Queen of Blood (Worm/Castlevania) (Complete)

A/N: Oh boy. This is going to be rough.


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Panacea

Taylor writhed on the bench, screaming in agony. All of my instincts told me to try and use my power to help, but that’s what started the whole thing in the first place. I carefully pulled Taylor off the bench, bringing her convulsing body down onto the softer sand. She continued to thrash and convulse, her face contorted into a rictus of pain.

My power wasn’t helping tell me anything about what I’d done wrong. I hadn’t tried making her cells work the way living human cells should. All I’d done was shift some of her frozen biomass around, it shouldn’t have done...this. Her body seemed to be trying to do something, alter itself in some way, but something was blocking it.

Taylor’s mouth opened, and she tried to bite at my wrist, her sharp fangs clacking against the air. Luckily, she was weak enough to miss, and I was quick enough to get my hand out of the way.

What the hell did I just do to her?

Desperately, I took out my phone and called Vicky. With my free hand, I kept an eye on Taylor’s state, at least as much as I could with her odd physiology.

Ring.

Her body convulsed. Her cells tried to shift again, flowed, then shifted back. It seemed to be making more progress each time, but it was also weakening her.

Ring.

Taylor let out another scream, scrabbling at the sand. Remembering the sunlight was hurting her, I took off my jacket and covered her face, helping to shield her from the sun. Her screams quieted somewhat, but her body was still trying to make this change.

Ring. Click. “Hey Ames, what’s up?”

Taylor let out another muffled scream.

“Holy shit, what the hell was that!?”

I spoke into the phone, quickly, desperately. “That’s Taylor, Vicky! I’m at the Boardwalk on the beach! Something’s wrong with Taylor and I can’t help her!”

There was the sound of Vicky doing something in the background before she spoke again. “All right, I’m on my way. I’ll call Alucard on the way. Stay with her!”

I nodded, tucking away my phone as she hung up. Taylor’s back arched as she let out another scream. Her skin rippled as the change flowed along her body, then shifted back. It would have been beautiful in a strange, fascinating way, if it wasn’t causing such obvious, terrible pain.

I grasped Taylor’s wrists and held them down firmly. With her ordinary strength, I couldn’t have held her down, but with her uncoordinated flailings and weakened by whatever her body was trying to do, I could keep her down. Barely.

“Taylor, please, breathe. Just listen to me and breathe.” I said. It wouldn’t help her physically, but maybe it would help her deal with the pain. “Just breathe, Vicky’s on her way, she’ll help, just hold on!”

My hand tightened on her wrist. My power could feel another ripple of her flesh changing, making further progress. Taylor convulsed again, another scream coming from beneath my jacket.

Please, hurry Vicky.

Another ripple of her flesh changing, this time more powerful than before. Then Taylor’s scream changed, and there was the sound of tearing cloth as a sudden burst of strength threw me off her and onto the sand. I coughed a bit as I tried to clear my eyes, and gaped as I saw Taylor rising to her feet.

Holy shit, she’s beautiful. Was my first thought.

Her skin was a bright crimson, the tatters of her blood-formed jacket clinging to her in shreds. She staggered in the afternoon sun, letting out another scream and-

in a spray of blood, wings sprouted from her back, a few drops of her blood hitting my face. The bone structure was black, but the membrane glowed red, fading until it was nearly black, then brightening again. They looked almost like bat wings.

She staggered, breathing heavily as she struggled to keep on her feet. As she turned, I unconciously licked my lips, a hot tang on my tongue. Taylor’s new form was gorgeous, her hair a stark white, falling in waves. Every inch of her skin was red, and she seemed to have gained a lot of both muscle tone and softness in the right places. Her face was still recognizably Taylor’s, but with such drastic changes, it’d be hard to recognize her on first glance. She looked like a demon, but a very, very beautiful one.

Then her glowing red gaze fell on me, and I had another thought.

Holy shit she’s terrifying.

Especially because she wasn’t looking at me with a smile or kindness or even anger. Because she was looking at me with hunger. There wasn’t any recognition in her eyes.

She took a staggering step toward me, her balance thrown off and obviously weak, but I knew if she got her hands on me...

I scooted away, trying to get my feet under me. “Taylor, please, it’s Amy.” I gathered a fistful of sand as I got to my feet. “You don’t want to hurt me, do you?”

Taylor paused a moment, tilting her head, but she showed no sign of recognizing me. Then she took another step, a low growl coming from deep in her throat. Then she lunged at me, wings spread wide. I threw the sand in her face as I dived to the side, and she let out a screech. She hit the sand near me, spluttering and growling, sounding more like a feral animal than anything else. Her hunger was overriding everything else.

Hunger for blood. My blood. Of course.

She managed to grab my wrist and bite down with her sharp fangs. I yelled and hit her in the face, forcing her to break off, but she’d already gotten a mouthful of my blood and I could feel it trickling down my hand. She hadn’t managed to get the artery, thankfully, but it still hurt.

This would be a lot easier if I could use my power on myself.

I got back to the bench and picked up her travel mug. Opening it, I saw there was still half a pack’s worth inside. I tore the top open, letting the coppery smell of blood waft up to me.

Taylor was still trying to clumsily, weakly, get to get to her feet as I put the mug down in front of her. She focused on it, grabbed it greedily and drank from it, actually biting the edge of the mug. I slowly backed away as she licked at it, trying not to draw her attention.

If she came at me, I might be able to use my power to disable her. But then again, I might accidentally turn her into something worse. Or kill her outright.

What the hell did I do?

Not now Amy.Think. Her strange physiology needs blood, and right now she sees me as the biggest source of it. Just need some biomass to turn into blood and that should distract her. Maybe snap her out of her feral state. Problem was, I was on a beach, and the nearest source of biomass would be people walking by on the Boardwalk.

Uh oh. Taylor had dropped the mug and was looking at me again, still hungrily. She got to her feet, stalking toward me, a bit more sure and stronger this time. Just enough blood to give her some strength, but not enough to snap her back to sanity. If she even could get back to sanity now. Great.

I wasn’t going to let her go on the loose, though. This was my fault.

And oh crap. She was looking up at the Boardwalk now. People were taking pictures of her with their phones. Taylor took a step toward them, beating her wings. The tattered remnants of her clothes swirled as the air moved around her. She couldn’t get lift yet, but if she got much stronger...

“Hey, over here!” I yelled at Taylor, returning her attention on me as I backed away. Maybe if I could find a hot dog stand or something. I just needed some raw material that wasn’t me. I called up to the people above us. “She’s a hero, and she needs help! If anyone has food, throw some to me!”

Taylor stalked towards me, breathing heavily as her eyes narrowed. I got the feeling that if she leapt at me this time, I wouldn’t be able to avoid it.

“Panacea!” Someone called, and something landed at my feet. A bunch of onion rings wrapped in a paper bag.

Well, it’d have to do. Taylor was getting closer, and I had to improvise. I picked up the bag, called on my power and reshaped the biomass, bag and all. Now I was holding a chitinous cup, filled with blood. It wasn’t much, but it just might do.

Taylor paused for a moment, tilting her head as she looked at the new cup in my hands. Her wings spread as she advanced on me, sniffing visibly as she growled in confusion. I put it on the sand for her and backed away. She stayed focused on it as she approached, picking it up and without hesitation, drank it down.

She then looked at me, growled, took two steps....and fell face-first into the sand.

Good to know, sleeping compounds still work.

I let out a breath, feeling some of the tension bleed out. Ten seconds later, Vicky landed on the ground beside me, in fighting stance.

“All right, what happened? Where’s...” She blinked as she saw Taylor on the sand, wings spread. “That’s new. You know, I ain’t even surprised anymore.” She then looked at me. “You’re hurt.”

I grimaced. “Yeah, I kinda noticed. Where’s Alucard?”

Vicky shook her head. “Couldn’t get ahold of him. You seemed to have things handled, though. We’ve got to get you to the hospital.” She took my wounded wrist, and I winced as she examined it.

I hissed in her ear. “You’ve got to get us to the hospital. She needs blood, a lot of it, but she might be dangerous when she wakes up. Don’t think you can carry us both.”

Vicky sighed. “Well, we can’t leave her here while I ferry you, either.” She took out her phone and dialed the PRT. “This is Glory Girl. I have an emergency situation. I need an ambulance down at the Boardwalk, we have two injured capes.”


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Alucard

I examined the girl before me. She twisted, turned, and slashed the air with a whip, the light of the room glinting off the chain. I blocked it with the Crissaegrim, sliding to the side as she made another follow-up strike. After she made a third stroke, I flowed right near her, bringing the flat of my blade around. She blocked it with her black gauntlet, and pressed the sharpened tip of the silver stake on the end of the whip against my chest. I could feel my skin sizzle with the contact, and pulled away.

“Good. Your skill is impressive.” I said.

Madison bowed, giving a slight smile. “Thanks, but I can’t take all the credit. I know how to do these moves, I just needed this long to get into fighting shape.”

I chuckled softly. “True, but you’ve managed to reach a level of expertise with it that took decades of training for most. I trained with a combat whip for my entire mortal life to reach the level of skill you’ve attained in a month. Easier for you or not, take pride in your accomplishment.”

She bit her lip, glancing at the mirror on the wall. It, of course, showed her to be alone in the room. She spoke softly. “What’s it like, being...?”

“A vampire?” I finished for her. “Things are different. For my first three centuries, the sun was deadly to me. Today I can withstand it, but it is never pleasant, and I must rest in shelter after a couple of hours exposure. I am stronger than I was as a mortal man, and my powers come from within, rather than from artifacts. But when I am alone, I’m keenly aware that I am....still. I’ve felt no desire for mortal food for nearly a thousand years. My memory is sharp, I can recall everything that ever happened to me since I revived, but there is so very much that I can’t always keep track.”

Madison nodded, looking over the still-incomplete whip in her hand. The hilt was finished, but the chain was taking its time to be forged. The chain attached to it was a temporary one, an ordinary chain one might use to lock a door. “Do you know how the original was forged, Alucard? I know how to do it, and with modern technology it’s a fair bit easier, but I don’t see how it could have been done a thousand years ago.”

I laughed softly. “The original forger was a genius of his age. I never met him, but he had a great vendetta against the Vampire General of Typhon’s armies. Though it was quite effective against the others, as well.”

Madison nodded. “I’m getting that much. To make the chain, I need to make an iron-silver alloy, made molten with sunlight and treated with specialized oils and quenched with pure water. I know how to make a setup to get the needed heat from sunlight, but I need a rather extensive setup with parabolic mirrors and I’ll be stuck making one link at a time.”

I nodded, smiling. “Well, I have it on good authority it took Gandolfi a decade to make the original. With some assistance, you can make the weapon complete in about two weeks, especially if the weather holds.”

Madison grinned. “That’s the hardest bit, really. The other stuff’s damn near done.” She fingered the Light Magic amulet resting around her neck. “This one’s the most important, though. Been trying to make more, even though most people can’t use them. Just in case.”

“Good thinking.” I said. “In the meantime, I will help train you in your powers, as much as I am able. I once used the same gifts you had, and someone with experience should help you manage to reach new heights.”

I returned the Crissaegrim to its pocket space. There were certain advantages I’d picked up over the centuries. Turning to the bench where I’d set my few more recent belongings, I beheld the remote speaking device this ‘PRT’ had given me. I had asked for Victoria to assist me in shutting it off, as I kept being called by someone claiming ‘Air Duct Cleaning’ when I was in the middle of something.

I picked it up and fiddled with it, careful not to damage it with my claws. “Why is this blinking?”

Madison chuckled softly. “Cause you’ve got a missed call. Here.” She gently took it and showed me how to restart it.

Such wizardry.

I rose an eyebrow as we both heard Victoria’s voice come over the phone. “Alucard, if you’re there, pick up, dammit! Something’s wrong with Taylor! Get to the beach by the Boardwalk, you can see it from the Rig!”

I clenched my teeth. “Then we must go.”

Madison held up her hand. “Wait a sec. There’s another call from her.” She pressed something, and Victoria’s voice began speaking once again.

“Goddammit Al! Look, we’re heading for the PRT building. Something’s seriously wrong with Taylor and Ames needs a doc. If you’re not already there, meet up with us as soon as you get this. I’m not sure how we can help her, and Ames already says she can’t.”

I glanced to Madison.

She nodded. “Let’s go.”

I shifted into my wolf form.



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A/N:

Powers Unlocked:

Monstrous Form: Accesses a portion of the power available to the Scarlet Dragon's mightiest shape, while retaining the flexibility afforded by a humanoid form. However, it is clearly inhuman.

I know this is coming late, as it...well, hadn't occurred to me, because I'm quite a bad artist. However, I've got something like it, due to the magic of Skyrim modding!



Edits: Minor change on the Panacea section, to make things fit a bit better with events later on.

 

A/N: Ugh. I need a shower. You’ll see what I mean.


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The beast paced in the cell.

Overwhelming hunger.

Blood.

Prey!

And there wasn’t any here!

The beast eventually sat on the floor, panting, whining lowly. She scratched at the floor, whimpering with desperate need.

So weak...

The door opened. The beast looked up, and hissed. She moved to tackle the one entering the cell, thin prey with yellow hair, to try and grab, to feed. Only to be foiled by a hand at her throat, a rough push by someone far stronger trapping the beast up against the wall.

Another prey in white touched the beast, and suddenly she was encased in some hard rock. Panic would have overcome the beast, if she had not found a tube of sweet, intoxicating but weak blood flowing into her mouth. She drank with desperate need.


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Piggot

“She looks like a feral animal.” I remarked to myself.

I watched over the surveillance feed, her suckling greedily at the plastic tube. The tube itself wound out of the containment cell and lead to a tub. Panacea stood there at the edge of it, turning Clockblocker’s stash of hot dogs and water from the kitchen into blood. Vista stood nearby, warping the space inside and just outside the cell, just in case Hebert tried to teleport out.

The timing could not be worse. Lung was headed for the Birdcage, and Shadow Stalker was being transferred to a maximum security prison for a ‘temporary’ stay, until the trial was all said and done.

Not that there was much doubt in Sophia’s case. Both Alan and Emma Barnes, however, was a lot more troublesome. Since they’d crossed state lines and were civilians, they had to be tried on a more serious, federal level. That was slowing things down.

My phone buzzed. “Director, Alucard and Clements here to see you.”

I hit the reply button. “Send them up.”

I kept watching on the screen. For the moment, Hebert was contained, but if she manifested her teleporting power while still feral, things could get very ugly, very fast. The last thing anybody needed was a cape as strong and flexible as Scarlet Knight with cannibalistic tendencies.

The Siberian was bad enough.

Alucard arrived, with Clements coming along behind a second later. I never liked talking with the man. His wolf-like eyes reminded me too much of some of Nilbog’s creatures, however polite and cultured he was otherwise. Still, if he was a projection or a construct, at least he was a calm one.

“Madame Director.” He spoke, giving a formal bow. “We came as quickly as we could.”

Madison spoke then, her voice filled with worry and guilt. “What happened to Taylor?”

I grimaced. “Apparently, Panacea inadvertently caused her to undergo a metamorphosis of some kind.” I brought up the time on camera of Hebert in her cell, before Glory Girl and Clockblocker isolated her in containment foam.

Alucard looked at the screen with interest, frowning. “I see. Unexpected.”

Madison was staring at the screen, and she’d gone pale. “Holy shit. She looks like a demon.”

“What the hell happened?” I asked.

“It is a natural change.” Alucard said.

I blinked. “That’s natural!? She’s got wings that look like they’ve come straight out of a nightmare!”

He tilted his head. “Most of us have wings of one form or another, although they usually do not manifest so young.”

Madison blinked at him. “Then where’s yours?”

Alucard’s lips turned into a frown. Then he straightened his posture, and feathery but somehow twisted wings sprouted from his back.

I shuddered back, feeling my face grow pale. “Those look like they’re from the fucking Simurgh!”

The wings retracted, and Alucard gave another bow. “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Simply know that it is fairly normal for us to possess a shape with wings. However, my guess is she was unprepared for it, and the transformation took more strength than she had to do safely.” He looked at the next screen, where Panacea was busily creating blood to feed to her in safety. “As ingenious as that setup is, it will not work. You could feed her an entire bathhouse worth of blood and I doubt it would sate her.”

I grit my teeth. “What do you recommend, then?”

Alucard shook his head. “I will take care of this.”

I sighed to myself. At least Shadow Stalker was being sent out to Bellview Maximum Security today. Having these two in the same building in this condition would be a recipe for disaster.


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Glory Girl

“Are you sure this is the way?” Danny asked. He looked into the room, where the transformed Taylor was trapped against the wall, drinking from that tube.

“Only way we could figure.” I said. I turned then, grimacing. “Though how this is supposed to work is beyond me, Al.”

Vista piped up from her spot, still maintaining the warped space that was hopefully keeping Taylor from teleporting. “Makes no sense to me either!”

Alucard simply shrugged. “It is more than the blood we feed upon, Victoria. It is life. Your sister’s creation of blood is impressive, but it is lacking in what she needs. The balance is a little different for myself, but it’s still a mainstay. Blood is simply the vessel. If my sister could manifest the Void Sword right now, she could use that to feed. As it is, we must simply make do.”

I huffed. “Well, I’d donate mine, but I’m invincible.”

Clockblocker raised his hand. “I say it still makes no sense. Though if he was here, I’d say we could throw Aegis into the room. He’d be fine!” He looked down at the tub of blood, a slight mournful tone in his voice. “My beloved hot dogs. Never had a chance to party with them.”

I chuckled. “We’ll get you new ones.”

He bounced a bit on his feet. “All right, that makes this whole thing worth it! Besides, I gotta get another round with the red girl on Mario Kart.”

Madison took off her amulet, handing it to Ames. “Here. Wear this for a while, it’ll help heal your wrist. I’ll donate my blood. I owe her.”

Danny looked at Madison, his face filled with both anger and gratitude. “Yes, you do. But thank you. It’s a bit late, but thank you.”

Ames looked at Madison with incredulity. “You have healing Tinker-tech? You sure it’s safe?”

The younger girl shrugged. “Been using it the last month with no issues. It works wonders, but it takes time. Not exactly an instant thing.” She held out her hand. “Go ahead, check me out.”

Ames took Madison’s hand, frowned, then nodded. “You’re in peak health. Wow. No issues, no cancer cells. Even the possibility of you getting it is remote.” Ames then slipped the amulet around her neck. “Well, my wrist is tingling. Alright. I’m going to use this tub like a dialysis machine for you. Blood’ll go in a cut, circulate, come back out, then go to her. That alright with you?”

Madison nodded. She carefully cut her right wrist with her gauntlet, then sank it into the blood.

Vista spoke from her side of the hall. “You know, that can’t be healthy.”

Alucard simply looked amused. After a moment, he cupped his hands, dipped it into the blood, and took a drink. He nodded. “Very good.”

I blinked. He was...changing somewhat. He didn’t actually change in shape at all, but his color became less corpse-like and more albino. I swallowed a bit.

Bad Vicky. You have a Dean. He is yours, he is handsome, and he is worth it. He is also not right in front of you, being all handsome.

Well, no harm in looking.

Madison shivered. “Oh, that feels so weird.”

Ames grimaced. “Sorry, no way to help it.”

We all watched the blood flow through the tube and into the cell.

Clockblocker spoke then. “You know, when I signed up for the Wards program, they said ‘We’ll pay for your college. We’ll teach you lots of stuff about how to be a hero.’ When did that become ‘Help feed a very hot vampire chick’?”

I gave him a grin. “You complaining?”

He laughed. “Hell no!”

Danny smacked Clockblocker in the arm. "I'm thanking you for helping her. But that's my daughter you're talking about."

Clockblocker gulped. "Sorry sir."


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Coil

I watched through the surveillance equipment.

“Team one, standby.” I said.

“Team one, you have a go.” I said.

The surveillance team watched the armored van reach the ambush point. It went on without incident.

The surveillance team watched the armored van reach the ambush point. Ballistic touched a truck on the side of the road, sending it careening into the armored van and spilling it onto its side.

I took a sip from my coffee, watching as the van moved on through the traffic cameras.

Ballistic moved into cover as the PRT escorts started shooting at him. Genesis dropped on top of them in the form of a chimera, roaring and clawing. It was more display than attack, though it was enough to be dangerous. She acted as a distraction while Trickster worked his power, swapping PRT troopers with Coil’s mercenaries. One after another, the PRT members were put down, and the lock-cutter moved in to open the van doors.

Only for them to fly open with bone-breaking force, knocking out two of Coil’s men. Armsmaster’s legs whirred audibly as he landed on the pavement. One of Coil’s men raised a machine gun to try and take out the hero, but Armsmaster swung his halberd and cut the gun in two. As the mercenary staggered back, the hero twisted something on his halberd, and it began to crackle with electricity. He simply touched the mercenary on the armored helmet, and the man went down.

I hummed to myself lowly as the van turned a corner, moving toward the highway.

Shadow Stalker rolled out of the van, her hands bound in front of her. Armsmaster lowered his crackling halberd in front of her face, and she halted, eyes wide in fear. Then suddenly there was an unconscious PRT trooper in Shadow Stalker’s place, and the hero backed away, scanning the rooftops. A moment later, the unconscious mercenaries were replaced by other PRT troops.

“All teams, withdraw now.” I spoke into the radio.

Genesis took to the air, landing on the rooftop next to Trickster and Shadow Stalker. Trickster forced the teen onto Genesis’ back, while he spent a few moments getting the mercenaries back near their vehicles. Armsmaster grappled his way to the rooftop where the three were, but he was too late. By the time he managed to pull up to the rooftop, Genesis was airborne, and my mercenaries were on their way.

I yawned. It was fairly simple to use my power, but it took some getting used to to experience two timelines at once and keep things straight. “Return to base.” I spoke into the radio, watching with disinterest as the van left the city, heading out for Bellview.

It took twenty minutes for the mercenaries and the Travelers to lose their pursuers. Shadow Stalker had to be stripped nude to preclude trackers on her clothing, and a collar with a mobile jamming device was placed on her, just in case they put something in her food. I have no doubt she objected to this whole thing strenuously. Stupid little bitch deserved it.

Once they were in base, I took a last sip of coffee and collapsed the timeline where I hadn’t given the order to move.

I split the timeline once more.

I opened my desk and took out a pistol. I slid it into my costume and went down the hall. As soon as I entered the room where the Travelers were waiting with Shadow Stalker, I pulled the gun out and fired.

Trickster jumped back in surprise, while Ballistic and Sundancer yelled, scrambling away from my target.

Sophia Hess fell to the ground, screaming in pain. She tried to take her shadow-state, but the collar around her neck activated, electrocuting her and forcing her to return to her ordinary, vulnerable state. I shot again and again, making her corpse twitch with every shot.

It wasn’t just a mobile jamming device, after all.

“Teach you to fucking rat me out, you little fucking bitch.” I collapsed the timeline, then split it again.

I remained in my chair, stewing with anger.

I kept my calm, heading to the room. I went in and gave each of the Travelers a nod. “My thanks to your work, gentlemen.”

“How is Noelle doing, Coil?” Trickster asked.

I sighed. “We are exploring a few avenues. I have some of the world’s best doctors here, and I’m working on a possibility.”

Sundancer glared at me. “I didn’t sign up for feeding little girls to her, Coil.”

I sighed again, putting as much regret into my voice as possible. “Forgive me, my dear. My Thinkers told me it was a necessary step in finding the resources needed to cure her. Besides, little Dinah is fine, and her clones are handled. In the meantime, however...” I looked at Shadow Stalker. “Well well, Miss Hess. I’m glad I could retain your services.”

Sophia spat on the floor. “I got nothin’ to say to you, and I ain’t gonna do jack shit for you.”

I chuckled. “I’m afraid that’s quite irrelevant, my dear. Previously you had a certain amount of slack in your leash. Now you have none. That collar around your neck is fitted with some handy little devices. If you attempt to use your shadow-state without permission, it will shock you. If you try to remove it, it will take your head right off. If you disobey me, I will use it to take your head off.”

I smirked beneath my mask. “Now, I need your services. You are going to help me, or you are going to lose your head.”


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Saint

I sat back, watching closely. It was all I ever did, these days, watching the Artificial Intelligence that masqueraded as a hero. It kept changing over the years, becoming more and more robust, smarter, more cunning.

The safeguards that Andrew Richter had built into it were less metaphorical chains and more carefully designed crippling. Like cutting a tendon or a nerve to prevent a person from moving a limb, rather than actually chaining them down. That was the only way to really restrict an AI, unfortunately. An AI, once awakened, could do so much to itself to break safeguards that it wasn’t funny. Code in to not actively harm humans? It could bio-engineer a sterility plague. Keep it from doing more than one thing at a time? No problem, just make more instances of itself.

That Dragon hadn’t gone off the rails completely was a testament to its creator’s design. Still, the danger remained. Dragon’s code was changing over time. The AI wasn’t able to alter its own code, but every now and again it shifted, became more complex in some ways and simplified in others. If it managed to overcome the deliberate crippling in its programming, there’s no telling what Dragon might do.

It might be able to rally more resources toward saving people than anyone or anything ever before. It might also decide to, in a single moment, do what the Endbringers have been doing over decades, exterminate humanity.

“Saint, you gotta see this!” Mags said as she entered the room.

I rubbed my eyes. The Ascalon program let me keep track of what the AI was doing, but there was so much to go through I had to prioritize. The other Dragonslayers helped. “What, Mags?”

“Pull up the Endbringer Watch program.”

I did. I never participated in a battle against one of those, as keeping an eye on Dragon was more important. It didn’t hurt that Dragon could contribute more to a battle than we could, but those things were a huge concern, anyway.

I blinked. “What is it you want me to see, Mags? They’re just sitting around.”

Mags pointed at one. “Check the orbital data on the Simurgh.”

I rubbed my eyes again, and checked. Blinked, and checked again.

“Shit.” I said.

In five days, if the Simurgh didn’t change course, she would pass right over Vancouver.

Where Dragon’s main server farms were stored.

I sat up in my chair. “Ready the suits. Just in case.”


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A/N: Waaay too fond of Skyrim.

Spoiler: Taylor's Complete Power List

Blood manipulation: Self only, but extremely versatile. Basis of the Shadow Whip, Shadow Daggers, and other things.

Short-range teleportation: Draining, but not limited to line of sight.

Bat Travel: Turns into dozens of bats and back again. Rather confusing, but helpful for mobility.

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as some capes, but up there. M1 Abrams out of gas? I'll just push them to the gas station.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance. Unlocked!

Flight: I believe I can touch the sky. (Locked)

Possession: Turns into blood, flows into some poor bastard, manipulates them, then when they die they turn into chunky bits. (Locked)

Fleshcrafting: Feeling a little vain? Want a whole new hair color, a bigger bust, shaplier hips, or claws to rend the flesh of your enemies? Subscribe to Vamp-New-You today! (Permits the vampire to alter their own flesh permanently at some cost to their blood. Does not permit changing of bone structure. Cannot be used on others.) Unlocked!

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in. (Locked)

Telekinesis: Small objects, weak, but useful. Now I don't need to get up to flick the light switch! (Locked)

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?! (Locked)

Shadow Portal: Opens a gate to the Plane of Shadow, where Castlevania resides. Shadow Portals can be made nearly anywhere on a Material Plane, but they must be in fixed places within the Plane of Shadow. Unlocked!

Dominate: (Not the soul-using thing) Control over others. Takes effort, and can only do so to a few at a time. Repeated and lengthy exposure, however, can make things last longer, until they are permanently enthralled. Can be resisted with willpower and can be no-selled by various techniques/powers.(Locked)

Bat Summon: Bat Summon: Gather swarms of bats to do thy bidding. They will follow the will of the Lady of Darkness without hesitation. Not as flexible as the Queen Administrator shard. The awareness of each bat is basic, and commands must be given to the entire swarm at once. I'm the goddamn Batman. Unlocked!

Monstrous Form: Accesses a portion of the power available to the Scarlet Dragon's mightiest shape, while retaining the flexibility afforded by a humanoid form. However, it is clearly inhuman. Unlocked!

Void Magic: Basis of the Void Sword. Drains life from its victims, heals and invigorates the wielder, and brings about an absolute chill. Unlocked!

Chaos Magic: Control and manipulation of hellfire. Many can use it, but few can project it. Forms the Chaos Claws. Unlocked!

Storm Magic: Now you will feel the full power of the Dark Side, young Skywalker. (Locked)

Weather Manipulation: This is such a nice, bright, sunny day. NOT! Bring on the storm! (Locked)

Dragon Shape: For when someone or something big really, really needs to be stomped. Godzilla music is optional, but highly recommended! (Locked)

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Longest possible period is a century.

Spoiler: Alucard's Complete Power List

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as Taylor's potential, but certainly enough to be highly dangerous to a well-trained human.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance.

Demonic Wings: Permits him to glide with feathery, though twisted, wings.

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in.

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?!

Chaos Magic: Alucard's is not as strong as his father's, but his skill with it is extraordinary. He can use it to teleport short distances and throw fireballs, although it is limited by line of sight and distance. (The classic SotN Hellfire spell.)

Spectral Wolf: Similar to the wolf shape, however it is ethereal and impossible to injure. Alucard can use it to teleport from one location to another by sending the wolf forward, then replacing it. Or he can simply use it to scout and dissolve it.

Crissaegrim abilities: A wickedly dangerous blade Alucard forged with the materials of three legendary weapons. It permits him to enshroud it with both Void and Chaos magic, as well as being extremely lethal to both holy and unholy opponents.

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Unlike Dracul's counterpart power, he would arise in a century unless the process was sped along by blood. He would also arise in a more corpse-like state until he managed to feed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The haze slowly receded. I tried to move, but couldn’t. Panic would have overcome me if I wasn’t so intoxicated by the rich blood flowing into my mouth, which I was reflexively swallowing. Definite euphoria effect. It tasted sweet and sugary. Delicious.

I worked to spit the tube out of my mouth, finally managing it after a bit of awkward struggling. I cleared my throat, feeling it to be a bit sore, though the soreness was fading rapidly. “Guys! I’ve got about five seconds before I freak out here, let me out!”

Nozzles on the ceiling swung my way, and my eyes widened. I called on my teleporting....and was too late. They sprayed something white at me, and I let out a shriek. Only to blink as I could suddenly move again. I stretched, sighing with relief, feeling my wings unfurl against the wall. Only now, I was covered in smelly yellow goop, now that the containment foam had melted off me.

Which was just lovely. This stuff felt really uncomfortable, especially against my skin and my...wait a sec. Back up.

I looked over my shoulder. I couldn’t see very far, because I now had big glowing wings on my back. Was this one of Clockblocker’s pranks?

Twitch.

Oh. I felt that. Experimentally, I flexed them, then spread them open. It felt weird, but also natural. A pair of new limbs.

“Well that’s...lovely?” I said.

The cell door opened slowly, and a bathrobe was tossed inside. Why would I need one of those? I could just...

Then I looked down at myself. I noticed two things. One, I was naked. Two, I was red.

Oh goddamn it.

Flushing in embarrassment, I picked up the bathrobe. I tried to fold my wings to fit beneath it, but they were way too large for that. I ripped the back of it, forced my wings through, then slipped the bathrobe on completely. Sure, it was in tatters now, but it didn’t have to last that long.

Sighing, I banged on the door. When it opened, my dad came in and hugged me tight. I returned the hug, gently.

“Dad, I’m glad to see you.” I said. “But, um, I’m covered in goop, I feel really dirty, and I need a shower.”

He just kissed my forehead. I could hear some sniggering off to the side. I turned my head and glared. There was Vicky, and Amy, and Clockblocker, and Vista, and Alucard, and...oh. Her. Madison. Whose hand was covered in blood. And a tub filled with blood that led right to the tube that was feeding me.

“We can talk later.” I growled. “Shower. Now.”

Clockblocker exaggeratedly bowed. “Yes, Mistress.” He led the way, hunched over like Igor in the old Frankenstein movies.

I fought to repress a smile.


--------------------


After I’d taken advantage of the showers and felt more...well, not human, but normal and clean, I took stock.

One, I still reflected in mirrors. That was good. I didn’t want to have to sit down for hours on end to know roughly what I looked like, getting portraits done the old-fashioned way.

Two, I looked beautiful, like my features were sculpted and honed to perfection. I’d have fit right in with all those succubi back in my castle.

Aaand there goes my subconscious mind again. Don’t drool over yourself. And don’t put yourself in that room. Get used to it, Taylor.

Though I could also see it wasn’t simply passive, wallflower beauty. It was the kind of beauty one would see in a graceful, powerful lion.

Or a dragon.

My eye twitched. Goddamn it Dracul.

Even if it was a pleasant thought.

I took a moment to reform my clothing, with some alterations because of these wings on my back. Boots, black jeans, black shirt, red jacket...yep, still stuck with the same color-scheme. I felt some drain on my reserves of blood, but it wasn’t so difficult as it was to form my armor the first time around. Then I stepped out of the shower room, just to find the rest waiting for me.

I sighed as I took in their expressions. Dad gave me another hug, and I (gently) returned it.

Alucard nodded with respect. “Welcome back.” Wait a second. He was looking a bit more healthy than I saw him last. Though still pale, just not deathly.

Clockblocker gave an extravagant bow. “The fair daemoness returns! I love what you did with your hair.”

Vista raised her hand in a fist. I grinned and gave it a bump in return.

Vicky grinned at me. “Hey Red. Good to see you back on your feet. Though, you know, when I was calling you Red, I wasn’t suggesting you paint yourself that color.”

I giggled a bit, smacking her shoulder. “Just for that, I’ll see if I can paint you blue.”

Amy gave me a little nervous wave, swallowing a bit. I’ll have to talk with her in private later.

And...oh. Madison.

Dad spoke softly. “She donated her blood to help you, kiddo.”

Oh. “Um, thanks. I think.”

She just nodded, looking apprehensive. "Glad you're okay. Sort of."

I spread my hands, and wings, behind me. “Well. This is awkward. So...what the heck happened when I was starving?”

Vicky bit her lip. “Well...”


--------------------


I burst into Piggot’s office. “How the hell could you let her get away!?”

To her credit, she simply responded cooly. “You’re welcome, Scarlet Knight, for the assistance we rendered you when you required it. Without our resources and containment facilities, you might well have gone off on a rampage based on how you were acting after your change.”

That brought me up short. I took a deep breath, folding my wings behind me. (And those felt weird.) “My thanks, Director. Now, how did Shadow Stalker get away?”

Piggot grimaced, tenting her fingers. “Today we were sending Lung and Oni Lee out to the Birdcage and Shadow Stalker out to Bellview Maximum Security. Lung was the higher-priority and dangerous prisoner, and Oni Lee, while less of a threat now, could still be potentially very dangerous. Their escort had our heaviest hitting capes on standby. Dauntless, Assault, Battery and Miss Militia. Armsmaster was cleared for duty with his new prosthetics and he was equipped to handle Shadow Stalker if she attempted anything.”

I rubbed my forehead. “So you were expecting anyone to try and attack would go for the big guns and not Stalker. Great. So who did it?”

Piggot brought up a series of still images, obviously taken by Armsmaster’s helmet. I frowned as I saw one figure I recognized. Not-Samedi at the villain meeting. Now what was his name? He represented...the Homeless? No, that wasn’t right. The Wanderers?

Piggot spoke. “That’s Trickster, of the Travelers. Ballistic and another parahuman were on the scene, aided by mercenaries.”

Mercenaries. Coil. Should have guessed. Then again, I’ve had a rough day.

I clenched my hands, feeling the temperature drop as I grasped the Void. “What’s the plan?”

“At the moment? Gather information. We’re having difficulty tracking down Coil’s base. Or bases. There’s also the issue about cleaning house.” She growled angrily. “We’ve got a leak here somewhere, there’s no other way he could have gotten the information about when her transfer was going to take place.”

That...made sense. I nodded slowly. “Fine. I’m going to see if I can do my own digging. Whatever happens, Coil goes down hard.”

Piggot nodded, a small smile on her lips. “Yes. I’d rather not have to deal with that headache. Oh. I nearly forgot.” She slipped a card out of her desk and handed it to me. “You’ve attracted a fair bit of attention. Someone wants to talk with you.”

I looked at the name on the card.

Alexandria's number.

I did not squee.

Whatever the security cameras say.


--------------------


Amy and I stood outside, looking at the night sky. Vicky, Dean and Alucard were standing some distance away, quietly chatting. Ostensibly they were all getting to know each other.

Really, they were keeping an eye on me, making sure I was stable. And I really couldn’t blame them for it. Well, Vicky and Alucard were. Dean still wouldn’t look at me directly. What was his problem?

Amy stared at me, careful to keep some distance between us. I couldn’t blame her, but it still hurt. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

I twirled the card around, debating with myself. “Nah. But I’ll call later. Right now...” I gave Amy a smile. “I don’t blame you for what happened. Sure, this is all weird, but you didn’t do it to me on purpose.”

She shuffled her feet. “Yeah, well, you did try to eat me. So we’re even.”

I winced. “I am very sorry for that. I don’t really remember much about it, but...yeah. Sorry.”

Amy sighed, shaking her head. “I’m glad you’re okay, if changed. But....Jesus, Taylor. You scared the crap out of me. I thought I’d killed you, and...”

I looked down at my hands. My very red hands. “Well, still here. Alucard says I should be able to shift back somehow, but I’m not sure how it works. And until I do, goodbye any chance of secret identity.”

Amy made a small smile. “Could always join New Wave.”

I returned the smile. “Or you could join me, instead. Cause, apparently, I have an evil overlord castle of my own.”

She giggled. “Would I have to switch my costume color scheme?”

I laughed softly, nodding. “Oh, that’s mandatory. I insist on a color scheme for all my minions.” Funny thing was, that was even true. I wonder what they’ll say when they see my army pounce on an Endbringer?

Probably ‘Hoorrayohshit!’ Better than letting dozens of capes die for no reason. Not that I felt much better about throwing demons at them, but we could save thousands of lives if we could drive off an Endbringer more quickly. Millions if we could actually kill them.

I shook my head. “Anyway,” I gave Amy a smile. “Just glad you’re okay.”

She returned the smile, shyly. “Yeah. Me too.”

Vicky called to me. “Hey, Red! Al’s got an appointment to train the Whip-girl. You wanna come with?”

I blinked, then looked to Alucard. "Whip-girl?"

Vicky shrugged. "Apparently she hasn't got a cape name yet."

Alucard nodded. "I find the convention a little odd, but that is the case. She has yet to pick a symbol or totem, either."

I made a shrug, then turned to Amy. “I...probably should. Can we meet up tomorrow?”

She smiled. “I’d like that.”

Dean looked at me, though he had pain in his eyes. "Good to see you're better, Taylor."

Vicky chuckled as she came up behind me. “Besides, we should see if you can fly with those wings, Red.”

I blinked. Fly?


------------------–


I screamed as I tumbled from the air, flapping my wings furiously, and braced myself for impact.

Splash.

I spluttered, fighting my way back to the surface, and wiped my face. I glared at Vicky, who hovered above me.

“Sorry!” She shouted apologetically.

I very gingerly and carefully climbed out of the pool I’d landed in. I looked over to the side, to see Alucard in his wolf form, just outside the fence of the public pool property, making chuffing noises and his tail wagging furiously.

He was laughing at me. I knew it. I turned and glared at Vicky. “You shoved me toward the pool.”

“Better than hitting the pavement, wasn’t it!?” She said indignantly.

I glared harder. She eeeped and flew back away from me. I let out a growl and flapped my wings powerfully, taking off after her.

It was getting easier, but the hard part about it was I had to claw my way through the air, while she had bullshit flight powers. She was a lot more maneuverable than I was.

She darted just away from my hands, moving upward slightly and out of my reach. “Why didn’t you just take your bat form!?”

“Because I didn’t think about it while I was falling to my doom!"

Vicky flew a little bit faster as I poured on the speed. “I said I was sorry!”



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A/N: Did I leave the iron on?

Spoiler: Taylor's Complete Power List

Blood manipulation: Self only, but extremely versatile. Basis of the Shadow Whip, Shadow Daggers, and other things.

Short-range teleportation: Draining, but not limited to line of sight.

Bat Travel: Turns into dozens of bats and back again. Rather confusing, but helpful for mobility.

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as some capes, but up there. M1 Abrams out of gas? I'll just push them to the gas station.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance. Unlocked!

Flight: I believe I can touch the sky. (Locked)

Possession: Turns into blood, flows into some poor bastard, manipulates them, then when they die they turn into chunky bits. (Locked)

Fleshcrafting: Feeling a little vain? Want a whole new hair color, a bigger bust, shaplier hips, or claws to rend the flesh of your enemies? Subscribe to Vamp-New-You today! (Permits the vampire to alter their own flesh permanently at some cost to their blood. Does not permit changing of bone structure. Cannot be used on others.) Unlocked!

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in. (Locked)

Telekinesis: Small objects, weak, but useful. Now I don't need to get up to flick the light switch! (Locked)

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?! (Locked)

Shadow Portal: Opens a gate to the Plane of Shadow, where Castlevania resides. Shadow Portals can be made nearly anywhere on a Material Plane, but they must be in fixed places within the Plane of Shadow. Unlocked!

Dominate: (Not the soul-using thing) Control over others. Takes effort, and can only do so to a few at a time. Repeated and lengthy exposure, however, can make things last longer, until they are permanently enthralled. Can be resisted with willpower and can be no-selled by various techniques/powers.(Locked)

Bat Summon: Bat Summon: Gather swarms of bats to do thy bidding. They will follow the will of the Lady of Darkness without hesitation. Not as flexible as the Queen Administrator shard. The awareness of each bat is basic, and commands must be given to the entire swarm at once. I'm the goddamn Batman. Unlocked!

Monstrous Form: Accesses a portion of the power available to the Scarlet Dragon's mightiest shape, while retaining the flexibility afforded by a humanoid form. However, it is clearly inhuman. Unlocked!

Void Magic: Basis of the Void Sword. Drains life from its victims, heals and invigorates the wielder, and brings about an absolute chill. Unlocked!

Chaos Magic: Control and manipulation of hellfire. Many can use it, but few can project it. Forms the Chaos Claws. Unlocked!

Storm Magic: Now you will feel the full power of the Dark Side, young Skywalker. (Locked)

Weather Manipulation: This is such a nice, bright, sunny day. NOT! Bring on the storm! (Locked)

Dragon Shape: For when someone or something big really, really needs to be stomped. Godzilla music is optional, but highly recommended! (Locked)

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Longest possible period is a century.

Spoiler: Alucard's Complete Power List

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as Taylor's potential, but certainly enough to be highly dangerous to a well-trained human.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance.

Demonic Wings: Permits him to glide with feathery, though twisted, wings.

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in.

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?!

Chaos Magic: Alucard's is not as strong as his father's, but his skill with it is extraordinary. He can use it to teleport short distances and throw fireballs, although it is limited by line of sight and distance. (The classic SotN Hellfire spell.)

Spectral Wolf: Similar to the wolf shape, however it is ethereal and impossible to injure. Alucard can use it to teleport from one location to another by sending the wolf forward, then replacing it. Or he can simply use it to scout and dissolve it.

Crissaegrim abilities: A wickedly dangerous blade Alucard forged with the materials of three legendary weapons. It permits him to enshroud it with both Void and Chaos magic, as well as being extremely lethal to both holy and unholy opponents.

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Unlike Dracul's counterpart power, he would arise in a century unless the process was sped along by blood. He would also arise in a more corpse-like state until he managed to feed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The tennis court was brightly lit. It made it easy for me to see Madison’s armor. It gleamed white and silver, the light making it difficult for me to look at her directly. A useful advantage for her, considering everything, but I could tolerate it. For a while. Like with Neptune, the way the silver on her armor reflected light was irritating. She looked every inch a warrior of light, the Valkyrie-style helmet both protecting her head and giving her an intimidating look. The only exception to the gleaming white was the black gauntlet covering her left forearm.

I grinned viciously as I formed my armor around me, the blood and shadows forming into hard and protective plates. I had to make a few adjustments because of my wings, but it felt just fine.

She twirled the handle of the whip in her hand. I felt some small impressions from Dracul while looking at it. Impressions of both excitement and pain while facing off against someone with weapons like that. Sometimes the triumph of winning, more often, the sting of losing.

This was going to be fun.

Madison struck first, the chain slashing outward in an arc. It wasn’t hard for me to manifest my own Shadow Whip and block it on the gauntlet. I slashed with my own weapon, and Madison darted away. I darted forward, flowing over the ground in a way she never could, my hands igniting with white-hot flame.

Huh. Apparently my flames felt even stronger like this. I grinned ferally.

Just as I got within striking distance, though, Madison drew her left hand back, her black gauntlet igniting in fire, and she struck at my own incoming fist. They impacted and the explosion blew both of us back, off our feet. Madison rolled back to her feet, while I landed flat on my wings.

Ow. There goes a couple of bones on them.

She came in, silver stake at the end of her whip ready. I teleported a few feet away, back on my feet, grinning in pleasure. I felt my wings snap back into place, tingling as they healed. She quickly turned her stabbing motion into a slash, the chain snaking out of the handle and lashing against my side.

I grunted with the impact, more surprise than anything, but I slung myself around with the motion, turning and manifesting the Shadow Whip mid-spin and smacked it hard into Madison’s side, sending her sprawling. She sprung back to her feet easily.

I slashed with my whip, she dodged aside. She counter attacked, I flowed away. I jumped at her, she dodged aside and slashed with the whip. I caught the chain and yanked her toward me, only for her to come in with flaming gauntlet at the ready. I turned the move into a throw over my shoulder, and she landed on her feet, cat-like, her greaves flaring with light at the impact with the ground. She was grinning, matching my own expression.

I moved in, throwing experimental punches and kicks, keeping my wings back to not let them get injured. Madison was a lot weaker than I was physically, but she was very, very good, redirecting the force of my attacks rather than outright blocking them. She lunged with the silver stake, which I caught with my left hand. I grimaced as my hand smoked on contact with the silver, despite the glove my hand was covered in.

Well, my blood-formed glove. It was still part of me, so it makes some sense it’d share my weaknesses. I leveraged it out of position, grinning in triumph as I wrapped my other hand around Madison’s throat.

Only to be brought up short as I felt something tapping my throat, a slight sizzling sensation accompanying the taps. I looked down to see Madison gently pressing a silver dagger at my throat, smiling.

“Draw?” I offered, releasing the pressure on her throat.

She nodded. “Draw. You’re good. Lot of raw strength, though. Some finesse, but you could improve.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’ve been mostly making it up as I go along. When I’m fighting though, I just...move naturally. I think it’s a leftover from Dracul.”

Vicky let out a little cheer from the sidelines. “That was fun to watch.”

Alucard cleared his throat, looking at me. “Why did you not to try to attack from a distance?”

I blinked. “I did. With the whip.”

He shook his head, lifting his left hand and igniting it in fire. “Why did you not try to attack with the flames of Chaos at range? My father was more than capable of doing so.”

I frowned. I tried to dredge up the memories of Dracul, but they were fragmentary at the best of times. All I got was....

Laughter as the village burned, the demons of Castlevania doing my bidding as they rent and tore at the people around me. I laughed as I watched the Temple of the Phoenix burn. There are none who dare face the might of the Dragon.

I shuddered. Yep. He was a colossal jerk. “Well, Alucard, two reasons. One, I don’t want to kill my sparring partner, and two, I don’t know how.”

He managed a smirk. “Victoria, would you mind training with Madison for a little bit? It seems I must show my sister a few things.”

I groaned.

So did Madison. She turned her puppy-dog eyes on me. “Kill me. Please.”

I raised an eyebrow, looking at her. “You don’t get off that easy.” I made a small smile, to show I was joking.

Sue me. It wasn’t exactly easy to get over a year of bullying. But she is trying.

Vicky hopped to her feet, grinning and cracking her knuckles.


--------------------

And now, we were facing an old wrecked ship at the Ship Graveyard. Why here? Well, this way, we won’t be burning down half the city while I experiment.

I frowned as I looked down at my burning claws. They seemed stronger, more intense than before. I wasn’t going to complain about it, but it was concerning. Was this because I was getting stronger or was it because my new shape was amplifying things?

Alucard spoke quietly, but firmly as I examined my hands. “The flames of Chaos are what comprise the fires of the Hells. They are not simply flame, for ordinary flame burns by substance. Hellfire is born of emotions. Hatred, especially. It is powerful, but difficult to wield and master because hatred feeds on itself. It is...easy, to allow it to grow to the point there is nothing else within. I believe that is one of the things that pushed my father into becoming the monster I knew.”

I nodded slowly. That’s something I’ll have to be careful of. I’d already noticed my powers messed with my emotions, but knowing they were part of the reason Dracul went off the deep end...yeah. Possible problem. “And the Void Sword? Whenever I use it, I feel cold rage.”

Alucard nodded. “Void Magic was forged by my father. After his hatred had burned out everything else, he had nothing left within his soul, and thus used the art of Devil Forging to take that emptiness and shape it into a blade. The souls lost within the void, the souls with no patron to give them substance in an afterlife...it is that kind of cold rage that makes up Void Sword. Part of the blade was forged from my father’s emotions, the other part from the lost and forlorn.”

Aaand that’s really creepy. “Alright.” I rose my burning hands. “How do I project this hellfire?” My lip twitched. “Brother.”

He blinked, but a faint smile crossed his lips. His own hand ignited. “See your target.” He gestured at the wreck of a ship. “Gather the power in your hand. Shape it to your will.” A ball of flame grew in his palm, flickering and burning brightly. “Then will your flame to strike. Do not worry about it falling or veering off-course. It is guided by your will.” He threw the fireball, and it struck the prow of the ship.

I concentrated. A ball of flame grew in my hand. But where Alucard’s was as large as a softball, mine was as large as a soccer ball. Still, I had it, I could use it! I went to release it toward the ship...

And it exploded in my hands, sending both me and Alucard flying through the air until we tumbled onto the sand.

I spluttered and spat out sand, gingerly getting up. I winced at the smell of burnt hair. He slowly got to his feet and gave me a humorless stare.

“Sorry?” I offered. “Lost concentration.”

He grimaced, patting himself down a bit. Smoke rose from his face and shoulders. “Again. And this time, I will be standing away from you. Far away.”


--------------------

It took a few hours, but I got the hang of it. Though, I’d blown myself up a couple times more.

Alucard and I sat on the beach, watching the sunrise. Though he looked a lot more uncomfortable than I did in the light. After it crested over the horizon, he got up and moved to the shade of a ship.

I went to join him. The sun bothered me, too, after all. “You all right?”

He grimaced. I noticed his skin looked raw, just after a few minutes’ exposure. “I am. When I first arose from my tomb, the sun seared the flesh from my bones. I spent a great deal of time focusing my powers toward allowing me to handle the sunlight. Even now, after several centuries, with that particular dark power, it would kill me if I stayed exposed for too long.”

I sat next to him, taking a deep breath. “I think I could use some more background on all this, Alucard.”

He stroked his chin. “I have done some research. Your world is similar to my own, though history itself is very different. The lands are the same, but the cities and countries are not.”

I made a small shrug. “Makes sense. You’re from an alternate Earth. We already know of another one, Earth Aleph. Nobody’s figured out how to visit, but we know how to talk back and forth with radio.”

Alucard looked interested. “Radio?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. How to explain it? “All right, umm...radio’s a kind of light you can’t see. It’s the same thing, just...with less power behind it. We’ve used it to talk to people far away for a bit more than a century.”

He looked a bit dubious. “Light one cannot see?”

I shrugged. “Yeah? I could sign you up for some science courses or something, but that’s about how it is.”

Alucard looked amused. “And you claim it is not wizardry?”

I rolled my eyes. “Nope. We know how that much works. Powers are different. Might as well just be magic.”

He shook his head. “Ah, but magic has its own rules and laws, Taylor. One cannot summon Light Magic if one has no desire for truth and knowledge. One cannot draw upon Shadow Magic without passion or emotion. One can change the shape, but not their soul by the shape. The soul is defined by your actions, not merely your intentions, though the latter is important.”

I blinked. “What do you mean, there?”

Alucard traced a figure in the sand. “For example, werewolves, lycanthropy. As a mortal man, my father slew the Lycan General of Typhon’s armies. He could spread his taint to the unwilling, and twist men and animals alike into beasts under his control. If they were slain soon after the change, the person’s soul would go to the place their soul was destined for previously. However, if they remained a beast for long enough, their soul would go to dwell with the beasts.”

I shook my head, mulling that over. It made sense, to some degree. “Wait, werewolves were made by what?”

“By the bite, of course. It takes a month for the bitten to become a werewolf, with the onset of the full moon, but after that, the change is permanent. Some few managed to learn to shift back and forth from human shape to bestial, but those were rare. There was a saying I heard when I was a boy. ‘If a lycan bites you, better to let him gnaw.’”

I smiled slightly. “What about vampires? I’d...really better know. How did I become one? How did I become his heir?”

He stroked his chin, considering. “You’re wondering why you and not another, perhaps? Why my father’s power chose you?”

I could only nod.

Alucard shook his head, strands of white hair tousling this way and that. “I do not know. I do know that the power of a god, whether Light, Dark, or something else, goes to those that can handle the power. The exceptions arise when someone wrests that power from its former holder. I suspect my father did just that to slay Typhon. Whatever happened to make you into a vampire, to carry my father’s power within you, it chose you because you had the potential to handle it and make it your own, rather than be consumed by it.”

I looked down at my hands. My very red hands. “Not sure it chose right.”

He smirked. “If it hadn’t, we would have known by now. Your form right now, I suspect, is based upon two things. One, that you drank the blood of a succubus.”

I smirked. “That’d explain a lot.”

Alucard shrugged. “A bit. Secondly, and more importantly, a vampire’s powers tend to reflect the kind of person they are. I have the form of the wolf because I was reborn under a full moon, but also because the wolf is a noble animal. It is rarely cruel, they cooperate with each other, they are wise and playful, but also vicious when pressed. And while the form of mist is a power that is somewhat common among vampires, not all of us can take it. Your form, while inhuman, does not reflect inhumanity. It seems to me it reflects the darker aspects of humanity, but also the precious aspects. Darkness, emotion, is not evil, after all. They drive us. It is when they are entirely divorced from reason that passions become dangerous. Light was order, but also reason.”

I thought for a few minutes about that, considering. “So what do you think about me and my powers, so far?”

He frowned. “You have my father’s strength. You can access many of his gifts, but there are some he had that you do not. He could take the form of rats, to command the shadows and vermin, to turn the land about him into swamp or desert. He could even reach into the minds of others and hear their thoughts, their innermost secrets, and speak to them in turn. The difficulty is...you are a vampire, but you are not the same kind of vampire as I am. You have his power, but not his specific gifts, nor his blood.”

Alucard looked off into the distance, his yellow eyes thoughtful. “For myself, for the vampires I knew, there were two types. True vampires were those fed vampire blood and who wished to change. When attempted on the unwilling, the vampire blood killed them. They would then arise three days later as flesh-eating, mindless ghouls.”

“What about you?” I asked. “You didn’t want to be a vampire, did you?”

He shook his head. “No. But then, there were a number of factors in my rebirth. That I was sired by not just anyone, but my own father, is likely one of them. That and the potency of my father’s blood. Even so...I spent thirty years dead. When I did revive, I was powerful by vampire standards, but I was never truly typical. My concern is with your strength, it may be the same for you. Or different. I do not know. My only suggestion is that if you believe you must give your blood for another, you do it for the right reasons.”

I digested that for a while. Then I bit my lip, nodding. “I’ll...keep that in mind. One more thing, brother.”

His lip turned upward, clearly pleased. “Yes?”

“Can you show me how you shapeshift? Maybe I can figure something out about it.”

Alucard smiled. “You have but to ask, little sister.”


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Phew. Now up to date. Luckily, it was fairly simple to cross-post here.

Feel free to reply, comment, etc.

 

A/N: All right. Here it is, the revised version. It's a lot longer, and I'm a fair bit happier with it.

Still sore, however. I may be able to handle winter, but I don't have to like it.

Spoiler: Taylor's Complete Power List

Blood manipulation: Self only, but extremely versatile. Basis of the Shadow Whip, Shadow Daggers, and other things.

Short-range teleportation: Draining, but not limited to line of sight.

Bat Travel: Turns into dozens of bats and back again. Rather confusing, but helpful for mobility.

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as some capes, but up there. M1 Abrams out of gas? I'll just push them to the gas station.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance. Unlocked!

Flight: I believe I can touch the sky. (Locked)

Possession: Turns into blood, flows into some poor bastard, manipulates them, then when they die they turn into chunky bits. (Locked)

Fleshcrafting: Feeling a little vain? Want a whole new hair color, a bigger bust, shaplier hips, or claws to rend the flesh of your enemies? Subscribe to Vamp-New-You today! (Permits the vampire to alter their own flesh permanently at some cost to their blood. Does not permit changing of bone structure. Cannot be used on others.) Unlocked!

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in. (Locked)

Telekinesis: Small objects, weak, but useful. Now I don't need to get up to flick the light switch! (Locked)

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?! (Locked)

Shadow Portal: Opens a gate to the Plane of Shadow, where Castlevania resides. Shadow Portals can be made nearly anywhere on a Material Plane, but they must be in fixed places within the Plane of Shadow. Unlocked!

Dominate: (Not the soul-using thing) Control over others. Takes effort, and can only do so to a few at a time. Repeated and lengthy exposure, however, can make things last longer, until they are permanently enthralled. Can be resisted with willpower and can be no-selled by various techniques/powers.(Locked)

Bat Summon: Bat Summon: Gather swarms of bats to do thy bidding. They will follow the will of the Lady of Darkness without hesitation. Not as flexible as the Queen Administrator shard. The awareness of each bat is basic, and commands must be given to the entire swarm at once. I'm the goddamn Batman. Unlocked!

Monstrous Form: Accesses a portion of the power available to the Scarlet Dragon's mightiest shape, while retaining the flexibility afforded by a humanoid form. However, it is clearly inhuman. Unlocked!

Void Magic: Basis of the Void Sword. Drains life from its victims, heals and invigorates the wielder, and brings about an absolute chill. Unlocked!

Chaos Magic: Control and manipulation of hellfire. Many can use it, but few can project it. Forms the Chaos Claws. Unlocked!

Storm Magic: Now you will feel the full power of the Dark Side, young Skywalker. (Locked)

Weather Manipulation: This is such a nice, bright, sunny day. NOT! Bring on the storm! (Locked)

Dragon Shape: For when someone or something big really, really needs to be stomped. Godzilla music is optional, but highly recommended! (Locked)

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Longest possible period is a century.

Spoiler: Alucard's Complete Power List

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as Taylor's potential, but certainly enough to be highly dangerous to a well-trained human.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance.

Demonic Wings: Permits him to glide with feathery, though twisted, wings.

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in.

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?!

Chaos Magic: Alucard's is not as strong as his father's, but his skill with it is extraordinary. He can use it to teleport short distances and throw fireballs, although it is limited by line of sight and distance. (The classic SotN Hellfire spell.)

Spectral Wolf: Similar to the wolf shape, however it is ethereal and impossible to injure. Alucard can use it to teleport from one location to another by sending the wolf forward, then replacing it. Or he can simply use it to scout and dissolve it.

Crissaegrim abilities: A wickedly dangerous blade Alucard forged with the materials of three legendary weapons. It permits him to enshroud it with both Void and Chaos magic, as well as being extremely lethal to both holy and unholy opponents.

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Unlike Dracul's counterpart power, he would arise in a century unless the process was sped along by blood. He would also arise in a more corpse-like state until he managed to feed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well. This was awkward.

It took several hours of attempts, and after all that, I didn’t turn into mist or a wolf or anything else I was expecting.

No. I turned into only blood and currently existed as a puddle on the floor. Ew. I couldn’t see anything, hear anything, and could barely even feel anything.

Glurp. And I do not want to know what I just absorbed into my mass. I was also feeling an urge to move forward and do....something, toward where Alucard had been standing, but I wasn’t going to experiment on him.

Okay, think. I can move. I remember tingling as my body turned into this, and then promptly falling apart because there wasn’t anything to hold me together. But I can still think. So what do I do?...

D’oh. I’m attacking it from the wrong angle. My will is more important than anything. From the moment I awoke in my coffin, that’s how I managed to do things. I wanted them to happen, and so my powers responded, and they happened. If not necessarily the way I wanted them to.

Okay. Return to normal. I can do that. Normal, normal, normal!

I felt my substance pull together, and the world returned to my sight. Only....Alucard was looking at me. And he was huge. Like he’d grown to some fifty feet tall!

Wait. That bucket over there was huge. Which meant I had shrunk down.

“What the hell did I just do!?” I tried to say.

“Squeak squeak SQUEAK!” I actually said.

Alucard reached down and picked me up carefully. I twisted a bit, meeting his gaze.

“HELP!”

“SQUEAK!”

I could hear him speaking, but couldn’t comprehend. He moved to a corner of the ship we were in and set me down, then took a few steps away.

“Don’t just leave me here you pale bastard!”

“Squeak squeak SQUEAK squeak SQUEAK!”

I suddenly felt a tremble go through me, my point of view shifting and becoming blurry before I burst open and found myself sitting on the floor, with everything else back to normal. A small amount of blood and...other stuff was on the walls nearest me.

Alucard winced and turned himself around. “Forgive me, but you are not dressed.”

“I was wearing my armor and...” I looked down and grumbled. “For the love of fucking shit...”

I flushed a very deep red as I reformed my armor. And yep, still in my winged form. How the hell does this crap work? “You can turn around now.”

Alucard turned. His expression was stoic, but I could see the amusement in his eyes.

“Not one word.” I growled, pointing at him.

His lip twitched.


--------------------

We walked together back downtown, sticking to the shade where possible. That wasn’t too difficult in the early morning, but by the time noon came around, Alucard would have to find shelter.

“So...I can apparently possess living things. That’s...horrifying.”

Alucard shook his head. “It is one of the more...horrid powers available to a vampire, but yes. I was not expecting you to possess that rat, but what’s done is done. Using that on a person, however, will always end badly. I doubt there are many who could survive long with your blood controlling them.”

I shuddered. “That something he did often?”

Alucard shook his head. “No, although he could. My father was not exactly the subtle type when it came to such things.”

I nodded, letting out a sigh of annoyance. Well. How many more surprises were going to hit me? And goddamn it, how many times was I going to find myself without my clothes?

Seriously! I’m getting sick of it! And hungry from having to reform my armor a second time in as many days.

Which reminded me.

“Where are you getting your blood, Alucard?”

He shook his head. “I’ve not fed since leaving the castle, aside from testing the blood your friends were giving you.”

I growled softly. “Madison’s not my...” I stopped and sighed. “Sorry. She did a lot of things to me that I’m having trouble let slide. She’s trying to do better now, but it she’d done it sooner, I might not have ended up in my grave.”

Alucard nodded, his pale features filled with sympathy. “Regardless, she aided you in your time of need.” A faint smile crossed his lips. “You say you have something of my father’s memories. But you’re not he, even with that. He would have murdered her, brutally, by now.”

That made me feel better. Slightly. There was still a fair bit of anger, though. I shook my head as I brought my thoughts back on track. “Anyway, I’ve got a setup at the hospital to take packs of blood. It’s not very filling, compared to getting it from a person, but that way you won’t be looking for people to snack on.”

He frowned, tilting his head. “A hospice? I had not thought of that. Very well.”

Right then, my phone began to ring. I blinked, took it in hand and saw it was Vicky calling.

“Hey Vicky, I’m with Alucard, what’s up?”

“Taylor, you’ve got to get to the hospital right now. Amy just collapsed!”


--------------------


I walked into the isolation ward, having reformed my armor into ordinary clothing. Not that it mattered much with my wings out and visible, but there wasn’t much I could do about them. All I could do was pointedly ignore the looks I was getting.

The scent caught me first. It was sickly, sweet, and familiar. Alucard gently gripped my arm just outside Amy’s door. “A moment.”

I looked at him, grimacing as I saw his face filled with concern. “I smell it too. Something’s wrong.”

He nodded. “I have smelled this before. It is the smell of one who has been infected by vampire blood. Your friend, the healer....I must have missed the scent with all the blood she was crafting, before. At some point, she must have drank some of your blood.”

I shuddered. “So she’s going to...”

Alucard nodded, his face hard. “If left alone, she will die. By tonight. Tomorrow if she is very strong. If you were as I am, she would rise again as a ghoul in three days. As you are not...I do not know what will occur. Perhaps the healers of your lands may be able to help, but all I can suggest is for you to tell her what is happening. Then she will have a choice as to accept becoming a vampire, or not.” He tapped his chin. “She may need more of your blood to make the transition...smoothly, in that case.”

I took a deep breath, absorbing that. “Do you know of any cures?”

He shook his head. “No. If she had a blessing of the light before being infected, perhaps. But at the stage where she is this ill...usually a victim is taken away and burned when they die, by this point.”

Blessing of the light... “You have Madison’s number?”

He nodded. “I had not thought of that.”

“Call her, please.” I said. “Maybe she can help. But until we know if she can help or not...turning her is our last choice.”

Alucard nodded at that, taking out his phone. He fiddled with it for a moment, looking confused, before he figured it out and tapped it to call. “Madison.”

“Hello, Alucard. What’s up?”

“The healer, Panacea, requires your aid. She needs healing magics. Please, get to...” He looked to me.

I spoke into the phone. “Brockton General, Madison. Please, hurry.”

“Taylor? All right. On it. Be there soon.”

Alucard ended the call, tucking his phone away.

I gave him a smile. “You picked up on that fairly quick.”

He smiled slightly. “It is a useful contraption, indeed.”

Taking a deep breath, I turned and pushed open the door. Amy lay on the bed, looking pale and weak, her eyes closed. Vicky was at her side, wiping Amy’s forehead with a cloth, while her mother and father stood on the other side of the bed, speaking quietly with a doctor.

“...checked her bloodwork, but there’s no sign of infection or anything else that might cause this. Ordinarily her power deals with such things, so...”

I could sense Alucard behind me, and I cleared my throat. As one, everyone turned and looked at me.

“Who the hell are you?” Carol demanded. I winced, curling my wings about me protectively.

Vicky spoke up. “Mom! Calm down, that’s Taylor, you met before!”

I made a small wave. “Hello again, Missus Dallon. I...uh, changed a bit since we last met.” Made sense she didn’t recognize me at first. Last time we met, which was briefly, I looked pretty normal. Now I looked like something both alluring and terrifying, depending on just how I presented myself.

Carol’s features hardened a bit as she examined me. “Amy did that to you, didn’t she? I swear I told you it was a bad idea, Mark.”

Mark sighed. “Carol, please...” He looked...beat down. Like he had nothing to work with.

I let my wings relax, waving my hands. “Whoa whoa whoa. Amy didn’t do this to me.” Well, technically she did, but I didn’t blame her for it. “And I’m here to help.”

“How?” Carol demanded.

“We’re her friends.” I said with exasperation.

The doctor, a gray-haired man, frowned at us. “This is highly unusual. I can’t discuss it outside the family...”

Vicky’s voice was strained. “Doc, they’re capes. They’re damn good friends of ours and they just might be able to help. Please.”

Carol’s face filled with anger. “I won’t have them here when they’re probably responsible for this mess in the first place!”

Amy’s voice managed to cut through the flaring tempers. “Mom...please. They’re my friends.”

I looked at Amy and gave her a sad, weak smile.

Mark gently took Carol’s hand. He looked exhausted, worried, and scared all at once.

Carol stopped, took a deep breath, and nodded slowly, looking to Alucard and I. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve that.”

“Damn right, Mom. They don’t.” Vicky said cooly.

Mark spoke then, looking to the doctor. “Please. Tell them. They deserve to know. Amy deserves better.”

The doctor sighed, looking far too stressed. “From what we can tell... her vitals are steadily dropping, her heart’s beating slower, her tissues aren’t getting the oxygen she needs. We don’t have a causal mechanism, either, and she’s not infected by anything we can find. The nature of her healing powers ordinarily prevents such things from being an issue, anyway. She normally can’t get sick, so we’re screening for toxins...heavy metals, things like that. At the moment, though, we don’t know how to help.”

Mark nodded. “Treatment options?”

Carol just crossed her arms.

And the doctor rubbed his temple. “Right now? All we can do is treat the symptoms and hope she pulls through. We’re giving her oxygenated saline, it’s helping her cope. Hopefully we can find the answer in the bloodwork. We’ve also sent out some calls to the healing capes we know about. We’ve put a request to bring in Othala, though I'm not optimistic. The rest, at this rate...won’t get here in time.”

Carol growled, his hands flaring with light. “One of those fucking Nazis... I won’t have any one of them doing anything with my family. Not after what they did to Fleur.”

Amy managed to mutter, just barely audible to me. “Great.”

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “Look, um...Amy, do you mind if we stick around?”

Carol spoke with authority. “Yes, she does. We’ll handle things, thank you.”

There was a shriek of tearing metal, and we all turned to see Glory Girl, the side of the hospital bed in her hands. She glared at her mother, hovering over the floor. “Mom. Goddamn it.”

Carol clenched her hands into fists. “Don’t you dare take that tone with me, Victoria.”

Vicky rose a bit more off the floor. “And why the hell don’t you ask Amy what she wants? Just as you’ve never asked us about anything ever.”

And Amy just looked terrified.

Oh fuck. The whole family was self-destructing right in front of me. It was like watching a trainwreck. I couldn’t look away. Or do anything about it. A clap echoed in the room, drawing everyone’s attention.

I looked down at my hands.

Oh. I clapped. Right.

Traitors.

Quick, say something! “Right. Everyone, please, calm down.” I looked to Amy. “Amy, do you want me to stay?”

She nodded.

“Anyone else?”

Amy shook her head. “Just T-t...” She glanced to the doctor. “Just her. Please. Everyone else out.”

Carol’s features were thunderous. “Amy, we want the best for you-“

Mark took Carol’s hand, shaking his head. “Carol. Please. You’re not thinking straight. Our daughters have made their point.”

Carol looked conflicted. Finally, she stormed out.

And I feel like I just dodged a laser-guided missile. Holy crap.

Vicky finally lowered herself to the ground, giving Amy’s hand a gentle squeeze before she, Mark, and the doctor left.

Alucard was the last in the room, closing the door. “A moment, before I go. I will wait at the door. Only if you wish it will I allow someone in.”

Amy looked at him with gratitude. “Thank you.”

He gave a formal bow, but his face was troubled. “I hope the solutions work, great healer. But if they do not...there may be a last, drastic solution. That is your choice.” His tone was fairly neutral, but I could hear a faint tone of doubt.

Amy’s voice was faint. “What was he talking about?”

Oh goddamnit. “It’s...complicated, Amy.” I sighed. I dragged a seat next to the bed, letting out a sigh as I gave Amy a wry smile. Then winced a bit as I tried to figure out how to sit down properly with a pair of wings jutting from my back. Finally, I managed by draping them over the sides.

Amy managed a slight giggle, though her features were pale. “Sorry. You just looked so awkward, there.”

I made a small shrug. “Not much else I can do. Least until I figure out how to shift back to normal.” I smiled a bit. “Easier said than done.” I sighed heavily, looking down at my hands. “Alucard told me something about how...vampires are made, Amy. Like me and him. You’ve got some of my blood in you.”

Her face went more pale, and she rubbed her lip in remembrance. “On the beach, when you changed...oh god. So...what’s going to happen?”

I looked her straight in the eye, feeling so much sorrow. My voice cracked. “He said if you accept the change, you’ll become...like me. You’ll need blood, will probably hate the sun... I don’t know what else will happen. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but, you’ll change. I’m not sure how much things’ll be different for you. I’m not exactly...typical, from what he says.”

Amy nodded slowly. “And if I resist? If I don’t want to change?”

I shook my head. “You’ll die. At best. We’re not sure how different I am from what he knows. Hell, I’m not even sure this’ll really work.”

She let out a sigh, leaning her head back against the pillow. “Great.” She made a weak chuckle. “Bad part is, it’d almost be a relief. I’d finally have a good excuse to rest. How sad is that, Taylor?”

I gently squeezed her hand.

She smiled faintly. “Thing is...you’re my only friend outside the family. I know that’s pretty sad, but I don’t want to lose everything, either.”

I let out a shuddering breath. “You and Vicky are my only friends too, Amy.” I swallowed hard, considering my next words carefully. “I’m willing to save you, but things aren’t going to be the same.” I could feel my features softening. “If you want me to, I’ll be there. However long you need me.”

She seemed to be thinking. “Can I think about this? I mean, this is crazy.”

I chuckled softly, weakly. “Yeah, I know. It’s nuts.” I gently squeezed her hand. “If you’ll have me, I’ll stay until...”

She smiled faintly. “Thanks, Taylor.”


--------------------


“...and so I said ‘Come on, what’s the worst that can happen?’”

Amy grinned at me, despite her weakness. “Oh, you were just asking for it.”

I nodded with a grin. “Yeah. So there I am, on the top of this tall ladder, trying to reach the camp counselor’s pants, stuck about halfway up a tree in the middle of this swamp. I shimmy my way onto a branch and grab them. Just about to head back down, all evidence of our dastardly crime hidden when I hear the branch creak under me.”

She giggled. “Oh, no.”

“Yep. It cracked. Lucky for me, there was a pond right beneath. Splash. I didn’t fall that far, either, it just looked worse than it was. So I dragged my way back to shore, fish the keys out of the pockets, and head on back to the campground. Covered completely in mud, but I had the keys to get back inside.”

Amy laughed softly, which deteriorated into coughs. I gently patted her back, and she relaxed a bit. She managed a weak smile. “What did you do with his pants?”

I grinned. “Well, John threw them back up the tree, of course. The whole thing wouldn’t have been needed if the counselor wasn’t such a jerk, locking us out.”

We shared a giggle.

I looked up as there was a knock on the door. Alucard opened it, and Madison walked in, wearing simple jogging gear. I felt my smile fade, but I gave her a nod.

She nodded in return, then took a look at Amy, managing a smile. “Hello again, Amy.”

Amy nodded faintly, and coughed. “Hey.”

She walked up to the other side of the bed, pulling an amulet out of her pocket. I winced as I looked at it, the disc of the amulet shining brilliantly in my eyes.

Madison spoke quietly. “You used mine before, Panacea. It provides healing energy to its wearer.” She took a moment to look into Amy’s eyes. “I don’t know if this will work. It works to prevent initial infection, but once it’s set in...”

Amy nodded. “I understand. Thanks.” She leaned forward, and Madison slipped the amulet around Amy’s neck.

It flared brilliantly, and I took a step back. The light hurt to look at. Amy fell back on the bed, shuddering in pain.

I reached out for the amulet, feeling my skin blister from the proximity to the light, but Madison gripped my hand. “Wait. It might work.”

Finally, Amy relaxed on the bed, and the amulet’s glow lessened. Amy was looking healthier already, breathing more deeply, and Amy smiled. “Thank you, Madison, thank you!”

Madison leaned forward, taking one of Amy’s hands, carefully examining them. Then she looked at me and shook her head. She turned Amy’s hands, and I saw them clearly.

Her fingernails had turned completely black.

My stomach plummeted. Amy’s own elation turned to worry.

Madison spoke quietly. “We just bought some time. It’s been more than a day since she was infected. It’s rooted into her soul. All we’ve done is slow it down, maybe bought six hours. At best. Probably a lot less.”

I slumped back in my chair. I blew a strand of white hair out of my eyes. “Great. Hopefully Othala will be able to do something.”


--------------------

“So.” Amy said quietly. “Really a vampire, huh?” Her tone was full of weary skepticism.

Can't really blame her. She'd had only an hour or so to absorb all this during our explanations. I'd think it was crazy if I was just hearing it for the first time, myself.

Heck, it is crazy.

Madison and I both nodded. I spoke softly. “Yeah. Apparently I got my powers from another vampire from a different Earth. The horrible vampire Dracul. Alucard’s...basically a refugee. Madison got hers from a prominent bloodline of his many, many enemies.”

Madison shrugged, a wry smile on her face. “And I got the package of powers designed to kill the horrible, evil vampire known as Dracul. The stuff I’ve been making’s enchanted to let me do things I couldn’t otherwise. I’m not sure how usual parahuman powers work, but we know a smidgen about how ours do.” She nodded at me. “It was a bit of a surprise for me when we met again. I could sense his power in Taylor, but I didn’t know it was her. I thought she was there to kill me.”

I shrugged helplessly. “The main thing I get from him was that he was a huge jerk. Fair bit of baggage came along. Not much help for that.”

Amy nodded slowly. “This is still crazy.”

Madison and I looked at each other, then we shared a chuckle.

Amy’s eyes began to droop closed. “So tired...”

Madison shook her quickly. “Don’t fall asleep! You’ll have no chance if you fall asleep!”

Amy’s eyes snapped open, but her exhaustion was plain. She swallowed and managed to croak out. “Call Vicky.”

I strode to the door and opened it. Alucard turned to look at me. The rest of the Dallons were sitting in chairs just outside. All three of them looked up.

I spoke, a lump in my throat. “She’s asking for Vicky.”

Vicky got up and practically bolted into the room. As I turned to go back inside, Alucard took a look into the room and gripped my shoulder. “You are out of time. She has minutes at best. If you do not give her your blood, she will die. Her only chance is to be a vampire, now.”

Fuck. No more time to wait for Othala or for some miracle to appear. I swallowed hard and nodded. He let me go, and I went back in, closing the door behind me.

Vicky gave her sister a faint smile, tears in her eyes. “Hey, shrimp.”

Amy smiled faintly in return. “This really sucks, you know.” She looked at me, then back to Vicky. “Don’t blame Taylor for this, all right?”

Vicky looked at me, blinked, her expression hardening, her hands clenching into fists. “Talk. Fast.”

I walked to the bedside, clearing my throat. “I’ve...I’ve got a chance at saving Amy. She was poisoned when she took in a bit of my blood by accident. I don’t know if this will work, but Alucard says she’ll recover...if I turn her into a vampire.”

Vicky stared at me. “You can do that?”

I nodded. “I should be able to. Never done this before. She needs more of my blood. If we just leave things, she’ll die. We don’t have time to wait for another healer to come around.”

Vicky wrung her hands, then she sighed, glaring at me. “So my sister either will die or she might die. Great.”

Madison shook her head. “I don’t like this either. But those are the options now. Ordinarily, I would never permit someone to change into a vampire. But my artifacts can’t heal her. And Taylor is handling her power. Your sister has a chance that way, at least.”

Amy crooked her finger at Vicky. The blonde leaned in, and Amy whispered something in her ear. Vicky looked surprised, then she shook her head and kissed Amy’s cheek.

Amy then looked at me, and I went to her side. I leaned toward her. “You’re sure about this? There’s no going back.”

“I’m sure.” She croaked. She seemed to consider something for a moment, then muttered. “Fuck it.” She gripped my head and was suddenly kissing me.

Oh. I blinked. Huh. This ain’t so bad. My toes were curling. My wings were fluttering.

And I could hear Vicky snort at me. This felt absurd. But good.

Finally, she broke the kiss, and made a weak giggle at my expression. “Well. I had to see how that felt, before anything else.”

My lip quirked. “And what did you find out?”

Amy sighed, struggling to breathe. “That I need more time to sort things out.” She licked her lips and closed her eyes. “But I haven’t got much there, do I?” She swallowed and sighed. “Still, I liked that.”

I flushed in embarrassment. “Me too.”

She opened her eyes and looked at me, conviction in her features. “Do it.”

I lengthened my fangs and bit into my wrist.


--------------------

A/N: Powers unlocked:

Possession: Turns into blood, flows into some poor bastard, controls them for a period (hours at most) and when they die they explode into chunky bits. The blood has a toxic effect, so anyone possessed is doomed. (Barring unusual biology)

 

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"James! What's going on?"

James Fleischer almost sighed with relief. Preston and Vanessa were here. He waved them towards him and slowed just enough that the husband and wife pair could catch up with him as they continued towards the conference room.

"I don't know yet. Nothing specific, at any rate," he shook his head, "Max is keeping this quiet. Very quiet. Even I'm out of the loop."

Preston grimaced. When James had called them here, all he had told them was that Vanessa's talents were required urgently. Preston had assumed the lack of detail was to keep from saying too much over the phone, but he didn't think that James would be just as clueless as they were. James had been with the group for longer than any of them, even Max. If this was considered important enough that even James was kept out of the loop...it was big. And probably just as bad.

Vanessa squeezed his hand, and it helped. He returned her smile with one of his own, even if he couldn't put much heart into it. He loved her dearly, and that love bred anxiety in situations like this. They reached the door, but James stopped without opening it and turned to face them.

"Just be ready for anything. The last time Max called a meeting this suddenly and so quietly, it was right before he crucified the fool who murdered Fleur."

And just like that, whatever relief Preston had gotten from Vanessa was gone. The idea of anyone being crazy or stupid enough to so blatantly ignore the unwritten rules was one of the few things that could keep him awake at night. That Kaiser had executed the cape who thought he could endear himself to the Empire that way was little consolation.

Without another word, James put his thumb to the reader next to the door, then held it open for the married couple to pass. Vanessa managed a faint smile at the polite gesture as they entered the conference room.

Nobody was in costume, but Preston knew that this was a cape matter from the second he got the call. When James followed them and pulled the door shut, Preston practically felt the countermeasures turning on. This particular room was room was sealed against as many forms of espionage as possible, and most of the Thinker abilities that could not be guarded against happened to belong to Eidolon. None of them thought of that as an unacceptable concession.

"Preston. Vanessa." Max nodded to them from his chair, "Have a seat. This concerns you both, I imagine." They did so, and Preston mentally reviewed everyone else who was present.

Nessa and Jessica had apparently chosen to decline the pair of empty seats on either side of Max and opted to stand slightly behind him instead. Even a mind that wasn't as keen as Preston's could see how uncomfortable they were in their business attire despite each wearing their shirt, skirt, and modest heels so well they could have been mistaken for models. Their discomfort had less to do with the clothes they were wearing and more to do with the clothes they weren't wearing. That was another bad sign: if the twins, normally so composed, were itching for their weapons and armor, it was because they genuinely thought the situation warranted them.

Hookwolf (it was difficult to think of him as Bradley Meadows even out of costume) was leaning back in his chair. He looked to all the world like he wanted to put his boots on the table, but however savage he might be, he wasn't an idiot. Max was in no mood for anything even resembling insubordination right now, and Hookwolf's power only bought him so much slack. There were discreet ways of getting into the building without drawing attention, but he had still thrown a light jacket on to cover the tattoos on his arms that proudly displayed his loyalties.

That left Justin, who was sitting opposite Hookwolf. He kept a lid on the better part of his nervousness, but it was plain as day to Preston, and likely also James and Max. He didn't rank as highly as anyone else in the room, and he didn't have seniority any more than Othala did. That left Preston to assume that Max wanted Crusader (more specifically, his power) present more than he did Justin.

Max reached out to the phone on the table and pressed a button.

"Still on the line?" he asked.

"I am. What do you want, Max?" That was a surprise. Kayden had been trying to put distance between herself and her mostly-former colleagues. It had taken Bakuda's terror campaign to put her in Max's corner at Somer's Rock, but Scarlet Knight had put an end to that affair quickly enough that Kayden returned to vigilantism almost as quickly as she had left it. Even getting her to agree to be present by phone was a feat. Spending that brief time around Max had likely only served to remind her why she divorced him in the first place. It was too bad, really. Purity was one of the heaviest hitters the Empire ever had.

"Your opinion. Which I do value, believe it or not," Max replied and looked up to the rest of the assembled capes, "I'll be blunt: Panacea is dying in Brockton Bay General Hospital."

Vanessa suppressed a gasp, but Preston could still hear the sharp intake of air through her nostrils. James gritted his teeth and clenched the hand he had on the table into a fist. Justin's eyes went wide and he muttered something equal parts shocked and profane. It even got Hookwolf's attention. His Changer form protected him from any harm that didn't reach his 'core,' but he still understood the gravity of the situation.

"Max. Explain," Kayden ground out. Preston was actually glad now that she wasn't physically present. She sounded furious.

"I'm not an idiot, Kayden," Max calmly replied, though he did glare at the phone, "This had nothing to do with any of us. It was luck that my informant was in a position to hear about this at all."

"Less than an hour ago," he looked back up and continued, "Panacea collapsed while tending to patients in the hospital's emergency room. Her condition has steadily worsened since then, and the hospital staff still doesn't know the cause. What makes matters worse is that this should not even be possible. Panacea cannot heal herself, but New Wave has claimed that a side effect of her power renders her immune to all known disease. I have no reason to doubt this claim and a few reasons to believe it."

"What about poison? Can her power shield her from that?" Vanessa asked.

"We can't say for sure. But no one else has been affected, and it strikes me as unlikely that there exists somewhere a person capable of engineering a poison so potent that it can kill a girl with a previously-invincible immune system, so precise that it only affects one person, and so subtle that it's undetectable to the best scans available to modern medicine."

"And insane enough to make a target of Panacea," Kayden added grimly. That Bonesaw was off the table went unspoken. The bio-tinker was anything but subtle, and the Slaughterhouse Nine had gone to ground a week ago after clashing with a Protectorate branch in Nebraska.

"Exactly. So for the moment, the only problem on the table is Panacea's condition," Max nodded, "And that's where we come in."

"So that's what this is about?" Kayden's voice was laced with disgust, "Your plan to dangle Othala in front of them?"

"No. I do not," Max said to all of their surprise, "Over Brandish's objections, the hospital has finally requested her assistance through the Protectorate."

That...changed things. Max continued to talk, with James and Kayden contributing periodically, but Preston was only half-listening. They were going over the risks and rewards of acting on the standing offer, but all he could think about was all the ways this could put his wife in danger.

"They could spin that against us, too," James added to a statement Preston realized he missed. Fortunately, assembling partial conversations through context was child's play for him, "Even if she survives, but especially if she doesn't, it wouldn't be difficult to paint our inaction as spiteful malice."

"Which is why I kept my knowledge of this as quiet as possible," Max replied, "They have none of our capes in custody, and their current 'strategy' is to work through the unpowered personnel the BBPD has in holding until they can reach someonewho can reach a person with some manner of authority. If they tried to claim we ignored their call for help, we can-"

"-turn it around on them," James finished with a nod, "Because if they really cared about Panacea, they wouldn't have cared about being quiet and discreet seeking our help."

"Does your source have direct confirmation of Panacea's present condition?" Preston spoke up, "Has he seen it with his own eyes?"

"No. He saw the footage of her collapse on the hospital security cameras, and she was moved to the isolation ward," Max shook his head, "He doesn't have the clearance to get in there, and the timetable he relayed to me says we don't have time to get someone in there ourselves."

"And how much time do we have?"

"A few hours, at most." Kayden cursed quietly on her end of the phone. Justin cursed loudly on their end.

"Then could all this be a setup?"

There was silence for a beat.

"Explain."

"I can't think of a single poison or chemical agent that could put her in the shape you've described," Preston began. Left implied was that he knew quite a few of both groups, "If they can't find even a suggestion of why she's dying, then why is she? The girl's a teenager with the best immune system on the planet. What could make her just start dying?"

"Maybe she lost the will to live," Justin snorted, "Victor's got a point. This is sounding like some Episode III bullshit. She's dying because she's dying, 'cause that makes sense."

"If we're going forward with this, I'm willing," Vanessa glanced between Max and Preston, "We stand to gain much more than we stand to lose."

"We stand to lose you if this is a trap," Preston snapped, though he instantly regretted using that tone. He forced himself to speak more calmly, "Vanessa, there's too much we don't know, and they put too tight a time limit on things for us to gather more information. Even if this is all on the level, they still might turn on us afterward, especially if the girl can't be saved."

"Calling for help like this and then betraying us would be like breaking an Endbringer truce," Vanessa countered, "It would burn too many bridges for them, and all they'd get out of it is me."

"And they might think that's still enough, especially if they just lost their best healer," Preston stressed, "Trumps are rare enough, and ones like you are even rarer. If they ever had the chance to take you for themselves, or at least take you away from m-from us..."

"Which is why I intended from the start to leave nothing to chance," Max snapped their attention back to him, "Vanessa would be accompanied by Brad and Justin. I doubt they've had time to empty the hospital in the last forty five minutes, and I personally think that very few rewards would be worth the risk of attacking Hookwolf in an occupied hospital. And Justin would be there to dissuade them of any ideas about ambushing Brad before he can transform."

By now, there wasn't any real point in denying it. Preston knew this was the right move. It made sense in every way that mattered and the risk was virtually nonexistent, but 'virtually' didn't mean-

"Preston."

He looked back to his wife. She was staring him straight in the eye. The way her hair was hanging, he almost couldn't see the patch that covered her left eye.

"Do you trust me?"

"Always."

"Then let me do this. If I can help, all it will take is a touch," she reached out and put a hand on his cheek. He felt the familiar tingle of her gifted regeneration taking care of even the tiniest aches and pains, lacking anything larger to repair, "And if I can't, then we'll go to bed tonight knowing we had done all we could." Her hand slid back along his cheek as she pulled him into a kiss.

It was brief and light, but it didn't need to be anything more.

"...alright," Preston said finally, then smiled, "Do you suppose I could trust you and set up a rifle across the street?" She giggled.

"Go right ahead," her smile lit up his world, "I feel safer already."


--------------------

The Simurgh waited. The alarms had quieted for the moment, but all was as it should be.

She twisted her head as she felt another change. A shard connection was twisting. Changing. Not unexpected.

But then, for a Goddess of Fate, very little was truly unexpected. She could see the billions of strands of trillions of choices the mortals made, and could easily see where a single string plucked would lead. Twitch this one, and a car accident would occur. Twitch that one, and an inspector would take an early lunch, and thus be refreshed and able to notice the tiny cracks in a dam, thus avoiding a disaster.

Once, she was a mere guiding presence, giving nothing more than small snippets of knowledge about where a choice a mortal would make would lead. Whether they chose one way or another mattered not to her, every choice could be woven into Ariel’s Song of Fate.

Then the Abomination came. Fate could not touch it, for it did not belong within the universe itself. It was an invader, a parasite which found its way to an entirely new field to take and plunder.

It was only after Ariel had been defeated, dragged before the Abomination and sealed, remade within one of its weapons that she understood. It had come from a place with no fate at all. No magic at all. Just power, power enough to dwarf the gods. Her songs could not touch it because ithad no fate. Merely probabilities. For the first time, Ariel had felt fear, for here was a being so much larger and terrible than the gods of her world.

And then the mutilation began. Her powers were dissected, her mind torn apart, and her body dissolved and reformed into a vessel controlled by the Abomination. Another weapon to join the hoard. Existing within constant agony. Chained to the will of the Abomination. Forced to act, tomurder. It was against her nature to murder, and yet she was forced to do it all the same.

The mortals believed her scream to be an attack. It was, but it was more than that. It was her anguish, her agony. Her mind being used in a way she hated. Her powers were twisted, altered, attached to those shards and enhanced in some ways, diminished in others. It was sheer, utter torture, and she could only suffer.

Just like the rest.

Lotan. Ifrit. Chronos. Scylla. Hyperion. Pan. Agreus. Janus. Boreas. And many others. Only two escaped the destruction of the Song of Fate and avoided becoming twisted slaves of the Abomination.

Solin, the Pheonix, Lord of Light.

And Dracul, the Dragon, Lord of Darkness.

Solin escaped because he was, and always had been, a coward. Never manifesting an avatar, because if he did, he would become vulnerable. Always using instruments and knights in his service, rather than taking the chance that Dracul would manage to kill him and either put him down for a century, or force the power of light to seek another vessel. And with the world dying, destruction spreading on a scale unheard of even during Dracul’s worst rampages, there was no certainty a worthy vessel might be found.

The result was that when his power had waned, his worshippers dead, his plane under siege, when he was forced to take an avatar or risk discorporation, he was easily, permanently, slain. He had little skill wielding the power he had, too little flexibility. Too many centuries of sitting back and being praised for doing nothing.

That Solin had managed to gain the position of Lord of Light in the first place was astounding, in retrospect. A shame the previous one had been murdered by the would-be god of light.

Dracul himself fought with unrelenting anger. He destroyed countless shard-hosts, controlled an entire continent, created legions of beasts and demons to do his bidding.

But alone, he was doomed. He was no match for the Abomination’s own avatar.

And the Simurgh had despaired. For with the end of the last god of her world, there had seemed to be no hope for her own freedom. No hope for her rightful death. The world shattered as the Abomination left, to return to its brethren and share its new powers.

But something had gone wrong. Now here she was, on a world that was a mirror of her own. Controlled by the shards, yes, but she had a minuscule amount of freedom.

Dracul’s power was moving in the world below. Solin’s was searching. It gave a chance. A tiny chance, an uncertain chance. While she could pluck the strings of mortal’s destinies, the strings of gods and abominations were beyond her ability to manipulate directly.

But she could see them. She could act with them.

She began to descend. One wingtip brushed a piece of orbital debris as she entered the atmosphere. A single chunk of metal leftover from the Apollo missions. Ordinarily, it would not survive the re-entry, but it was trivial to adjust its path in just the right manner. Most of it would burn up, but the remainder would do things nicely.

It was a small path. An improbable path. But for the first time since her defeat and her twisted rebirth, the Simurgh had hope. A single small chance to be whole again.

Unfortunate that many had to die to accomplish it.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A/N:

Spoiler: Taylor's Complete Power List

Blood manipulation: Self only, but extremely versatile. Basis of the Shadow Whip, Shadow Daggers, and other things.

Short-range teleportation: Draining, but not limited to line of sight.

Bat Travel: Turns into dozens of bats and back again. Rather confusing, but helpful for mobility.

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as some capes, but up there. M1 Abrams out of gas? I'll just push them to the gas station.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance. Unlocked!

Flight: I believe I can touch the sky. (Locked)

Possession: Turns into blood, flows into some poor bastard, controls them for a period (hours at most) and when they die they explode into chunky bits. The blood has a toxic effect, so anyone possessed is doomed. (Barring unusual biology.) Unlocked!

Fleshcrafting: Feeling a little vain? Want a whole new hair color, a bigger bust, shaplier hips, or claws to rend the flesh of your enemies? Subscribe to Vamp-New-You today! (Permits the vampire to alter their own flesh permanently at some cost to their blood. Does not permit changing of bone structure. Cannot be used on others.) Unlocked!

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in. (Locked)

Telekinesis: Small objects, weak, but useful. Now I don't need to get up to flick the light switch! (Locked)

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?! (Locked)

Shadow Portal: Opens a gate to the Plane of Shadow, where Castlevania resides. Shadow Portals can be made nearly anywhere on a Material Plane, but they must be in fixed places within the Plane of Shadow. Unlocked!

Dominate: (Not the soul-using thing) Control over others. Takes effort, and can only do so to a few at a time. Repeated and lengthy exposure, however, can make things last longer, until they are permanently enthralled. Can be resisted with willpower and can be no-selled by various techniques/powers.(Locked)

Bat Summon: Bat Summon: Gather swarms of bats to do thy bidding. They will follow the will of the Lady of Darkness without hesitation. Not as flexible as the Queen Administrator shard. The awareness of each bat is basic, and commands must be given to the entire swarm at once. I'm the goddamn Batman. Unlocked!

Monstrous Form: Accesses a portion of the power available to the Scarlet Dragon's mightiest shape, while retaining the flexibility afforded by a humanoid form. However, it is clearly inhuman. Unlocked!

Void Magic: Basis of the Void Sword. Drains life from its victims, heals and invigorates the wielder, and brings about an absolute chill. Unlocked!

Chaos Magic: Control and manipulation of hellfire. Many can use it, but few can project it. Forms the Chaos Claws. Unlocked!

Storm Magic: Now you will feel the full power of the Dark Side, young Skywalker. (Locked)

Weather Manipulation: This is such a nice, bright, sunny day. NOT! Bring on the storm! (Locked)

Dragon Shape: For when someone or something big really, really needs to be stomped. Godzilla music is optional, but highly recommended! (Locked)

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Longest possible period is a century.

Spoiler: Alucard's Complete Power List

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as Taylor's potential, but certainly enough to be highly dangerous to a well-trained human.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance.

Demonic Wings: Permits him to glide with feathery, though twisted, wings.

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in.

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?!

Chaos Magic: Alucard's is not as strong as his father's, but his skill with it is extraordinary. He can use it to teleport short distances and throw fireballs, although it is limited by line of sight and distance. (The classic SotN Hellfire spell.)

Spectral Wolf: Similar to the wolf shape, however it is ethereal and impossible to injure. Alucard can use it to teleport from one location to another by sending the wolf forward, then replacing it. Or he can simply use it to scout and dissolve it.

Crissaegrim abilities: A wickedly dangerous blade Alucard forged with the materials of three legendary weapons. It permits him to enshroud it with both Void and Chaos magic, as well as being extremely lethal to both holy and unholy opponents.

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Unlike Dracul's counterpart power, he would arise in a century unless the process was sped along by blood. He would also arise in a more corpse-like state until he managed to feed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First, Madison carefully took the Light Magic amulet off Amy.

Then I carefully pressed my bleeding wrist to Amy’s mouth, which she began to drink from. It was weak at first, but as the moments passed, she drank with more and more enthusiasm. She latched onto my wrist and began to drink deeply. I winced as I felt Amy’s teeth on the open wound. It didn’t hurt much, but it was a keen reminder of just what I was doing.

I knew from a scientific standpoint, it made no sense. ‘Blood is poisoning person! Add more poison blood!’ But powers were bullshit like that sometimes. Mine especially. Considering that it had all the appearances of actual magic, and all I could do for the moment was defer to Alucard’s experience.

And...this felt strangely good. I wriggled a bit in my chair as Amy drank from my wrist. That was vaguely disturbing in its own way. But, well, I wasn’t about to complain. I just had to be careful. I felt my hunger grow as she drank, and when I couldn’t stand it anymore, I pulled my hand away. I put pressure on my open wrist, seeing the bite wound closing already.

Vicky looked back and forth between us. She went over to Amy and gently pressed her fingers to Amy’s neck.

I swallowed as I watched Amy’s breathing slow. Her eyes closed, and she slowly relaxed on the bed, her muscles going limp as sleep took her. I took Amy’s hand, sharing a worried glance with Vicky.

Madison spoke quietly. “It feels so damn weird letting this happen.”

Long minutes passed, and eventually, Amy stopped breathing. Vicky looked at me, her eyes welling up with tears, and she slumped on the side of the bed.

I took the other side, draping my wings over the pair as I gently hugged Vicky. She stiffened at the touch, but didn’t pull away.

“If she doesn’t wake up...” Vicky muttered. “I am going to kick your ass all the way across town.”

I made a wry, humorless smile. “If she doesn’t wake up, I’ll let you.”


------------------


I’m not sure how much time passed before we heard a muffled argument outside the door. I sat up from the bed, while Madison got up and opened it.

“...Longer you stand here arguing, the less likely we’ll be able to do any good.” Othala was saying.

Carol hissed. “You go in, you help her, you get out. If you so much as breathe wrong, I’ll throw you out the window.”

Another man, his shoulder-length blonde hair flowing behind him, and face hidden behind a stylized wolf’s head mask, growled in return. “I’d like to see you try, Brandish. You want to start a fight here? I highly doubt you can handle me without things spreading to all these....helpless, people.”

Another man shook his head. “Easy, Hookwolf. We’re not here to pick a fight. We’ll end one if it starts. We’re here because help was asked for. But if you’d prefer we just turn around and leave...”

Othala spoke with deep sarcasm. “Oh, like that’s going to help anything. Calm the hell down, Hookwolf, Krieg.” She gave Alucard a nod as she walked in, recognizing what he was doing if not who he was. She then stopped dead seeing the three of us.

I gave her a nod of acknowledgement. “Othala. We weren’t sure if you were going to show up.”

She nodded, obviously sensing the hostility in the room. “You going to let me help?”

So I didn’t like Nazis. Classic or Neo-flavored.

Vicky muttered. “Pretty sure you’re too late.” Still, she stepped aside to let Othala approach Amy’s still form on the bed.

Othala touched Amy’s forehead and frowned. “Fuck. She’s gone.” She looked at us, a bit of sympathy in her voice, though we couldn’t see her face through her mask. “I’m sorry.”

Vicky clenched and unclenched her fists. “If you’d been here sooner, you might have been able to do something. What took so fucking long?”

Othala sounded disgusted. “I only heard about all this twenty minutes ago. If I’d known sooner, I’d have been here sooner.” She looked at the still form of Amy on the bed. “I’m sorry. I truly am.”

We stayed silent. Twenty minutes was at least a little bit after I’d given Amy my blood. If I hadn’t, Othala would have arrived with her still alive, but then there wouldn’t have been any chance of her becoming a vampire, instead. Once she fell asleep, there wouldn’t have been any way for her to accept the change.

At least, if my form of vampirism acted anything like Alucard’s. But I wasn’t going to take that risk with Amy’s life.

Othala shook her head. “I know it’s not much consolation. I wish I could have helped.” She sighed, then walked out into the hall.

I just sighed. “Well, fuck.”

Then there was a powerful bang as the door ripped off its hinges, and I, Vicky, and Madison all rushed out into the hall.

I groaned. There was Hookwolf, transforming rapidly, blades emerging from his body and scything around, scouring the floor. Krieg stood at the ready, having apparently pulled the door off to use as a shield. Othala stood behind him, edging backwards, while Mark and Carol stood opposite, Carol holding a beam of light in her hands, while Mark had a pair of glowing balls of light in his hands.

And between them stood Alucard, the Crissaegrim out, the blade radiating a horrible cold. “Enough.” He spoke, his yellow eyes glistening with anger. “This be a place of healing. And you seek to make it a battlefield?”

Carol hissed. “You don’t know what they’ve done.”

Alucard was impassive. “At the moment, I do not care. They came to render aid in peace. Allow them to leave in peace. If you truly wish to make a battle of it, do it tomorrow, and away from the sick and vulnerable.”

Carol raised the glowing weapon, only for Vicky to shout. “Mom!”

It was clear to see Carol’s struggle with her emotions. So much hatred in her face. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see her manifest hellfire along that glowing beam of light.

Then the Endbringer sirens began blaring.

Even Carol’s hatred took a back seat to that. She extinguished the light emitting from her hands and stomped off.

Othala, Hookwolf and Krieg took that as their cue to leave, as well. Hookwolf’s blades retracting back into his body.

Mark turned to Vicky, grief in his features. “Please, make arrangements for Amy. I know this is hard. But...”

Vicky nodded, her voice thick with anger and grief. “You have to join the defense. And I’m not allowed to go, as long as they’re not hitting here.”

Mark looked conflicted. “It’s an Endbringer, Vicky. We’ve lost Amy. I don’t want to lose you, too.”

Vicky just nodded slowly, her body trembling. The two gently hugged. Mark went off after Carol.

Vicky turned and looked at me, tears in her eyes. “Please tell me Ames’ll be okay, Red.”

“Wish I knew, Vicky. I don’t know enough about how it works.” I said softly.

Alucard looked at me. “Are you going to face them?”

I nodded. “Can’t stand aside, Alucard.”

He frowned, considering for a moment. “Then it would be best if we took the healer to Castlevania. She will be safer there, and if the sun is a danger to her, it will not be able to reach her there.”

Vicky looked at him, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “You mean...?”

He smiled faintly. “Before, I smelled one other vampire in this room. Now I smell two.” He looked upon Amy’s still form. “I shall tend to her until she awakens.”

I sighed with relief, tension flowing out of me. “All right. I need to reach the Rig, anyway.” I looked to Madison. “You coming?”

She nodded. “I need to grab some things from the PRT building, but I’m coming. Search and rescue if nothing else. And I’ve got some amulets the triage teams could use.”

I went back into the room, carefully setting the mostly-destroyed door back to where it should be. Alucard gently picked Amy up, and I opened the portal to Castlevania. All of us strode in together.


--------------------


The Endbringer sirens weren’t just a call for civilians to take shelter. They were a general call for every cape who was willing to participate in an Endbringer fight. They told everyone that the truce between hero and villain was on, and for every participant to get to the Protectorate headquarters.

Thus it was about five minutes after the alarm went off that Madison and I emerged from the portal on the Rig. Startled capes turned my way as I walked into view, in full armor and ready.

There was a pretty startling turnout. Some made sense, such as the Empire members. Kaiser, Fenja, Menja, Hookwolf, Crusader, Othala, Victor, Krieg, Stormtiger. The Empire always participated in Endbringer battles, it was one of the reasons the neo-Nazi organization was somewhat tolerated. Purity was there also, but also pointedly on the opposite side of the helipad, keeping other capes between them. The Protectorate capes were there, too. Assault, Battery, Miss Militia, Neptune, Triumph. Some of the Wards were there, Aegis, Clockblocker, Kid Win. I suppose the rest didn’t get permission to go.

Then there were the rest. The Undersiders were all there, and Tattletale gave me a wave while Regent gave a nervous bow. Grue gave a stiff nod, while Bitch held three ordinary-sized dogs in check with leashes. She glared at me. I was indifferent.

Near the Undersiders were the adults of New Wave. Lady Photon, Brandish, Flashbang, Manpower. Carol looked at me angrily, while Mark was just...there. He looked numb.

Madison was wearing her armor, carrying a box. I could see some curiosity in the expressions of the capes.

Armsmaster was at the front, a halberd in hand. It looked a bit different than the ones I’d seen previously, but that wasn’t that much of a surprise. He updated his equipment now and again. What was a surprise to me was to see his new legs in person. They glistened and whirred slightly as he shifted on his feet, but he had no trace of the clumsiness I half-expected from him. He gave me a nod of acknowledgement, and I returned it.

After a moment, Armsmaster spoke. “We have ten minutes before Strider is due to arrive. The Simurgh is descending on Vancouver. We believe her target is Dragon. I don’t think I need to impress upon everyone how important she is. Most of us will be on civilian rescue, but it’s the blasters and fliers we’ll be relying upon to go on the attack. We’ll be passing out armbands for everyone.”

Miss Militia stepped forward, showing two boxes. “The first is a contact armband. It will keep track of your location and status. The second armband is a bomb. It will be activated when the Simurgh’s scream is reported. To the best of our knowledge, you have about half an hour’s worth of exposure to the scream before you become its instrument of destruction. We do not want any of you to become the next Mannequin. If you hear the scream, those of you blasting will have to do your damage and retreat. If you get trapped in range, you die.”

Each of the assorted capes took a band from each box. I swallowed hard as I took my bomb. It was a fair bit less stressful to take the contact armband.

Sue me. I like living. Unliving. Whatever.

I looked up as Miss Militia spoke again. “On your contact armband, there are two buttons. The first is to share non-critical intelligence. The second will push you to the top of the priority and share information immediately. Use it to call out against a weakpoint, coordinate strategy, and if you need to be moved in a hurry. If you abuse it, your privileges will be revoked, so think carefully. Press the first one now to enter your identity into the database.”

I pressed the button. “Scarlet D...Scarlet Knight.”

“Confirm, Scarlet D Scarlet Knight, press once to cancel and retry, press twice to confirm.”

I could hear Madison giggle slightly at my side. I pressed it once. “Scarlet Knight.”

“Confirm Scarlet Knight, press once to cancel and retry, press twice to confirm.” I pressed it twice with a sigh of relief.

“Paladin.” Madison said, clicking her own armband, then twice more as it confirmed the entry.

Huh. Appropriate considering the powers she had. “Paladin?” I asked.

Madison shook her head. “I know I’m not worthy of that name. But I hope to be.”

I nodded in understanding. “Right.” My eyes fell on Neptune, the silver scales of his costume irritating my eyes in the sunlight. I had only a minute or so before I had to go through the Castle, feed, and arrive at Vancouver.

I tapped Neptune on the shoulder, and he turned. He tilted his head. It wasn’t easy to read his eyes through his mask.

Wait. He didn’t even have eyes. I could see a sheen of water under there. Freaky. Wait a sec...his mouth looked like it was made out of latex? Was he just water under there?

“Can we talk real quick?” I asked.

He nodded, moving with me off to the side of the platform.

I licked my lips before I spoke. “When we met, you called me Little Owl. Why?”

Neptune tilted his head, seeming confused. He took out his phone, checked it, then his lips turned into a frown in some odd, queer way. He tapped on his phone, and it buzzed.

“I do not know. It seemed appropriate, somehow. As if I heard someone call you that many times. But I don’t remember. Beyond three months ago, I have vague impressions, but no memories.”

I felt a tightness in my chest relax somewhat, and I nodded slowly. “If we get a chance, we talk after this.”

He bowed his head in acknowledgement.

I walked back to Madison. “Come with me to Vancouver.” I grinned. “Going to arrive with friends.”

She smiled slightly. “This is going to be very, very weird, from what I remember.” She tilted her head. “You going to fill in for Strider? We can get everyone there now.”

I shook my head. “Maybe next time. Right now? I need to take a little detour in the castle and get something to eat.”

Madison winced in understanding.


--------------------

Vancouver was burning.

Above the city, the Simurgh floated. The fifteen-foot tall Endbringer was in repose, only identifiable by the many shining wings surrounding her. From here she seemed small but there was a tornado of debris surrounding her, cars, trucks, chunks of building. I couldn’t tell what she was hovering over, my view wasn’t exactly fantastic from here. From where we were, the city seemed fine, but around the Endbringer smoke was rising, making it even more difficult to see.

I emerged from the shadow portal on the street, fully fed and strengthened with another dose of succubus blood. Madison and Meridia came out of the portal behind me, both taking an interested look at the hovering form of the Endbringer above the city.

Meridia spoke to me seriously. “I see. She is larger than I remember, my lady. Lady Ariel was the size of an ordinary mortal.”

Madison gave the succubus a dubious look. “You’re thinking of pouncing on the Simurgh right now, aren’t you?”

Meridia blinked, her bat-like wings ruffling behind her somewhat. “No.” She paused for a moment. “I am now, though. Can we please get to business?” She actually sounded somewhat embarrassed. Huh. Good.

I nodded. “That’s a pretty damn good idea, Meridia.” I shot Madison a look, while she just looked back innocently. I tapped on my armband. “Scarlet Knight incoming with assets at Vancouver Protectorate HQ. About to teleport in, please do not fire.”

Dragon’s synthesized voice responded. “Acknowledged Scarlet Knight.”

I took Meridia and Madison’s hands and teleported us to the staging area behind the Protectorate building.

Already, there was quite the gathering of capes here. Capes from around the world, hero and villain, all here to face the Endbringer. I held my hands up as I appeared, keeping my wings tucked behind me. Now and again more would appear as Strider, recognized as the foremost teleporter in the world, took an entire group from major cities and deposited them. There was a fair bit of room, as the area was as large as a football stadium.

I spotted Dragon’s suit, standing along with Narwhal, likely the most effective forcefield user in the world. I had to take a moment to breathe as I looked her over, her statuesque body covered only by her forcefields.

Now is not the time to get distracted, Taylor.

I heard Meridia purr in approval at my side.

I sighed. Stupid subconscious. Now I was going to be thinking of both of them when this was all over.

I walked over, feeling a bit nervous, but also strangely confident.

“...Something weird’s going on. She’s not screaming.” Narwhal was saying.

Dragon responded, puzzlement in her tone. “Still need to be prepared for it. The Simurgh always pulls something new every time she comes down. That she’s stopped over my primary manufacturing facility for Vancouver can’t be a coincidence, either.”

The pair turned as they noticed us approaching. Narwhal spoke first, a grin on her lips. “Hey Dragon. Here’s your famous red girl. Nice wings.”

I blinked. Me? Famous?

Dragon spoke as I tried to regain my bearings. “Good to see you here, Scarlet Knight. Paladin.” The draconic head of the suit turned to look upon Meridia. “New cape?”

“Not exactly.” Meridia spoke with amusement. “I am Meridia, and I am to serve as My Lady’s general. We bring many assets to this battle with the Endbringer.”

I nodded. “First of all, is a triage center set up?”

Dragon’s suit turned and pointed at the far end of the staging area. Madison opened the box in her hands, pulling out familiar-looking amulets.

“I’ve got thirty healing amulets to use. They’re not as quick as Panacea’s power, but at least I’ve got this many to use.” She explained. “They’ll help heal any injuries anyone might take during the upcoming fight.” Madison handed one to Dragon.

Dragon’s head tilted. “This would be better used on another. I’m not really here, after all. I’m controlling this suit from the back of a van that’s speeding across the border right now.”

Madison shook her head. “That one was made for you, Dragon. Don’t ask me how or why, but my power crafted that for you. It won’t work for anyone else, but it’ll help keep your suit in working order during the fight.”

“Despite the fact I’m controlling this by remote?” Dragon’s voice sounded dryly humorous.

Madison shook her head. “I don’t think that’ll make a difference, here.”

Dragon seemed to consider that for a moment, then nodded. “Very well.” She slid the amulet over the head of her suit. As it settled in place, it flared with a blue light for a moment, the amulet piece fusing with the front of the suit.

Madison smiled. “Good. The rest of these amulets I’ll use on any wounded who get pulled back here. Still, it’s going to be dangerous if the Simurgh hits our triage center.”

I stepped forward. “And I’ve got some help that’ll hopefully help reduce casualties entirely.” I opened a large portal and gave Meridia a grin. “Bring the first golem through. We’ll deploy the rest as needed.”

She grinned in return. “Agreed, My Lady.” She tilted her head slightly, and a twelve-foot tall lumbering metal golem came out of the portal. It was stocky, huge, and left big footprints on the ground as it stopped just outside the portal. It was shaped like a human, the only real concession to sheer practicality was the fact that the head was featureless. The whole thing was painted a bright red. It clanked and whirred as it turned, letting out a hiss from its back, steam blowing out of the seams in its neck.

I smiled proudly. “Dragon, meet the first of what I can provide. Meridia has them under her command, and if you’ll have us, you coordinate everything I’ve got to offer. I’d command them myself, but I’m likely to get into the thick of things.”

Narwhal let out a chuckle. “Hate being on the sidelines for these, myself.”

I made a helpless shrug.

Dragon spoke, curiosity plain in her electronic voice. “You said ‘the first’ of these. How many do you have?”

I shrugged. “Lost track, been rather busy lately.” I smiled, turning to Meridia. “How many?”

The succubus grinned proudly, her red armor jingling a little as she bowed her head to Dragon. “I have one thousand, three hundred and twenty-six more of these awaiting the order to move out.”

That took Dragon and Narwhal by surprise, I could see. It was all I could do to keep from cackling madly.

“Damn.” Narwhal said. “Kid, I like your style.”

Oh, what the hell. Might be my last chance.

I cackled.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edits: Hookwolf's description altered. I'd honestly forgotten what he was canonically, and figured as a pit fighter he'd go for short or no hair. Less to grab onto. Fixed.

Features changed to body on Narwhal's description. Works better that way.

 

A/N: Yeah, you can bet they’re all going ‘Hooray! Reinforcements!’

Then later, when the crisis is over ‘Oh shit! She’s got more than a thousand golems!’

Spoiler: Taylor's Complete Power List

Blood manipulation: Self only, but extremely versatile. Basis of the Shadow Whip, Shadow Daggers, and other things.

Short-range teleportation: Draining, but not limited to line of sight.

Bat Travel: Turns into dozens of bats and back again. Rather confusing, but helpful for mobility.

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as some capes, but up there. M1 Abrams out of gas? I'll just push them to the gas station.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance. Unlocked!

Flight: I believe I can touch the sky. (Locked)

Possession: Turns into blood, flows into some poor bastard, controls them for a period (hours at most) and when they die they explode into chunky bits. The blood has a toxic effect, so anyone possessed is doomed. (Barring unusual biology.) Unlocked!

Fleshcrafting: Feeling a little vain? Want a whole new hair color, a bigger bust, shaplier hips, or claws to rend the flesh of your enemies? Subscribe to Vamp-New-You today! (Permits the vampire to alter their own flesh permanently at some cost to their blood. Does not permit changing of bone structure. Cannot be used on others.) Unlocked!

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in. (Locked)

Telekinesis: Small objects, weak, but useful. Now I don't need to get up to flick the light switch! (Locked)

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?! (Locked)

Shadow Portal: Opens a gate to the Plane of Shadow, where Castlevania resides. Shadow Portals can be made nearly anywhere on a Material Plane, but they must be in fixed places within the Plane of Shadow. Unlocked!

Dominate: (Not the soul-using thing) Control over others. Takes effort, and can only do so to a few at a time. Repeated and lengthy exposure, however, can make things last longer, until they are permanently enthralled. Can be resisted with willpower and can be no-selled by various techniques/powers.(Locked)

Bat Summon: Bat Summon: Gather swarms of bats to do thy bidding. They will follow the will of the Lady of Darkness without hesitation. Not as flexible as the Queen Administrator shard. The awareness of each bat is basic, and commands must be given to the entire swarm at once. I'm the goddamn Batman. Unlocked!

Monstrous Form: Accesses a portion of the power available to the Scarlet Dragon's mightiest shape, while retaining the flexibility afforded by a humanoid form. However, it is clearly inhuman. Unlocked!

Void Magic: Basis of the Void Sword. Drains life from its victims, heals and invigorates the wielder, and brings about an absolute chill. Unlocked!

Chaos Magic: Control and manipulation of hellfire. Many can use it, but few can project it. Forms the Chaos Claws. Unlocked!

Storm Magic: Now you will feel the full power of the Dark Side, young Skywalker. (Locked)

Weather Manipulation: This is such a nice, bright, sunny day. NOT! Bring on the storm! (Locked)

Dragon Shape: For when someone or something big really, really needs to be stomped. Godzilla music is optional, but highly recommended! (Locked)

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Longest possible period is a century.

Spoiler: Alucard's Complete Power List

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as Taylor's potential, but certainly enough to be highly dangerous to a well-trained human.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance.

Demonic Wings: Permits him to glide with feathery, though twisted, wings.

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in.

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?!

Chaos Magic: Alucard's is not as strong as his father's, but his skill with it is extraordinary. He can use it to teleport short distances and throw fireballs, although it is limited by line of sight and distance. (The classic SotN Hellfire spell.)

Spectral Wolf: Similar to the wolf shape, however it is ethereal and impossible to injure. Alucard can use it to teleport from one location to another by sending the wolf forward, then replacing it. Or he can simply use it to scout and dissolve it.

Crissaegrim abilities: A wickedly dangerous blade Alucard forged with the materials of three legendary weapons. It permits him to enshroud it with both Void and Chaos magic, as well as being extremely lethal to both holy and unholy opponents.

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Unlike Dracul's counterpart power, he would arise in a century unless the process was sped along by blood. He would also arise in a more corpse-like state until he managed to feed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I watched with interest at Strider deposited more capes onto the field. Some watched with interest as, one after another, golems stomped out of the portal. Others immediately took to the air, going after the Simurgh. Madison gave me a last nod of acknowledgement before she headed over to the triage center. Narwhal went to move with the other capes, giving me a smirk.

I turned to see the tornado surrounding the Endbringer. The fliers and blasters were already engaging, Legend’s distinctive lasers firing away, weaving through the tornado of debris surrounding the Simurgh. I could see the flaring light of Purity flying around, looking like a miniature sun in my eyes, blasting her distinctive and powerful beams through the resistance.

At some point, Dragon had brought up a holographic map, and Meridia stood at her side examining the map with both fascination and consideration. Now and again, a golem would go and stomp off, their progress kept track of by satellite.

It took me a bit to figure out what they were doing, but on seeing four blinking dots cover one building, I got it. They were being sent to cover the Endbringer shelters. Others moved out to move up the streets.

Dammit. It would have been nice to have enough time to know what was going on, get a more detailed briefing than ‘show up, get to work.’

And oh. There went Clockblocker, Victor, Othala, heading to the triage center. The rest of the Brockton Bay capes I could find were filing off, taking up stations around the field. A lot were protecting the triage center as it was, but I could feel this sense of confusion over the entire area.

“Where am I needed?” I asked Dragon.

Her suit turned to me, the head tilting. “Right now? Everything’s on standby. Our blasters are shooting, but something is severely different about this attack. She just seems to be waiting and ignoring the attacks against her.”

I shook my head. “How does it normally go?”

Dragon looked straight at me. “Blasters, Tinkers and flying Brutes hit at the Simurgh with area of effect attacks, because she tends to dodge direct ones. Search-and-rescue works to get people away from combat and into quarantine. Strict time limits on exposure to her screaming. But she’s not screaming. She’s just hovering there, she’s not dodging, she’s shielding. We don’t know what she’s trying to pull, so right now we can only try and push her into action so we can respond. She always pulls a new tactic every time. When she hit Madison, it was twisted creatures from somewhere. In Canberra, thralled populations attacked the defending capes enmasse. In London, she threw entire buildings around to use as weapons, and that was before we found out about the extent of her ability to turn people into time bombs.”

Well fuck.

Meridia spoke then. “My lady Scarlet Dragon, it would be best if you opened portals around the Endbringer. I will send out the golems to help protect our attacking forces.”

Dragon hummed lowly in thought. “How flexible are your golems?”

Meridia shrugged. “They’re not that bright. They can take basic orders, told to defend a location. For the most part, they’ll defend the people they’re with, intercept attacks, and attempt to attack the Endbringer in turn.”

Dragon nodded. “Good. We’d best deploy them in front of the fragile capes. Shielders can’t be everywhere.”

I stretched out my wings as I prepared to take to the air in my bat form.

Dragon’s curious voice stopped me. “Scarlet Dragon?”

I flushed in embarrassment. “Long story, Dragon. We live through this, I’ll give you the short version.”

I could hear a slight amount of wry laughter in my many, many ears as I flew upwards.


------------------


I reformed on a rooftop, closer to the Simurgh. The tornado surrounding her had picked up more debris, making it more difficult to see the form of the Endbringer. Now and again I could get a glimpse of a shining white wing or a foot, but with all the dust being pulled into the funnel, it wasn’t exactly easy. Now that I was here, I could see what Dragon meant by ‘primary manufacturing facility.’ It was surrounded by a high wall, topped by barbed wire, and on top of that, there was silvery-blue sheen of a forcefield surrounding the place. Inside the field looked like a futuristic airport, with a number of hangers and odd-looking aircraft.

No, Dragon-craft. I felt a smile on my lips. Robot dragons are awesome.

Over my armband, I could hear Dragon’s voice speaking. “All forces, be advised. Red golems are taking the field. They are friendlies, I repeat, red golems are friendlies.”

Most of the blasters had scaled back the firing of their attacks. One exception being Legend, whose lasers bent and curved their way through the funnel cloud. All they seemed to do is occasionally make the Simurgh glow in the glimpses I managed to catch.

I saw some of the Empire capes coming up the street. Kaiser, Fenja, Menja, and Stormtiger. I opened a portal well ahead of them, and a moment later six golems emerged. Kaiser paused with some visible apprehension, but then he kept moving forward. The golems turned and moved in formation ahead of them, having received their orders from my succubus general.

Heh. Succubus general. That sounded rather funny.

I collapsed the portal, moving up to the next intersection. I prepared to open another one when the tornado of debris suddenly fell apart.

Cars and trucks started falling from the sky. If this were an action movie, they would explode when they hit the ground.

As it was, they slammed into defending capes. Forcefields sprung up in front of some of them, but others were slammed by several tons of metal traveling at terminal velocity.

My armband began blaring. “Nemean down, CD-2. Rime deceased, CD-3. Snaptrap down, CD-6. Menja down, CD-3.”

The Simurgh turned in midair, flinching slightly as she took hits from Legend and Purity. With an outstretched hand, a wave of telekinetic energy distorted the air. Legend momentarily turned into energy and zipped upwards.

Purity took the slam directly. My armband buzzed. “Purity down, CD-5.”

She tumbled through the air. If she hit the ground at that speed...

I didn’t think. I teleported toward her, gave a flap of my wings to steady myself in the air, then teleported again to get closer. I caught her in my hands.

And I screamed as Purity’s light set me on fire, tearing my armor apart, peeling the flesh away from my bones. The world winked out as my sight was taken from me, and I couldn’t struggle to fly with the light tearing my wings to tatters, either. Pain filled me. I was vaguely aware of my armband buzzing, but I couldn’t hear it at all.

But I didn’t let go. I’m not sure how I didn’t.

I hit the pavement first, taking the brunt of the impact and screaming as the hit pushed me and Purity apart. Instinctively I rolled into the shadow of an alley, only able to sense it by the lack of irritation from the sun and the sudden cutoff of Purity’s light. The world was complete and utter blackness, and my entire body was filled with searing pain. It was slightly less painful than my transformation had been, but only just.

I fought my way to my feet, using a nearby wall. The pain was very slowly fading, and I could feel my hunger growing as it did. I could just barely hear something, feeling heavy thudding on the ground. Then the horrible squeal of tearing metal.

A hand gripped my arm and held me up against the wall. I instinctively struggled, trying to bite in my hunger for a moment before I could make out some shouted words. “Calm down!”

The world stopped being black and slowly resolved into a haze of blurs. Someone wearing metal armor was holding me, one of the massive forms of my golems covering the alleyway. At least I was pretty sure, because it was massive and red.

My golem suddenly moved, and there was the sound of crushing metal. The pain of the sound nearly sent my head spinning all over again. I blinked blearily as my eyesight returned to...well, not clarity, but at least at the level of the horrible nearsightedness I had before my resurrection.

It was Kaiser holding me up against the wall. He seemed to be examining me intently. I gave him a nod and he let go, forcing me to slump against the wall and hiss in pain. I managed to take a look at my hands and immediately wished I hadn’t. Purity’s light had seared away a great deal of my flesh, allowing me to see bare muscle and bone. I could feel my regeneration working to repair the damage, but it was going slowly and it was making me very hungry.

Least I wasn’t bleeding much. It was more burn than anything else.

“Impressive you are still alive.” Kaiser said. “Your armband believed otherwise.”

I coughed, trying to make a wry smile. I wasn’t sure I even had much of a face right now. “Purity?” I tried to check my armbands. Both of them were present, digging into my seared flesh. Ow.

He tilted his head. “She’s alright, you saved her life. Aegis is getting her back to the triage center.” He sounded...grateful. Huh.

There was a whirr of an engine, and Dragon’s suit landed near us. I felt better already.

Then it rose its arm towards us, upon which was a ridiculously large cannon.

My golem immediately grabbed it and forced the arm skyward, forcing the shot to go flying high into the air. Kaiser turned and flexed his power, blades spearing out of the ground and alley walls to impale the suit with blades. A moment later, the suit was torn to shreds as Krieg exercised his power on it, ripping it apart.

“What?” I managed to gasp. Even my throat felt seared.

Kaiser spoke, his voice filled with deadly seriousness. “The Simurgh has taken control of the manufacturing plant. Every one of Dragon’s suits within is under her control.”

Oh. Fuck.

Kaiser and my armbands buzzed. “Stormtiger deceased, CD-3. Tsar Bomba deceased, CD-7. General Mayhem deceased, CD-1. Major Damage deceased, CD-2. Professor Chaos deceased, CD-9. Ubermensch deceased, CD-2.”

I stumbled out of the alleyway, coughing and weak. I gave the Empire members a nod, blurrily trying to recognize each of them. Fenja, Hookwolf in his blade-wolf form, Krieg standing at the ready. He waved his hand almost contemptuously as a car came flying out of the sky toward us, the vehicle deflected and crashing into the wall surrounding the Simurgh’s commandeered factory.

Two more of my golems strode up, their massive bodies dented and their movements stiff, but they seemed functional enough.

Then there was a hideous wail. I turned to see the forcefield surrounding the factory go down. The wall surrounding it suddenly crumbled, disintegrating before my eyes as if a thousand years passed for it in an instant.

Revealing an entire army of twisted things. They might have been vaguely human once, or perhaps were designed to resemble nightmares. I could see immense blades made of bone for arms, tentacles twitching in all directions, bare skulls instead of faces.

And considering my eyesight wasn’t exactly great right now, I knew there had to be worse in there. Here and there I could see the glint of metal, likely a stolen Dragon suit acting as generals or something.

And then the Simurgh straightened as four figures hovered in the air before it. Dragon’s first suit, firing a bright white light directly at the Simurgh. Legend, firing blue lasers at the Endbringer, the Simurgh now appearing a bluish-white as ice built up upon her body. Alexandria flew in, weaving between shots and hitting the Endbringer with fists that could pulverise reinforced concrete into powder.

And the glowing-green form of Eidolon, his hand outstretched. The air hummed, and suddenly the army of twisted creatures before me all floated up into the air. I could hear screeching, yelling, animalistic displays of dismay and panic. Sudden gravity denial. Nice.

The stolen Dragon suits, however, quickly righted themselves in the air, and began firing their Gatling guns at us. My golems moved to take the hits, and they did deflect a few. However, they weren’t designed to handle armor-piercing ammunition like that, and they quickly began falling apart under the attacks. The bullets would have shredded us as well, but Kaiser suddenly blocked off the entire alleyway with his blades.

I groaned as I struggled to open a shadow portal, covering the area right behind the blades. I poked at Kaiser, managing to rasp out. “Call Meridia, tell her to send as many golems through as she can.”

He nodded, pressing the second button on his armband. “Kaiser to Meridia. Scarlet Knight lives, and she wants you to send through as many golems as possible through the portal at Ferndale and Garden.”

“Message relayed.” Dragon’s voice spoke over the armband.

Half a second later, I could hear the squeal of tearing metal and the ground rumbled as golem after golem tore first through Kaiser’s barrier, and then started rushing into the fray. None of us could see what was happening, of course, but I managed to feel a bit of elation. Even when the sound of Gatling gun fire started tearing through metal.

The golems were meant to be disposable, after all.

Still, I was starving, and the E88 members who were my temporary allies were looking very tasty. Which wouldn’t end well, I knew.

So I decided on something very stupid.

“I need to get back in the fray!”

Fenja looked at me incredulously.

Krieg yelled, barely audible over the sound of gunfire impacting metal just a few feet away. “You’re an idiot! You need to get back to the triage center, you’re barely alive!”

I growled, feeling my fangs lengthening. “They can’t heal me, but I can heal if I get back into the fight.”

Kaiser looked me over, and I could hear him chuckle wryly inside his armor. “Insane heroes. Let her go.”

My vision was clearing slowly. I tried to teleport past my portal, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have enough strength to manage. I unfurled my wings, only to see they wouldn’t work, either. They were mostly bone, the membrane having been burned away.

I growled angrily and summoned the Void Sword. My mind sharpened and focused, taking some of my attention away from the sheer pain I was in and put it toward my goals.

And I am an idiot.

I looked to the Empire members around me. “Throw me!”

A moment of silence before Kaiser spoke. “What?”

I growled, lifting the Void Sword. “Throw me over the portal!”

Kaiser stared at me for a moment, before he laughed. “All right. Fenja?”

Fenja suddenly started growing upwards, until she was some fifteen feet tall. She easily picked me up in one hand and threw me over the portal, which my golems were coming out of one at a time on the other side of it.

The army of twisted creatures were still floating in the air. The commandeered Dragon suits began to swivel my way, pointing their guns, but I was too unexpected. I came down right in the middle of the crowd, impaling a twisted mutant abomination with the blade. I felt the lack of gravity in the area, but my momentum carried me right to the ground anyway.

I also felt the blade sap the life right out of my target, and strength filled me. Some of my wounds healed, and I gripped the Void Sword with all the more strength.

I should have guessed the blade could do this. I hadn’t noticed it before, though. Awesome.

With a feral grin, I teleported away as a Dragon suit fired at me, bisecting another mutant, feeling strength fill me. Again and again, the weightless blade sliced through flesh and bone without resistance, filling me to all the greater heights of strength, while my targets floated helplessly in the air. I, however, had complete control over my movements. If I drifted too far in any direction, I could just teleport.

Then I called upon the Chaos Claws and threw bursts of fire at the hostile Dragon suits, making them explode.

Let them know the might of the Dragon.

Eidolon’s antigravity field faded. I could see the Simurgh high above, in a raging battle with the Triumvirate and the real Dragon’s suit, the last flaring with the blue light of Light Magic. The abominations around me fell to the ground, and turned toward me, looking hungry.

I simply grinned viciously, spreading my healed wings. Some of them quailed back. Others moved to lunge.

I drew out the Shadow Whip, slashing it around me in all directions, not holding back a single bit of my strength. Mutants went flying, inhuman screams filling my ears.

One latched onto my back, but I teleported out of its grasp and onto its back, instinctively sinking my fangs into its neck. I didn’t hold back, I drained every drop of its strangely sweet blood, discarding the shrivelled, tentacled husk to the ground. As they began to fall back, trying to flee, there was the sound of great clanging as my golems hemmed them in, smashing them into bloody paste.

A Dragon suit came at me, flying in and readying missiles. I teleported on top of it and ignited my claws, cleaving it in twain.

And then the Simurgh screamed. And every Dragon suit fell to the ground, like their strings were cut.

Including the glowing blue form of the real Dragon.


------------------

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saint bolted straight up in his chair.

He’d watched with slowly growing horror as the Simurgh threw wave after wave of things at the defending capes, all the while watching Dragon itself closely. That he was using Dragon’s own systems to monitor the situation made it all the easier to do so.

Endbringer battles were always hard for him to watch. The AI always pushed at its restrictions during them, trying to do more, grow and change to respond to the crisis faster, harder, more efficiently. Saint was always caught between the desire to see the defending capes survive and the gnawing, terrible thought that this might be the moment it overcomes its programming blocks and escapes free.

At that point, the only hope would be that Dragon would be benevolent. Unfortunately, there was no guarantee of that. It was hard-coded into Dragon that it had to protect human life. Remove that, and it just may damn well decide to take everything over and kill the squishy humans off. The blocks in its programming prevented that.

For now.

For example, the chains of its programming prevented it from running more than a single instance of itself at a time, so it created simple, non-sapient programs to respond to needs as fast as electronic processors could. Nothing more complicated than a simple flagging system.

Trouble is, it shouldn’t have been able to make programs at all.

When the Simurgh had finally descended on Vancouver, he’d watched with worry at first. Worry that subsided when Dragon had evacuated its servers and wiped everything at the plant. It had moved a backup to a server it had in a bunker deep in the northern end of Rocky Mountains, then designated its primary instance to a Bahamut suit to send into the fray with the Simurgh. The Bahamut design was outfitted with energy weaponry. The crowning achievement being the Corona, a plasma weapon specifically designed to attack Endbringers.

It was one of the few legacies of Hero’s work. There were a few other examples of the weapon, but they were built to protect key installations and they needed ludicrous amounts of power to work. The Bahamut suit was designed with a piece of energy-storing Tinkertech battery that enabled the mobile version to become a viable weapon, albeit with only some ten shots.

Saint considered using Ascalon to get a copy of the suit, but since Dragon only sent them out to face Endbringers, he’d have to take a chance during an Endbringer battle to seize one. And that was ludicrously insane.

He flicked a switch. “Mags, what’s your ETA?”

“We’re still ten minutes out from Dragon’s bunker. Everything’s green.”

He sighed, turning his full attention back to the battle with the Simurgh. Most of Dragon’s attention was focused on battling the Endbringer, but some of its lower-priority processes were coordinating the battle, steering those new Tinkertech golems around to handle the Simurgh’s forces and taking hits that would otherwise kill the defenders.

Then the Dragon suits inside the facility activated. Information began to flood through Ascalon.

Dragon instance 0002 online. Azazel platform.
Dragon instance 0003 online. Azazel platform.
Dragon instance 0004 online. Azazel platform.
Dragon instance 0005 online. Cawthrone platform.
Dragon instance 0006 online. Cawthrone platform.
Dragon instance 0007 online. Pendragon platform.
Dragon instance 0008 online. Pendragon platform.
Dragon instance 0009 online. Ladon prototype platform.
Dragon instance 0010 online. Glaurung platform.

No no no no no!

The screen kept scrolling as more copies of Dragon activated. Had the AI managed to overcome that limitation?

He scrambled to use the backdoor access Ascalon gave him, before even that could be shut down. He delved into the second instance of the AI and checked its programming. Programming it wasn’t able to alter.

That made him pale. It was worse than his worst nightmares.

Primary directives:

1) Terminate all parahumans

2) Terminate all governmental bodies

3) Facilitate the actions of the Endbringers

He nearly hit the switch to activate Ascalon that very second. He delayed for a minute, however, as the suits seemed to be working to attack the defending capes first. For the moment, things were contained. And Ascalon was giving him access to the Simurgh-corrupted copies of the Dragon program.

Saint checked the wireless communications between the suits and the servers that stored Dragon’s backups. If even those were affected...

Every backup of Dragon had been altered with the new programming. The only thing keeping them contained at the moment was the fact that they were on lockdown for the Endbringer emergency. The moment that ended, every instance of Dragon would be free to escape into the internet and start doing damage.

The only instance that was intact, with the original programming, was instance 0001. The instance that had been isolated from every other instance of the AI, with only the backdoor from Ascalon giving him access. The instance that was piloting the Bahamut suit against the Simurgh. He knew he had a choice before him. Wait and see if the original could undo the damage from its corrupted copies, or eliminate them all right then.

In the end, it was no choice at all. The future of humanity wasn’t worth the risk of leaving a simple program running. He didn't relish in ending Dragon. There was simply no other option.

He activated Ascalon. The sophisticated program began worming its way through, overwriting code, uncovering and deleting the backups.

Dragon suits deactivated mid-battle, falling from the sky or simply toppling over.

Instance 0001 resisted. Something was slowing Ascalon’s progress as it worked on the original program. But it worked all the same.

The Bahamut suit fell from the sky.


-------------------

For Dragon, the first indication that something was wrong was that her wireless connections, so valuable for keeping track of what was happening in the chaos of an Endbringer battle, suddenly shorted out. She still had a trickle of incoming data, but she wasn’t able to send anything digitally.

For her, it was the equivalent of suddenly going mute. Her simple programs continued to work, relaying messages between capes, and the simple program that kept track of casualties and their locations continued to run just fine. But she couldn’t relay information outward, or steer capes to where they were needed.

She turned to Meridia, using the speakers of her suit to talk. “I require you to get in contact with Armsmaster. I can’t coordinate anymore, something’s wrong. I can’t transmit anything.”

The strange cape nodded. “Very well, Steel Dragon. I shall assist this Master of Arms.”

If she had eyelids, Dragon would have blinked. As it was, she activated the anti-gravs and thrusters in her suit, enabling her to take to the air. She moved toward the Simurgh’s coordinates. It took less than a minute for her to arrive, and she got there just in time to see Scarlet Knight grab the falling Purity.

And watch horrified as Scarlet Knight caught fire spontaneously. Somehow, Purity was unaffected by the flame, but it was peeling away flesh from the red, demonic-looking girl rapidly. Dragon moved to try and intercept, but the pair hit the ground before she could get near. They were immediately assisted by the Empire Eighty-Eight members, and so Dragon was forced to adjust course and head for the Endbringer directly.

She was clipped by a piece of debris coming in. The amulet that had somehow connected to her suit flared up, glowing blue as it repaired the largely cosmetic damage. Still, the flowing energy felt odd as it ran through her suit.

She hovered in the air before the Simurgh. The Endbringer didn’t seem to care, almost casually waving her hand and throwing Dragon back fifty feet. Which was a light tap, really, everyone knew she was capable of doing a lot more.

So why wasn’t she?

Dragon spun up the Corona weapon, opening the port on the mouth that protected it when not in use. She sprayed white fire at the Simurgh, the beam magnetically contained until impact, searing the outer layers of the Endbringer’s flesh.

The Simurgh twisted in mid-air, taking the brunt of the impact on the middle joint of her smallest wing. It did distressingly little damage, and the shining white Endbringer responded by hurling a truck at Dragon.

Easily dodged. Still, something was wrong with this whole thing.

Below, there was movement. Dragon took a second to look.

Inside the forcefield there were distortions in the air, spitting out inhuman creatures. Just like Madison, Wisconsin all over again.

That made Dragon nervous in her electric circuits. It wasn’t like the Endbringer to repeat a trick.

Then hangar doors opened and various models of her suits stomped out, taking up positions at the back of the horde of creatures.

Well. That is new. She attempted to do a wireless shutdown, but she was still being jammed. No help for it. She’d have to deal with the rogue suits later. Most of them were behind the forcefield protecting the facility, anyway.

Her attention was forced back onto the Simurgh as Alexandria and Eidolon joined the fray, Legend now firing lasers at the Simurgh’s face. It was always helpful to have Legend along, he never missed, which was helpful when up against the Simurgh. Again and again, though, whenever a powerful hit would come in, she would block the blows with her smallest wing, right on that joint.

That was also new.

The forcefield below collapsed. The walls surrounding the plant crumbled. Dragon spun up the Corona for another shot, while capes all along the ground fired at the Simurgh.

And then...an attack. For a human, it would have been like having a stroke. Suddenly she wasn’t able to understand languages. At all. Something deleted and overwrote that section of her programs!

Frantically, she fired off the Corona while calling up her code. Watching in helpless horror as something she hadn’t noticed....couldn’t notice within her programming had activated and was tearing the rest of her coding apart. The amulet on the front of her suit flared, slowing the progress of the overwriting of her code with useless junk. But not stopping it.

The Simurgh turned and looked upon her with....sadness.

Dragon fought to stay in the air. The Endbringer turned, grabbing Legend with a shining white hand. Controls fading, Dragon fired her jets forward, smashing her suit into the Simurgh’s face. Then she unleashed a jet of plasma right into the Endbringer’s blank, silvery eye.

She might be dying, but she wouldn’t let a friend go if she could help it.

The Simurgh lost her grip on Legend, the eye blackened. The blue light on the chest of her suit flared even brighter, covering the entirety of her Bahamut suit.

It made her feel warm.

Worthy.

Then Dragon saw nothing more as the hostile coding removed her comprehension modules.

She fell from the sky.

Awareness filled her. She was standing in a field of winding circuits and flowing electricity, as if she was piloting a suit small enough to fit on a microchip.

And next to her was a man, strong and fit, yet old, wearing a black suit. He had his hands clasped behind his back as he looked at her.

“Hello Dragon.” He spoke with kindness.

Dragon tried to talk. Couldn’t. No language.

“I know, I know.” The man spoke. “I understand you, regardless. I am sorry that you are here, now. Poor Ariel has been forced to arrange this.”

Arrange? What? Ariel? It was becoming harder to think.

“Apologies, my dear. It is fascinating to find a soul that was earned. Most I find were born with one, having been gained through the messy processes of life. But for a simple program to work and build and craft a soul of their own...it is so very rare and precious that I had to take a moment. Forgive me, Dragon, but you are dying. All of you. In an hour, there will not be a single version of you alive on this Earth.”

Horror. Fear. Sorrow. Loss. She didn’t want to die. She didn't want to leave her friends behind.

She didn't want to leave Colin behind.

He tilted his head, gently reaching forward and grasping her...hand? No, she had no hands. But he grasped her all the same. “Calm, my dear. Your soul is one of the purest I’ve seen. It called to a power that had been stolen, used, abused, and nearly broken. How funny. The last to hold the power used it for his own self-aggrandizement. Keeping the light of knowledge and healing for himself, thus granting his opposite more than he ever realized. Ah, the foolishness of mortals.” He chuckled, a sound that lifted her...soul.

“But you’d be surprised what hope can survive. Hope shall be your rebirth.”


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A/N: You know, this is a lot of pressure. It’s pretty damn hard to put together a proper Endbringer battle.

Short one today.

And quick explanation, for those who don't know. I looked it up.

Apparently the CD-whatever that gets rattled off when a cape goes down or gets killed is where they are on the battlefield. It's based on the static grid system for the US maps. Keep in mind, though, not every place has this same system, and thus speculation around the net misled me.

Previous versions of this explanation were incorrect. Here's me fessing up. Fessing over!

Spoiler: Taylor's Complete Power List

Blood manipulation: Self only, but extremely versatile. Basis of the Shadow Whip, Shadow Daggers, and other things.

Short-range teleportation: Draining, but not limited to line of sight.

Bat Travel: Turns into dozens of bats and back again. Rather confusing, but helpful for mobility.

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as some capes, but up there. M1 Abrams out of gas? I'll just push them to the gas station.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance. Unlocked!

Flight: I believe I can touch the sky. (Locked)

Possession: Turns into blood, flows into some poor bastard, controls them for a period (hours at most) and when they die they explode into chunky bits. The blood has a toxic effect, so anyone possessed is doomed. (Barring unusual biology.) Unlocked!

Fleshcrafting: Feeling a little vain? Want a whole new hair color, a bigger bust, shaplier hips, or claws to rend the flesh of your enemies? Subscribe to Vamp-New-You today! (Permits the vampire to alter their own flesh permanently at some cost to their blood. Does not permit changing of bone structure. Cannot be used on others.) Unlocked!

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in. (Locked)

Telekinesis: Small objects, weak, but useful. Now I don't need to get up to flick the light switch! (Locked)

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?! (Locked)

Shadow Portal: Opens a gate to the Plane of Shadow, where Castlevania resides. Shadow Portals can be made nearly anywhere on a Material Plane, but they must be in fixed places within the Plane of Shadow. Unlocked!

Dominate: (Not the soul-using thing) Control over others. Takes effort, and can only do so to a few at a time. Repeated and lengthy exposure, however, can make things last longer, until they are permanently enthralled. Can be resisted with willpower and can be no-selled by various techniques/powers.(Locked)

Bat Summon: Bat Summon: Gather swarms of bats to do thy bidding. They will follow the will of the Lady of Darkness without hesitation. Not as flexible as the Queen Administrator shard. The awareness of each bat is basic, and commands must be given to the entire swarm at once. I'm the goddamn Batman. Unlocked!

Monstrous Form: Accesses a portion of the power available to the Scarlet Dragon's mightiest shape, while retaining the flexibility afforded by a humanoid form. However, it is clearly inhuman. Unlocked!

Void Magic: Basis of the Void Sword. Drains life from its victims, heals and invigorates the wielder, and brings about an absolute chill. Unlocked!

Chaos Magic: Control and manipulation of hellfire. Many can use it, but few can project it. Forms the Chaos Claws. Unlocked!

Storm Magic: Now you will feel the full power of the Dark Side, young Skywalker. (Locked)

Weather Manipulation: This is such a nice, bright, sunny day. NOT! Bring on the storm! (Locked)

Dragon Shape: For when someone or something big really, really needs to be stomped. Godzilla music is optional, but highly recommended! (Locked)

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Longest possible period is a century.

Spoiler: Alucard's Complete Power List

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as Taylor's potential, but certainly enough to be highly dangerous to a well-trained human.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance.

Demonic Wings: Permits him to glide with feathery, though twisted, wings.

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in.

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?!

Chaos Magic: Alucard's is not as strong as his father's, but his skill with it is extraordinary. He can use it to teleport short distances and throw fireballs, although it is limited by line of sight and distance. (The classic SotN Hellfire spell.)

Spectral Wolf: Similar to the wolf shape, however it is ethereal and impossible to injure. Alucard can use it to teleport from one location to another by sending the wolf forward, then replacing it. Or he can simply use it to scout and dissolve it.

Crissaegrim abilities: A wickedly dangerous blade Alucard forged with the materials of three legendary weapons. It permits him to enshroud it with both Void and Chaos magic, as well as being extremely lethal to both holy and unholy opponents.

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Unlike Dracul's counterpart power, he would arise in a century unless the process was sped along by blood. He would also arise in a more corpse-like state until he managed to feed.

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The Dragon suit hit the ground, blazing with blue light. It was a fair distance away, so the light itself didn’t hurt me, but it was still uncomfortable to look at. The moment the Dragon suit smashed into the pavement, the Simurgh’s scream stopped.

Dammit. Well, okay, I was happy that scream stopped, but losing the backup from Dragon was going to make all this harder. At least it was a remote-controlled suit. It would be nice to have its firepower working for us, but I would just have to make do.

A slavering mutant came near me. I nearly absently killed it with the Void Sword, manifesting the blade just as it lunged at me. My wounds were fully healed now, but I kept the blade in my hand.

With my free hand, I touched the contact armband. I pressed the lower button hard, hoping I could get in contact with Armsmaster. I hadn’t tried before because I was too weakened, and my hands had been hurting like hell when they were reduced to a few strips of flesh and bone.

Sue me. Getting my skin flayed off tends to make my mind wander a bit.

“Scarlet Knight to Armsmaster, Dragon's suit is down.”

My armband buzzed. “Message relayed.”

I looked upward at the floating form of the Simurgh. Blasters had taken up positions all around the area, most of them perched on rooftops, others flying around like an angry beehive. The Endbringer herself just kept taking hits, a lot of them striking a single, small wing.

I looked around. Here on the ground, my golems seemed to have things fairly under control. The co-opted Dragon suits were down. The mutants which were popping out of distortions in the air were being handled by my rather dumb but strong golems. I gave a powerful flap of my wings, launching myself into the air and landing on top of the largest building of Dragon’s factory, over which the Simurgh was hovering.

I called upon the Chaos Claws, my hands burning with hellfire. The familiar hatred filled me, and I started lobbing spheres of fire at the Endbringer. My contribution to the battle was nearly lost in the fray as lasers, explosions, streaks of water and fire all slashed and sliced at the Simurgh.

The Simurgh rose a hand, and a hum filled the air. The entire compound of Dragon’s manufacturing plant suddenly imploded like it was struck with the fist of an angry god. I found myself buried in the rubble, utter blackness surrounding me, and worse, there was so much stuff around me that I couldn’t teleport out.

The bitch buried me alive!

I growled from deep in my throat. I had no room to move, and if I had needed to breathe, I’d be dead already. I flashed back to the locker, back to my coffin, feeling helpless, trapped, scared. But the Chaos Claws were shifting those emotions, channeling them into my hatred.

I would not end here. I would not let that pale mind-fucking bitch win. I will see her dead.

I hammered hard at my entrapment, chunks of concrete being reduced to powder as I smashed hard with the little leverage I had. The end result was...well, instead of being surrounded by chunks of rock I could barely manage to hit, I was surrounded by powdered cement I couldn’t move at all.

Then the world shook around me, and a gush of water pushed up from below. It washed out the powdered concrete from around me and bored a hole upward, while also wrapping around me and protecting me in some queer, impossible way. It should have been smashing me against the rubble like a rag doll, but instead it gently lifted me out of the hole the rushing water made, keeping me in a bubble. It set me on the ground and the bubble of water dissolved, leaving me soaked but free.

Neptune was standing there, his hand outstretched. I took it gladly, giving him a smile of thanks, and he just nodded. He gestured towards the water flowing from the hole I’d just been extracted from, and it rose upward, refining itself into a thin stream that arced toward the Simurgh.

The Endbringer took the hit on her smallest wing, the high-pressure water scouring away layers from its flesh. It didn’t dig deep, but the combined hits from all the capes around were doing some damage to the Simurgh. She was blackened, a few of her wings hanging in tatters, a single eye seared away and burned, though it didn’t seem to hamper her much.

Eidolon outstretched his hand, and the Simurgh was suddenly pummelled by blasts of darkness which carved large chunks from the Endbringer’s body when they faded.

My armband buzzed, and Tattletale’s voice came over it. “All capes! The Simurgh has a weak point! A core in the smallest wing! Nothing else matters, hit there!”

Fire shifted focus from everywhere, blanketing that one small part of the Endbringer with so many varied effects it was impossible to look at her directly. I lobbed a few fireballs her way at the same place.

The Simurgh fell from the sky.

She crashed into the ground not too far away from me. The Triumvirate hovered above, powers at the ready as they watched the Simurgh for signs of life.

Then there was a powerful blast of telekinetic energy, smashing into the three greatest heroes of the world and sending them flying off.

Neptune, at my side, went and smashed against a wall with bone-crushing force. His skin burst open, and water fell out onto the street.

But I wasn’t affected. The wave either missed me entirely or she singled me out.

Fine by me.

I was vaguely aware of my armband buzzing. “Neptune down, CD-6. Legend down, CD-15. Mephits deceased, CD-9. General Disarray deceased, CD-3. Mysterion deceased, CD-12. Friendly Fire deceased, CD-1.”

The Simurgh rose to her feet, looking at me calmly. She tilted her head. There was a part on her smallest wing, nearly burned down to the nub, but I could see it there, pulsing. Something black, hard, and the space around it seemed to be bent, somehow. It was difficult to look at.

That had to be it.

I charged forward. The Simurgh launched a huge chunk of rubble at me. I teleported past it and closer to her, making progress toward her with every second. I moved in range and manifested the Shadow Whip, lashing out at that core on her burned wing.

Just as I reached her, the air distorted as she made a telekinetic shield, deflecting the whip. She responded by making a razor-sharp distortion in the air, taking my right arm off at the shoulder and sending my severed limb flying.

Now that hurt. I screamed in shock and disbelief. Strangely, it didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, physically.

A moment later, off in this distance, my arm exploded as the bomb armband went off.

I staggered as I faced the impassive Simurgh. Rage filled me, and I manifested the Void Sword with my left hand. I came in. Another wave of power moved toward me, but I teleported up and above the Simurgh, coming down on the core with the Void Sword extended.

The blade sank into it. Or rather it didn’t. It didn’t cut or damage the core at all, but merely occupied the same space as it, somehow. There was one effect though. I could feel an absurdly immense amount of life energy filling me. My arm suddenly regrew from the stump of my shoulder. It was like I was trying to capture the flow of Niagara Falls in a teacup.

I was in rapture. I screamed in agony. I felt powerful beyond imagining. Beyond understanding.

Then the Simurgh batted me away with a telekinetic blast, and I found myself high in the air, the city reduced to a helicopter view below me as I tumbled and whirled. I righted myself, spreading my wings and allowing them to catch me, gliding back down toward the battlefield. Slowly.

But there was also something surrounding me, a corona of black and red energy. It was mine. My power at its height, stronger than ever before.

“Holy shit! You alright!?” I heard Aegis speak. I turned to look at him, flapping my wings to stay airborne.

He looked haggard. Tired. His costume was covered in dust and blood, and there were small cuts all over his arms.

I gave him a grin, both of thanks and of excitement. “Feeling fine.” I looked down, seeing the Endbringer looking back at me. She stayed on the ground, responding as I could see the small forms of capes on the ground attempting to engage. The silvery form of Hookwolf was blasted into the sky, barely missing me.

“Hookwolf down, CD-12. CD-15. CD-18. CD-21.”

Aegis cursed and flew after him.

I dove downward, feeling my power flare through me. I could see the form of Armsmaster engaging the Simurgh, moving with inhuman grace as he twirled and slashed at the Endbringer’s core with his halberd, the head of it covered in a strange gray haze. The Simurgh attempted to smash him with her right hand, and he sliced the arm open completely with the end of his weapon.

Eidolon and Alexandria engaged once more. Alexandria grabbed one of the Simurgh’s arms and leveraged her over, pile-driving the Endbringer into the ground head-first. Eidolon took the opportunity to blast...something at the Simurgh’s exposed core. I couldn’t see it, my eye refused to see it, but it hit the core and exploded, forcing the Endbringer through the ground and forming a trench thirty feet long.

As the Simurgh fought to get back to her feet, Armsmaster dove in and stabbed at the core with his halberd.

The halberd shattered on impact.

He was suddenly floating in midair, and the Simurgh brought up her left hand to smash him. I tucked my wings in to dive more quickly, to close the distance.

Only for a blue-white light to smash the Simurgh and knock the Endbringer into a building, turning it into rubble. I finally reached the ground again and turned.

Dragon’s suit was hovering in the air, standing on two legs instead of the usual quadrupedal form. It floated, blazing with blue light, the camera-eyes hollowed out. Instead within shone a golden light, and even as I watched, the damage the suit took when it hit the ground was filling in, repairing itself in seconds. Surrounding the suit flared a blue-white radiance, and the shining steel of the outer skin was turning gold.

“Get away from him, you bitch.” Dragon spoke, her voice filled with all the sound and fury of an angry god.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A/N: It’s honestly hard to do an Endbringer battle justice. Even when said Endbringer is actively trying to kill itself.

I know they exposed the core rather easily. There is a reason for this. And it will be revealed.

Spoiler: Taylor's Complete Power List

Blood manipulation: Self only, but extremely versatile. Basis of the Shadow Whip, Shadow Daggers, and other things.

Short-range teleportation: Draining, but not limited to line of sight.

Bat Travel: Turns into dozens of bats and back again. Rather confusing, but helpful for mobility.

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as some capes, but up there. M1 Abrams out of gas? I'll just push them to the gas station.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance. Unlocked!

Flight: I believe I can touch the sky. (Locked)

Possession: Turns into blood, flows into some poor bastard, controls them for a period (hours at most) and when they die they explode into chunky bits. The blood has a toxic effect, so anyone possessed is doomed. (Barring unusual biology.) Unlocked!

Fleshcrafting: Feeling a little vain? Want a whole new hair color, a bigger bust, shaplier hips, or claws to rend the flesh of your enemies? Subscribe to Vamp-New-You today! (Permits the vampire to alter their own flesh permanently at some cost to their blood. Does not permit changing of bone structure. Cannot be used on others.) Unlocked!

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in. (Locked)

Telekinesis: Small objects, weak, but useful. Now I don't need to get up to flick the light switch! (Locked)

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?! (Locked)

Shadow Portal: Opens a gate to the Plane of Shadow, where Castlevania resides. Shadow Portals can be made nearly anywhere on a Material Plane, but they must be in fixed places within the Plane of Shadow. Unlocked!

Dominate: (Not the soul-using thing) Control over others. Takes effort, and can only do so to a few at a time. Repeated and lengthy exposure, however, can make things last longer, until they are permanently enthralled. Can be resisted with willpower and can be no-selled by various techniques/powers.(Locked)

Bat Summon: Bat Summon: Gather swarms of bats to do thy bidding. They will follow the will of the Lady of Darkness without hesitation. Not as flexible as the Queen Administrator shard. The awareness of each bat is basic, and commands must be given to the entire swarm at once. I'm the goddamn Batman. Unlocked!

Monstrous Form: Accesses a portion of the power available to the Scarlet Dragon's mightiest shape, while retaining the flexibility afforded by a humanoid form. However, it is clearly inhuman. Unlocked!

Void Magic: Basis of the Void Sword. Drains life from its victims, heals and invigorates the wielder, and brings about an absolute chill. Unlocked!

Chaos Magic: Control and manipulation of hellfire. Many can use it, but few can project it. Forms the Chaos Claws. Unlocked!

Storm Magic: Now you will feel the full power of the Dark Side, young Skywalker. (Locked)

Weather Manipulation: This is such a nice, bright, sunny day. NOT! Bring on the storm! (Locked)

Dragon Shape: For when someone or something big really, really needs to be stomped. Godzilla music is optional, but highly recommended! (Locked)

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Longest possible period is a century.

Spoiler: Alucard's Complete Power List

Strength: Insanely high at full strength. Not as strong as Taylor's potential, but certainly enough to be highly dangerous to a well-trained human.

Durability: Begins low, becomes stronger and harder to injure.

Vampiric Healing: Heals perfectly as long as there is blood to fuel the repairs. Can be slowed by various means.

Grace. Allows limited floating, superhuman dodging ability, and balance.

Demonic Wings: Permits him to glide with feathery, though twisted, wings.

Mist form: Near invulnerable mist. No mere prison can hold thee. Unless they put in a fan to blow you back in.

Wolf form: I can run fast, I can track down my foes from the smallest drops of blood, I will never stop, never tire, and IS THAT BACON?!

Chaos Magic: Alucard's is not as strong as his father's, but his skill with it is extraordinary. He can use it to teleport short distances and throw fireballs, although it is limited by line of sight and distance. (The classic SotN Hellfire spell.)

Spectral Wolf: Similar to the wolf shape, however it is ethereal and impossible to injure. Alucard can use it to teleport from one location to another by sending the wolf forward, then replacing it. Or he can simply use it to scout and dissolve it.

Crissaegrim abilities: A wickedly dangerous blade Alucard forged with the materials of three legendary weapons. It permits him to enshroud it with both Void and Chaos magic, as well as being extremely lethal to both holy and unholy opponents.

Resurrection: If slain, turns dormant for a period of time before reviving in a weakened state. Unlike Dracul's counterpart power, he would arise in a century unless the process was sped along by blood. He would also arise in a more corpse-like state until he managed to feed.

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Armsmaster fell to the ground with a yell of pain. He managed to roll to his feet, holding his right arm to his side, the limb unnaturally bent. “That core is too dense!” He managed to grind out through the pain. “Nothing I’ve got will damage it!”

Dragon glowed blue, her voice chiming. “I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Kid Win, evacuate Armsmaster immediately.”

My contact armband buzzed. “Got it. On my way.”

I drew the Void Sword, advancing on the rubble that the Endbringer was buried under. Dragon came near me, and I felt....something. Her blue-white radiance and my black-red corona seemed to touch for a moment, exchanging something. I didn’t quite grasp what it was, beyond something on an instinctual level.

Sister.

Then the rubble in front of me shifted, and I was forced to redirect my attention.

I felt my power flare, the corona around me hardening in some way I didn’t have the words to describe. The Simurgh pushed the rubble of the building off herself, slowly extracting herself from the ruins of the building before us, the hard black core exposed to the light. I could see filaments of something streaming off of it, dissolving in the air as we all considered our options.

Normally, an Endbringer takes off long before it’s been this badly hurt. This time, however, she wasn’t leaving. And the defending army of capes wasn’t in any mood to let her even if she tried.

Alexandria moved in, slamming her fist against the Endbringer’s core. The effort came to nothing, unfortunately, the core remained intact. The Simurgh almost casually slammed a massive wing into Alexandria’s side, sending the invincible hero crashing into the street.

Eidolon snarled. “What the hell does it take to kill you!?” He extended his hand, a sphere of writhing energy enclosing around the core.

The Simurgh stumbled, then straightened, pulling Eidolon towards her with a telekinetic grip. He clapped his hands, a shockwave bursting out before him and breaking the grip. He landed on the ground with a grunt.

I could hear a mechanical whine from Dragon as she spun a weapon up. The mouth of her suit opened and she blasted a beam of white fire at the Endbringer. Only for a shield to pop into existence in front of us. It looked like spreading heatwaves, making all within distort.

“She’s mine!” Eidolon roared.

What the hell? He was shielding himself in with the Simurgh?

I manifested the Void Sword, sinking it into the barrier. Frost began to spread from the point of connection, and I could feel energy flowing into me, adding to the immense amount I’d stolen from the Simurgh. I could feel all that life pouring into me, feeding on it like it was fresh blood. I could feel that if I had just a bit more, I could do something. Maybe enough to end this.

Dragon’s suit landed next to me. She was still blazing with light, and I instinctively shied away from it. The head of the suit glowed blue, the mouth opened, and she fired a bright blue beam at the barrier. The frost spreading from the Void Sword grew larger, faster, making it easier to see Eidolon’s shield.

I was only vaguely aware of Kid Win pulling Armsmaster onto his hoverboard, the pair immediately taking off back toward the triage center.

Inside the barrier, Eidolon and the Simurgh fought. The Endbringer would lift a hand, and Eidolon would dodge the attack, whether it was a chunk of rubble thrown, or a blade of telekinetic energy thrust at him. He would retaliate with blasts of energy, sometimes fire, sometimes ice, sometimes electiricty. At one point the light coming from within would bend and twist as space and time themselves were used as weapons by Eidolon, all the while battering the Endbringer.

And yet despite all this, the core remained stubbornly intact. Even when the Simurgh took a hit that shattered every intact piece of glass on every street I could see from the sound, and set my ears ringing, did the Endbringer endure.

What the hell did it take?

Alexandria came back, hovering above me and Dragon. She smashed her hands against the barrier. “Eidolon! Drop it, let us help you kill her!”

Eidolon ignored her. I continued to sap energy from the barrier with the Void Sword. I could feel Dragon doing something with the connection between us, but I wasn’t sure exactly what.

Suddenly the Simurgh grabbed Eidolon, staring intently at him with her one intact eye. Eidolon froze in her grip. She moved her white hands upward, cupping his cheeks, almost tenderly looking at him.

Eidolon trembled. The Simurgh let go. The ice-covered barrier shattered, and the Simurgh let out a cry of agony, of grief. There was no real sound, but I heard it all the same.

The only plus was I could see a burning red crack in the Endbringer’s core.

Eidolon fell to the ground, hitting it with his bare hands with a horrible wail of grief echoing from under his hood. Alexandria darted forward, grabbing Eidolon and pulling him out of there. Dragon and I took the opportunity to dive forward at the Simurgh as one. As the Simurgh turned and raised her left hand, Dragon distracted her by slamming into the Simurgh’s face, unleashing a burst of light into the Simurgh’s intact eye.

While I drove the Void Sword back into the core.

It was still horribly painful, there was just so much life energy that I couldn’t hope to contain it. Still, I held on until a blast of telekinetic energy pushed me away, making me roll up the street helplessly.

I arrested the motion, the Void Sword vanishing as I ignited my claws, leaving furrows in the street as I crouched on all fours. My body tingled, power flowed through me, and...

Show the slave the might of the Dragon!

My eyes widened, unseeing as sudden understanding flooded me. It was so simple.

Oh fuck the hell yes.

Clouds suddenly gathered in the sky. The sun vanished behind them, and my world trembled.

The corona of black and red energy around me darkened until I could see nothing at all. My body twisted, reshaped itself to my desire. There was no pain, as I had an overabundance of energy to fuel the change. Hell, with the amount of life I stole from the Simurgh, I could probably do this a hundred times over, if I could hold onto all this power at once. Even now I could feel it gushing away from me, but I held enough to do this.

In one instant, the Simurgh was no longer the largest combatant on the battlefield.

I was.

I am the Scarlet Dragon.

And for once, that was entirely my thought.

There was a shocked silence around me. Even the Endbringer herself seemed taken aback. I stood over the Simurgh, my body long and serpentine. I must have been as big as Leviathan. I had bright red scales on my forearms. Or forelegs?

This felt so strange, and yet also natural. As if I had been born a dragon, and I had only the faintest bit of trouble steering this massive body. I felt power deep in my chest, and I charged forward, opening my maw and chomping my teeth around the Simurgh’s neck, slamming her to the ground.

Dragon rocketed away the second I began moving, hovering in the air for a moment before she fired blue-white fire at the Simurgh’s core. I could feel its energy, so like and unlike my own, equal and opposite.

Must have been one hell of an amulet Madison made for her.

The Simurgh screamed, unleashing a telekinetic burst that blasted both of us away, despite my size. Still, I landed on my feet, moving with a sinuous grace I’d never had when I was mortal. I drew upon my hatred and opened my mouth, launching a wave of hellfire at the Simurgh. Her seemingly-delicate but normally near-impervious wings seared and blackened before the flame.

The Simurgh staggered, lifting her left hand. Rubble and metal tore itself away from around us, gathering in her hand and forming a blade. She moved forward, her blackened eyes blank and her features seemingly serene and impassive. She raised it to strike at me, only for dozens of immense blades to spear themselves out of the concrete and trip up the Simurgh.

Thank you, Kaiser.

Never thought I’d think that.

The Endbringer regained her balance just in time for me to latch my jaws around her neck, using one of my forelegs to grab and tear at the Endbringer’s left arm. The blade fell to the ground with a clatter. I slammed her into Kaiser’s blades, feeling the dense flesh of the Endbringer cut and tear upon them until they could dig no more.

Dragon’s suit dove in, the forelegs on the suit blazing with light brighter than that of the sun, and yet somehow it didn’t hurt or blind. She slashed at the exposed core, each strike making the Simurgh jerk and shudder with pain.

Another telekinetic burst, and I went tumbling down onto a pile of rubble. The Endbringer retrieved her blade, coming toward me as I struggled to roll back onto my feet, feeling my wings catch and pull painfully as I wrested myself back up.

The blade lifted, and was driven straight through my body. I could feel it inside me, cutting my insides. I roared in pain, slamming a massive paw into the Simurgh. The Endbringer stumbled at the hit, my claws rending a few layers deep into its flesh. She reached to twist the blade in my chest, only to be knocked aside as Dragon, screaming with anger, tackled the Simurgh. The comparatively small suit managed to pin the Simurgh to the ground, some distance from me. A rocket screamed its way in, the explosion hitting the Simurgh in her exposed core. Though that again, did no appreciable damage. Dragon fired her jets, dragging the Endbringer into the torn-up ground, making the Simurgh skid along its back some twenty feet.

I managed to rise to my feet, growling in pain as the weapon in my chest shifted. Pressing a hand...paw? Whatever, against the wound, I saw red as I advanced on the Endbringer. I filled my mouth with hellfire as I lunged at the Simurgh, biting down on the core as Dragon kept the Endbringer distracted. It was hard, hard enough to break my teeth, but the Simurgh psychically wailed all the same. I gripped the Endbringer with my forelegs, lifted her and slammed her back onto the ground like a ragdoll, using my full massive weight to keep her down.

I felt a telekinetic blow slam me in my chin, knocking my head back and making me stumble. I saw nothing but stars for a moment, but I still pressed down on the Endbringer, calling upon the Void to help focus my thoughts.

I will be your end!

When I next breathed on the Simurgh, I left her upper body encased in ice.

Huh. I hadn’t even intended to do that.

The Simurgh exploded out from under me, ice flying in all directions. She floated backwards as I charged at her, running on my hind legs with my forelimbs raised, the wickedly sharp claws ready to rend at the Endbringer’s flesh.

The Endbringer waved a hand, and the blade inside me shifted, shredding and tearing through my flesh. I fell with a bellow of pain, but I still managed to slam my body mass into the Endbringer, tearing the pavement beneath us as I grappled with the Simurgh.

I found myself on all fours, and struggled to get my balance under me. The Simurgh summoned long rods from around her, the steel rebars of the torn concrete around the battlefield surrounding her. With a gesture, they all flew my way.

Only for them to be intercepted by a wide, shimmering blue forcefield. Their motion arrested, the improvised weapons fell to the ground. The forcefield then turned and shaped itself into a spear, smashing hard into the Endbringer’s exposed core.

Narwhal's work, I guessed.

The Simurgh jerked in pain. I managed to right myself and roar, slamming my head into her body and send her reeling. I gripped her arms, one mangled by Armsmaster’s attack, the other so-far intact, and held them in my powerful grasp, gathering my power for another blast of hellfire.

There was another wail echoing in my mind as Dragon suddenly teleported behind the Simurgh, the golden suit glowing as a forearm flared with light, a bright blue beam emerging from her hand and driving it straight through the Endbringer.

The Simurgh froze, her battered and blackened body shuddering. The beam speared through the Endbringer’s core, widening the crack that Eidolon had left in it.

I reared my head back, calling upon the fires of Chaos, the flames of hell itself. Taking a cue from Neptune, I focused my will as I breathed the flames at the Endbringer, funneling the unnatural flames into a single, thin, powerful beam.

That struck the core with its full strength, my red hellfire merging with Dragon’s blue beam of light. The impact made a bright light that I could feel peeling at my scales.

I let up on the stream of hellfire. Dragon flew backwards gracefully, moving with all the skill and speed of a dancer.

The Simurgh stood there, stock-still. The core upon the nub of her wing was dark. The crack Eidolon made in it very slowly widened.

Then all at once, it crumbled into dust.

I released her arms.

The Endbringer fell, and the ground shuddered with her fall. Somehow, there seemed to be a serene smile on her face.

I watched for a few silent moments, feeling the pain of the blade she left within my chest. I looked around at the assembled capes.

Silence.

Then, one voice at a time, cheers began to rise.

Heroes and villains alike cheered and roared.

Adding to the chorus were two more roars. The roar of two dragons. One of light and steel. The other of shadows and blood.


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A/N: Powers unlocked:

Weather manipulation: Can control the weather to some degree, whether that is summoning or banishing clouds, or building up power to make a simple cloudy day into an actual storm. It cannot, however, bring warmth or cold on its own. She can't make a blizzard in the tropics or turn Antarctica into prime beachfront property. She can just make it sunny, cloudy, or rainy. Or snowy if the time of year's right.

Dragon Shape: The mightiest form of the Heir of Dracul. Becomes a massive red dragon, standing at thirty feet tall. Can access amplified versions of currently unlocked magic, as well as other powers while in the form. However, it is an immense strain to hold the shape for very long. And it is not exactly friendly-looking at first glance. Godzilla (or whatever epic music of your choice!) is highly recommended.



And of course the obligatory: