookwolf.

Hookwolf growled and looked between his two fallen comrades. Krieg was writhing on the ground, a bullet in his left arm and two of his fingers on his left hand missing, a knife embedded in the hand itself. Cricket had backed herself up against the wall of the warehouse and was clutching her bleeding leg.

Hookwolf made a beeline for Cricket, racing past Taylor and picking up the cape in his arms. He raced off into the night, leaving Krieg behind.

“Wow, so much for no man left behind eh?”

“Eh, at least that leaves one more for us.”

Taylor walked over to the fallen Empire cape, who was still groaning and trying to stem the flow of blood on his hand. Taylor grabbed his shoulder, startling him, and she looked him in the eye. Or, well, the gas mask lense.

“Okay, listen to me. I could very well kill you right now. I killed Stormtiger, I tried to kill Alabaster, but I’m not going to kill you. No, I think I’m going to do to you what I did to Rune.” Taylor explained.

“I-I… I’ll never break you bitch!” Krieg challenged, attempting to use his power on Taylor. It disoriented her, but since she was already kneeling on the ground, it didn’t have that much of an effect.

“Oh, that’s going to get annoying if you keep it up. I suggest you avoid it if you value your health.” She said, gripping his shoulder again.

Krieg grunted in pain, “What… what the hell are you gonna do to me? We haven’t heard from Rune in… gah, a week!”

Taylor grinned, “And I don’t think you’ll hear from her in a while either. I’m going to knock you out now, kay?”

Krieg froze, “What?”

[-----]

Assault was probably one of the few capes in the Brockton Bay Protectorate that actually liked Carmilla. As a person, that is. Yeah, she was fucking terrifying when she wanted to be, but she never attacked any of the Heroes except for Shadow Stalker, and in his opinion, she had a damn good reason for doing so. Since then he had met her twice, once when he was on patrol and had run into a cape fight between her and Alabastor, and the second time when she had dropped Rune off at the PRT building.

The second time, they'd traded phone numbers so she could text him whenever she was going to show up.

Assault had notified Armsmaster of the development, and the leader of the Protectorate had informed him to keep an eye on her, try to gauge her opinion of the PRT and the Protectorate, and see if there might be some way to get her to cooperate with them. Assault agreed.

If nothing else, whenever he’d talked to her, she was usually very polite and conversational, if a bit… unhinged. She didn’t seem to have any qualms about killing -- something that the news had tried multiple times to cover, only stopped by the PRT’s intervention -- and more often than not made a game out of her attacks on the Empire’s property.

That alone made her dangerous. So far, she had only killed in ‘self-defense’, but that was a flimsy excuse and pretty much anyone who paid attention knew it. She had a habit of taunting her opponents, getting them to act rashly and sloppily. It had served her well so far.

Which was why it came as a bit of a surprise to Assault when he got a message from her at two in the morning asking if it was okay to bring Krieg to the PRT building. Fortunately, Assault had been on the console at the time for Miss Militia’s night patrol, and Armsmaster had been responding to an explosive being used in the warehouse district as well but had told him to give the information to Miss Militia and have her help. When the gun-toting cape got the message she made her way to the PRT HQ almost immediately, advising Assault to do the same.

Leaving the console to a dazed and groggy Dauntless, Assault quickly made his way to the boat that led off the Rig. When he made it to the PRT HQ, he was met by Miss Militia, who was standing in the lobby awaiting Carmilla’s arrival.

“Hey, nice to see you made it. You think He’ll be alive when she gets here?” Assault asked.

Miss Militia sighed, “She’s been trying not to kill capes, Assault, you know this. I don’t think she’d bother bringing him here if she hadn’t captured him alive.”

Assault shrugged, “Hey, all I remember is that when she came in here with Rune that one time, the girl looked like she was on death’s door.”

“And yet she’s alive and well, thank’s to Panacea.”

“And probably Carmilla too. You know she was actually pretty receptive to joining the Wards, right? Went through with the rebrand and everything. Long as she got to go to Immaculata next semester.” Assault remarked.

Miss Militia frowned under her mask, “Why did she get that deal anyway? I highly doubt the Empire would leave her be if they found her at Immaculata once she changed sides.”

“To my understanding, it’s mostly because she was wanting to leave the Empire when Carmilla found her. Something apparently happened at the school that made her change her view of the world or something like that.” Assault said, “That, and do really think the Empire will be around by next semester?”

Miss Militia sighed, “Not if Carmilla keeps up her current pace. Recruitment is at an all-time low for them, due to the surprisingly high casualty rate. And considering they lost two, possibly three, capes in the last three weeks, it’s no surprise they’re losing territory at the rate they are. If it gets bad enough, the Empire probably won’t last another month.”

Assault nodded in agreement, “Still, she seemed pretty torn up about not getting to go back this semester. Any idea why?”

“I don’t think-”

“What’s up Assault! Miss M.!

Miss Militia groaned and Assault grinned. In the entrance of the PRT building stood Carmilla, carrying the presumably still breathing form of Krieg over her shoulder. She walked toward the reception desk, where a pale, scrawny woman had been typing away at a computer. The PRT building ran twenty-four-seven after all.

She hefted Krieg’s body up and onto the desk, making the Nazi cape groan. His arm flopped over the table, and Assault spotted a bloody bandage wrapped around what remained of the fingers on his left-hand drip a little onto the desk.

The receptionist started hyperventilating, so Assault stepped in, “Hey, why don’t you step into the back while Miss Militia and I handle this?” He asked. The woman nodded, before backing away from the capes and scurrying off down one of the hallways.

Assault took a good long look and Krieg, before staring at Carmilla, who just grinned.

Assault chose his next words very carefully, “The heck did you do to his fingers?” Assault asked.

Carmilla chuckled, “Well, turns out Cricket’s knives are hella sharp and pretty easy to throw once you’ve figured it out.” she explained.

Assault nodded, “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to come in to answer a few questions would you?” he asked.

“Nope!” she said, before enveloping the room in a black mist. When the mist faded, Carmilla was nowhere to be found.

Assault laughed, “Didn’t think so.” He looked at Krieg again, humming to himself, “Now, what are we supposed to do with him?”

 

Kaiser grunted as he lifted himself out of the rubble that had once been another of the Empire warehouses. He coughed, his lungs attempting to get the dust out of them. He heard the sounds of battle coming from Alabaster and the vigilante Carmilla. Gunshots, explosions, screams of pain, all of it. Kaiser looked around the area for the twins, hoping that they were still in one piece. He found Menja digging through the rubble with one hand, tears streaking down her face as she did so.

The leader of Empire Eighty-eight staggered over to her, trying to see what had happened. Buried underneath the rubble, he saw an arm reaching up out of it, gripping Menja’s own. Both capes were exhausted, and their powers were at even their limits. Kaiser lurched forward, reaching out a hand.

“Menja, move!” he ordered, catching the woman’s attention.

She moved out of the way, still staying close enough to hold onto her sister’s free hand. Kaiser reached out with his power, causing dozens of blades to slowly push the rubble out of the way. He was rewarded when he heard a faint gasp from beneath the rubble, followed by a fit of coughing. He pushed further, causing the blades to push even more rubble out of the way, revealing Fenja, beaten and bloodied, but alive.

The second the ruble was clear and Kaiser was sure it wouldn’t fall on top of her, he retracted the blades, allowing Menja to pull her sister free of what Kaiser had failed to remove.

“I-I can’t feel my legs…” Fenja stuttered, gripping her sister’s arms with white knuckles.

Menja cried out, wrapping her sister in a tight embrace. Kaiser cursed, turning his attention away from the weeping sisters and toward the ongoing brawl between Alabaster and that cursed vigilante. A month ago, she had killed Stormtiger, and Kaiser had sworn vengeance. But he had no way to track her down, and when she started attacking his warehouses, things had only escalated.

She captured Rune, shot out one of Hookwolf’s eyes, cut off Krieg’s fingers before capturing him and turning him into the Protectorate, she cut off Cricket’s arm, she Captured Victor… everything was going wrong. She was a loose cannon, and everyone in the bay knew it. She had run into the other gangs before, which resulted in her killing both leaders of the Merchants and leaving Mush to be captured by the Protectorate soon after. She had encountered the ABB, though she hadn’t fought any capes and had only killed three of their members, Lung had still been angry. Not city-destroying angry, but enough to go out and use the Empire as a punching bag.

Finally, it had all come to a climax. There were few unpowered members of the Empire left, the majority leaving due to the unprecedented death toll, and few willing to join for the same reason. It only got worse when he had tried to get Purity to rejoin and was almost thrown across the bay.

His ex-wife wanted nothing to do with him, his gang, the Gesellschaft, or anything else. The fact that the Empire was being torn apart by a single cape hadn’t helped his case either.

Kaiser looked up to see a pair of Crusader’s ghosts flying in Carmilla’s direction, likely hoping to at least stall the regenerating cape. For what little they could do, they were at least good at keeping her distracted long enough for one or more capes to get into position. He heard a groan, not like a normal person’s, but one sounding like metal struggling to hold together as it was bent and twisted.

He looked to his right and saw Hookwolf digging his way out of the rubble. The bladed cape shook his head, before transforming back into his fleshy form.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do Max!? There’s no way we’re getting Krieg and Victor out of there now, not with that crazy bitch tearing us apart like this!” Hookwolf shouted, his voice only overshadowed by the mass of gunfire and explosions.

Kaiser grit his teeth, “If I knew that she was going to interfere then we wouldn’t even be here in the first place!” He paused as he heard Fenja scream, “Damnit, where the hell is Othala!?”

His request went unanswered as he soon found himself throwing his body to the side, dodging the body of Alabaster. The pale cape grunted, his face split in half, and a second later reverted. Even in his reverted state, he was covered in bruises and small cuts. Kaiser turned to see the red-clad Carmilla jump onto the pile of rubble that had separated Kaiser from the fight, providing a small amount of protection.

He cursed, sending a wave of blades in Carmilla’s direction, which she dodged easily, leaping toward Kaiser himself. She was tackled to the ground by Hookwolf mid-air, his blade-covered body beginning to shred her apart, little as it would help.

“Go!” Hookwolf shouted, even as Carmilla began crawling out from underneath him.

Kaiser grunted, walking over to the twins and looking Fenja over. He reached down and lifted her with no small amount of effort, slinging her over his shoulder. He ran, Menja and Alabaster in tow. They moved their way through the piles of rubble, desperately trying to ignore the sounds of screaming metal and tearing flesh.

They found Crusader not far off, his ghosts supporting his body as he clutched his bleeding abdomen. His armor was stained red, and his spear appeared long since abandoned.

“Still alive? Good. Hookwolf is trying to fend her off, but I don’t know how long that will last. Where is Othala?” Kaiser asked.

Crusader grimaced underneath his helmet, “She’s dead, Kaiser. Crushed underneath the rubble.”

Kaiser paused. Crusader would not lie to him, not about something this important.

“Damnit! We need to get out of here, fast! Can your ghosts carry Fenja?” he asked, gesturing to the woman on his shoulder.

Crusader nodded, before a pair of clones formed from him and floated over to Kaiser. He lifted Fenja up and into the hands of the ghosts, “Get her to one of our clinics, if possible, or strip her of her costume and get her to the hospital. She’s paralyzed from the waist down from the looks of things.”

Crusader nodded, and had just given the order to his ghosts when Menja interrupted, “I’m going with her.”

Kaiser turned to her, “No your not. You’re still in costume, and we need all the help we can get if we’re going to-”

“‘Going to’ What, Max!? Kill that crazy bitch!? I don’t think that’s possible! Even Brad can’t fucking stop her!” Menja shouted, “I don’t give a damn what you say, what you order, I’m going to make sure my sister survives today!”

She turned around and ran after Crusader’s ghosts, leaving the rest of them behind. Crusader gave Kaiser a look, and while he considered ordering him to go after her, he just shook his head.

“Leave her be. She isn’t in any shape to be fighting as it is anyway.” He admitted.

Crusader nodded, before turning in the direction of the sounds of battle that Hookwolf and Carmilla were producing. They got closer and closer, and Kaiser knew that even if he somehow managed to survive the rest of the battle, the Empire would not. His kingdom had come crashing down around him, and there was little he could do to stop it.

It was terrifying when the sounds stopped. The sounds of tearing metal halted, the gunshots from Carmilla’s looted weapons, all of it stopped. Either Hookwolf had managed to kill her somehow -- which Kaiser regretfully doubted -- or Brad...

Max silently prayed that the man was unconscious, rather than dead. Though he shamefully admitted the latter was the more likely outcome.

Footsteps echoed throughout the building that had once stood, the rubble that surrounded them being the only thing that kept them somewhat covered. Then, she stepped from around the corner of a half-collapsed wall. She was covered in blood, dripping with it. Her red gaze hovered on each of them for a moment, before she finally settled on Kaiser.

“I guess you’re all that’s left, huh?” She asked, her manic grin making Kaiser snarl, “I will admit, Hookwolf was kind of a pain to deal with, but once I found his core he was pretty much done for.”

Kaiser went still, before closing his eyes and standing up straight. Crusader and Alabaster both looked at him, their stern expressions wavering.

“You killed him,” Kaiser stated. Not a question, a statement.

Carmilla nodded, “He tasted pretty good too, though a bit too iron-y for my taste.”

Kaiser winced. It had become a well-known fact that Carmilla was a bit of a cannibal, drinking the blood of her enemies. This usually coincided with her regeneration gaining a boost, however, so the PRT had spun it as just an odd quirk of her power that she took no pleasure in.

The grin on her face spoke otherwise.

“What do you intend to do now, then? You have us cornered, and you know full well that you outpower us. We are no threat to you.” Kaiser said.

She shook her head, “Well, you’re right on that last bit. You’re not a threat to me, but, you are a threat to the people of this city.” she explained, “As for what I intend to do with you? Well, I could just eat you and tell the Protectorate that you refused to surrender. But that’s not what heroes do, right?” She asked.

Kaiser gawked, “You fancy yourself a hero!? You, who butcher us by the dozen, have the gall to call yourself a hero?”

Carmilla chuckled, “Oh, hell no, I’m not even close to being a hero. At least, not by modern standards.”

She took a step forward, “No, I’m something more akin to an exterminator. Who happens to specialize in Nazi removal.”

Kaiser cursed, trying to think of a way out of his current predicament, “What do you want? Do you want us to leave the city?” he asked.

Carmilla shook her head, “See, that’s not good enough. If you leave the city, you’ll just start terrorizing another city, another group of people who don’t fit your stupid, arbitrary standards. No, I want you out of the picture. Whether that means six feet underground or in a Protectorate cell, I don’t really care.” she explained.

Kaiser considered his options. She had them cornered. She had delivered an ultimatum. If they did not comply, they would be killed. In the end, to Max Anders, there was only one logical decision.

“In that case, then I, Kaiser, leader of Empire Eighty-eight, surrender.” He said, kneeling in front of the Vampiric cape.

“I, Crusader, surrender.” The man to his left said, kneeling in a similar manner.

“I, Alabaster, surrender.” The man to his right said.

Carmilla grinned, her fangs gleaming brightly, “Well then, gentlemen, I hope you’ve enjoyed today. You just got to witness the death of an Empire.”

 

Armsmaster cursed as he pulled another body out of the rubble. This one that of a man in his early twenties, his head shaved, and a swastika tattooed on his shoulder. Another member of the Empire, dead thanks to Carmilla’s exploits. In the distance, he could hear her battle with the Empire’s capes, and while he hated the fact, he admitted that the only option the Protectorate had was to just stay out of the damn way.

This had been the largest attack by the Empire yet, with all of their remaining capes making a concentrated attack against the vehicle transporting Krieg to a more secure prison. The first thing that happened was Kaiser attacking the transport, flipping it. Alabaster, Crusader, Fenja, and Menja had distracted Armsmaster and Assault while Hookwolf had been about to tear it open when Carmilla had intervened.

She tore a bloody swath into the unpowered gang members that had accompanied the Empire capes, only stopping briefly to pick up a pair of pistols that she used to start firing away. The battle was soon dragged into the many buildings that had lined the streets, and all of them collapsed one after another as the Carmilla trailed the capes after her, burying regular people and capes alike in the rubble.

When it finally came down to it, Armsmaster was shocked that the number of casualties was as low as it was. Carmilla was a loose cannon, but she was one that could be trusted to picker her targets. Innocent bystanders, emergency responders, PRT response teams, all of them were left out of the chaos.

For all the death and destruction she caused, Carmilla was remarkably good at directing it.

Armsmaster frowned when the sounds of battle stopped. No more gunshots, no more screaming metal from Hookwolf, no more collapsing buildings. Climbing out of the rubble, he tried to get an angle on what was going on. Nothing but dust, ruin, and blood in view. He was about to go back to looking for survivors when he saw four figures walking out of the dust.

Carmilla came out first, her trademark manic grin covering her features. Following her, Kaiser, Crusader, and Alabaster. Armsmaster noted that the only reason he recognized them was due to their masks, while the rest of their costumes… had been stripped. They were walking behind Carmilla, heads hanging in shame, clothed in only their underwear.

Armsmaster almost laughed.

Carmilla did, “You should see your own face Armsy!” She yelled out to him, waving in his direction.

Armsmaster realized that his facial expression was changing rapidly, and so he forced it into a scowl. He lept down from his perch and began walking toward Carmilla, eying the Empire capes carefully. Odds were that they had surrendered, seeing how outmatched they were, but Armsmaster was not one to take risks.

“What is this, Carmilla? Why are all of them…” Armsmaster failed to complete his sentence, instead gesturing to the naked capes behind her.

Carmilla laughed, “They surrendered, of course! And… well, Alucard had a few ideas.”

Armsmaster grimaced. The girl rarely mentioned the supposed voice in her head, though when something like this happened -- the naked capes, not the vicious wanton destruction -- she usually credited the voice in her head for the idea. Not exactly a comforting thought, but it made him wonder what actually went on inside the teenaged cape’s mind.

“Anywho, I figured I might as well hand them off to you guys. Fenja and Menja ran off, but I know one of them was hurt pretty bad, so you might be able to catch them at the hospital. Hookwolf’s dead, I ate ‘im, and… Crusader, you said Othala was dead?” She asked, turning to the cape in question.

“She was buried under the rubble. She wasn’t moving and I couldn’t feel a pulse. She’s dead.”

Carmilla frowned, “Damn, I could’ve sworn… ah, nevermind, I’ll figure it out later. Anyway, so yeah, these guys are now in your custody. I assume I don’t have to track down an escaped Krieg?” She asked.

Armsmaster shook his head, “The van was flipped, but the containment is still secure. He won’t be leaving it until he reaches his destination.”

Carmilla nodded, “Well, with that out of the way, I look forward to working with you again Armsy! Toodles!”

The red-clad cape vanished in a swirl of black mist, blinding Armsmaster for a moment. When he could see again, he took full stock of the capes in front of him.

Armsmaster broke a small grin. No matter how humorously inept he might have been, even he saw the appeal in forcing three of the most influential capes in the city to strip down. The humiliation was palpable, and while he was slightly jealous he couldn’t have captured them himself, he did get the satisfaction of arresting them publically.

“Kaiser, Alabaster, Crusader, you are under arrest.”

[------]

Taylor sat on her couch, staring at the TV, flipping through the various channels. It had been less than twenty-four hours since she’d handed over the three Empire capes to Armsmaster, and the Protectorate had yet to make a statement on the matter. She grimaced as she tried to think about the four other capes that had participated in the battle. She’d killed Hookwolf herself obviously, but she hadn’t realized she accidentally dropped a building on Othala.

She could’ve sworn she’d tried to keep the healer alive. She was useful during Endbringer fights, after all, so it was a shame. Still… she could have sworn she saw her running across the street, long after she had collapsed the buildings. She was too busy getting mauled by Hookwolf to care at the time though, so maybe it was just some random civilian.

Fenja and Menja… or was in Menja and Fenja? Taylor didn’t know, nor did she care enough to correct herself. Anyway, she knew she’d dropped a building on one of them -- possibly killing her, but she hadn’t found her among the dead when she went drinking. Nor the other one, for that matter.

“Pretty sure you didn’t find that Othala chick Either. I think healer tastes a bit different.” Alucard mentioned.

Taylor raised an eyebrow, “And you no this, how?”

“Eh, ate a few EMC nurses once. Total accident, by the way, mistook them for Neo-Nazis.”

Taylor rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to the TV. She flipped to one of the various News stations that were covering the destruction of the shopping district. It wasn’t all that interesting hearing her drone on, but the shots of her handiwork were interesting to see from a civilian’s point of view.

She was about to flip the channel when the announcer, er, announced, that the Protectorate was officially making a statement. The camera switched to a live feed from the PRT headquarters, with a stage, podium, and everything. Dozens of people were crowded out around the stage, apparently eager to hear what the Protectorate had to say about the situation.

“Ooh, a pretty good turnout it looks like. Now, will they botch it up or no? My money’s on them making themselves look like idiots.”

“Do you even have any money to bet with?” Taylor asked. All she got was the mental impression of a shrug.

Armsmaster walked onto the stage, standing at the podium upright and, if Taylor were to admit it, looking at the Camera with a fairly intimidating gaze.

“Late yesterday afternoon, the vigilante cape known as Carmilla engaged with the remaining parahuman members of the gang known as Empire Eighty-eight. Over the past month, said cape has been attacking and destroying E88 resources and safe-houses. However, she has also been killing dozens of unpowered individuals who were a part of the aforementioned gang. She is incredibly violent and unstable. She is responsible for the deaths of the capes Hookwolf, Stormtiger, Othala, Skidmark, and Squealer. Because of this, the PRT and Protectorate cannot endorse the new cape, regardless of her intentions.”

“Should she be captured or turn herself in, she will be charged with mass voluntary manslaughter and destruction of both public and private property. However, due to her actions, the Protectorate has also been able to apprehend the capes known as Mush, Krieg, Victor, Rune, Cricket, Crusader, Alabaster, and Kaiser. The Empire is no longer a player in the bay, and should any of its former unpowered members continue to harass or assault the populace of Brockton Bay, beware that you will be charged with the full extent of the law.”

“Thank you for your time.”

With his message concluded, Armsmaster walked off the stage, ignoring the flashing cameras and reporters shouting questions at him.

“Damn, Armsy’s got some balls calling you out like that. Think he wrote that speech himself?”

Taylor shrugged, “Probably, though I kinda dislike the fact that they’re still wanting to make criminal charges against me.”

She almost didn’t notice her dad walk into the room, “Well, you did kinda blow up a city block. I think that constitutes the destruction of property.” he said, leaning against the wall.

Taylor twisted her head around to look at her dad, “Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?”

Danny shrugged, “I am. It doesn’t mean I can’t point out your mistakes. In fact, as your father, I feel I probably should be pointing out your mistakes.” He said, “And helping you fix them, of course.”

Taylor shrugged, “Fair enough. Kinda wished they didn’t show the pictures of them in costume though, you should have seen their faces when I told them to strip down to their underwear!” she said, breaking down into a fit of giggles.

“Hey, don’t forget that was my idea! You insisted on not killing them, so I gave you a way to humiliate them instead.”

Taylor nodded, “Yeah, yeah, all the credit goes to you Alucard.”

Danny sighed, “I still don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that.” he muttered.

“What, me having a voice in my head?” Taylor asked innocently.

“Having a daughter who goes around eating people?”

“No, you talk to the voice in your head. It’s a bit disconcerting when you’re trying to have a conversation with someone and then they say something completely out of context, often not even aimed at the person they're talking with.” her dad explained.

“Ah, yeah, I can see that. Can’t really help it though, he gets really chatty.”

“And you can’t get enough of it~!”

Taylor rolled her eyes, “Yeah, it can get annoying sometimes.”

Danny nodded, “I guess that’s how it is. Don’t exactly have to like it.”

“Eh, people don’t choose their powers. Powers choose us. At least, I think that’s what happens. Alucard was kinda iffy on that.”

“Seriously, can these space whales not think of anything better to do with their time!? I mean come on, I get entropy is annoying, but it’s not all bad!”

Taylor winced, “And then he goes on rants that just make absolutely no sense.”