The Mender and The Butcher (WORM AU: Taylor, Butcher)

Summary: Other than her hidden Master power, Taylor Hebert has the power to mend or destabilize parahumans due to the main function of her Queen Administrator shard. For this reason, many have approached her to either improve or mend their shards capability, even Villains. So it’s no surprise to her when Taylor gets abducted by the Teeth and is forced to mend the Butcher. However, what she doesn’t expect is for the Butcher to become fixated with her after she mends his mind. (WORM AU: Taylor, Butcher)
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Taylor can feel him watching her as she continues to pick on her food. She doesn't need to look up to know that the silent man sitting across from her is fixated in what she is doing, like he always does.

"Eat," The man says to her in a soft but commanding voice. "You are not a child to play with your food, He Xiangu. A grown woman like you should know better than that. So eat the food that I provided for you like a proper guest at my table."

He Xiangu. The man likes to call her that, but Taylor doesn't know what it means. Although she knows that it is a chinese word. Perhaps a woman's name. She hasn't seen his captor's face beneath his mask. However, Taylor guesses that the man is of mixed race like her patrol partner Kenta, or Ryujin as everyone calls him now after he became a cape for the Protectorate. Kenta, who was previously known as the Villain Lung during her years as a Chicago ward.

"I am not your fucking guest! I'm your prisoner here, you bastard!" Taylor snaps at the man sitting across from her. "Why do you continue to keep me here when we made a deal?! I already fixed you like you asked me! Now, fucking let me go, you damn Butcher!"

Like always, the man doesn't react to her outburst. Taylor has often gone off the rails and has not hesitated in voicing out her increasing displeasure for being kept as a prisoner in the Teeth's secret lair, but the leader of the Villain organization has never once raise a hand at her for her behavior. In fact, The Butcher simply stares at her like she's the most interesting specimen that he has ever seen under a microscope while she yells at him and calls him filthy names. Still the man never reacts after being subjected to her rage. The only thing she can sense from him is his growing curiosity and interest in her.

It is both unnerving and exhilarating at the same time because every moment she feels his undivided focus, Taylor feels like she's been injected with epinephrine shot at how her heart rate and her breathing increases when she is in his dangerous presence.

Taylor knows that there must have been a side effect when she fixed his malfunctioning shard. She knows that he has suffered a form of psychosis due to his strange shard's configuration. However, this kind of behaviour towards her after fixing him is not something she anticipated.

He seems so fixated with her. Like he has just discovered something truly fascinating that he can't help but observe for long periods of time. Taylor has tried to Master him at one point but he seems immune to it. Although she can't say much for his minions, who she had easily Mastered a few days ago and would have made her escape easy if The Butcher hadn't caught up to her plans.

Her escape attempt was foiled and now Taylor gets to spend more time with The Butcher who has made it his personal mission to keep a close eye on her and even placed her in a secure room just next to his.

"Let me go," Taylor growls while she glares at the pair of eyes she can see through the eyeholes of the man's wretched mask. Even though he has removed most of his armor which was bristled with iron spikes and adorned with teeth and bones. The Butcher keeps his featureless black mask to hide his face while he only wears a black long-sleeved turtle-neck shirt and loose trousers, and of course, a pair of black leather gloves.

Taylor knows that he is a head taller than her and he is also leanly muscled wherein he can easily overpower her if she attempts to attack him again. She had tried hurting him once and The Butcher hadn't even used his power to incapacitate her. He had simply pushed her against the wall with his gloved hand on her throat and Taylor had simply froze, especially when the man had ran a gloved thumb over her jawline with such tenderness that it was more of a threat than an intimate gesture. The Butcher had not spoken any words to her then, but he only looked at her and she perfectly understood his unspoken words and the restrained violence that he exhibited.

Attack me again and I will break you. His touch implied and Taylor has become cautious around him since then.

"Why won't you just let me go?" She repeats the question, getting angry by the second while The Butcher remains as apathetic as ever.

The strange man simply cocks his head to the side and says to her in an emotionless voice, "I will let you go one of these days...but not so soon."

"Why?" She demands. "What are you taking a long time to release me?"

"I'm waiting for your Protectorate partner. Ryujun is it? The one who previously calls himself Lung during his days as a Villain." The Butcher says to her.

Kenta...What does the Butcher need with him? Taylor thinks in worry. She already suspects that Kenta must be looking for her desperately by now. Probably tearing all throughout Brockton Bay, roaring in fury as he searches for her. Even though they have only worked together for a year and a half as Protectorate capes, she knows how the Dragon has become overprotective of her. He is her partner and she knows that he will do anything to get her back.

"You are the perfect bait to draw out the Dragon. Other than acquiring your talent to fix me, I have something I want your Dragon to do. Something that requires his power and I know he will do anything I ask of him so long as I have you to keep him under leash." The Butcher informs her.

"My partner won't be manipulated so easily," is Taylor's answer, "You presume to know that you can control Ryujin through me, but you are wrong. He doesn't care about me at all."

Of course, what she said is a lie. She knows that Kenta has come to care for her all throughout the time they've been working together.

"Oh? He doesn't care about you at all? Hmn, you are a terrible liar, wǒ de liánhuā." The Butcher says to her.

Is that another name? If only I know what he is calling me now...Taylor inwardly thinks while she silently bristles in irritation.

"I know for a fact that your partner will do anything for you considering that I have hidden informants in the Protectorate. If he doesn't care about you at all, then why do I hear the news of him blasting through doors of every damn villain hideout and sending worthless vermin scattering all across Brockton Bay while he searches for you? That doesn't sound like a person who never cares for you at all. I'm even beginning to suspect that the rumors are true about you two. My intel tells me that you've been working with Lung, or Ryujin as he calls himself now, for nearly two years as capes for the Protectorate. My informants also tell me that you're not only his partner, but you are his lover as well, aren't you?" The Butcher remarks.

Taylor decides to glower at the man instead of answering him.

Most already assume that Kenta and her are lovers, but Taylor doesn't have the time to clarify them and neither had Kenta, who seems to find it amusing every time someone remarks about their possible relationship. So Taylor allows The Butcher to assume that she has some kind of relationship with the Dragon of Kyushu.

"Nothing else to say, wǒ de liánhuā?" The Butcher inquires, tilting his head to the side once again.

"What do you want with my partner?! What are your intentions are for coming in Brockton Bay?!" her question is more of a hiss than anything else. Taylor is close to grabbing a hold of her plate, which is still full of food and send it flying at the Butcher.

"The details of my plans are not something that I want to divulge to you, unless you have something to offer me in return." The man says to her while he leans back in his chair.

At his reply, Taylor grits her teeth.

"Now, why don't you finish eating your dinner so that I can escort you back to your room." The Butcher suggest almost nonchalantly.

However, Taylor can no longer reign in her temper and she finds herself grabbing a hold of the table and is planning to tip it over towards the unconcerned Villain with plates full of food and all. But before she can even shift a muscle, the Butcher is suddenly there beside her, his leather gloved hand gripping her wrist in a firm hold. Taylor hasn't even seen him move. She hasn't even sensed the danger at all before the man is instantly there before she can even blinks.

For a moment, Taylor simply sits there frozen while she stares at the gloved hand wrapped around her wrist. His grip on her is not tight, nor is it loose, but it is simply there, like a presence that she can't shake. He can probably even feel her pulse racing through his gloves at how Taylor's heart thunders against her ribcage.

"Taylor Hebert…" The Butcher says softly while he slowly forces her to release the white-knuckled grip she has on the table.

At her name, Taylor can only swallow through her suddenly dry throat. The only reason the Butcher was able to abduct her is because he knows her civilian identity and he was the one who had personally come to take her away from her apartment. The informants the Butcher has in the Protectorate must have gotten her name and given it to him before The Teeth arrived in Brockton Bay.

"I've been a very good host to you so far, even treated you better than most unwilling guests who have the misfortune of gaining my interest," The Butcher tells her while he uses both his gloved hands to gently pry her fingers apart until she no longer has the chance to drive her fist repeatedly into his masked face as much as she wants. "He Xiangu...I'm called The Butcher for a reason. People run away from the mere sight of me. Some people even fear to speak my name. I have acquired a reputation for being a merciless killer and the unchallenged leader of my own Villainous organization. Someone worthy of terror and yet you don't seem to be afraid of me. Why is that? In fact, you don't hesitate to lavish me with your tender rages and express your desire to kill me softly in my sleep. Am I losing my cruel touch? Do you need a reminder what a ruthless monster I can be to drive the lesson home into your pretty little head, wǒ de liánhuā?"

"I dare you to try, you sonofabitch! And I'm going to pay you back in kind a thousand times more!" She spat at the man with vehemence.

"Hmn...interesting," comes the Butcher's soft comment.

Yet despite her bravado, Taylor's heart nearly leaps to her throat when his gloved fingers reaches out to grab a hold of her chin and tilt her head up so that she can meet his shadowed gaze beneath his black mask.

Taylor doesn't dare breathe even when his gloved fingers press against her chin to keep her in place.

"I understand your desire to leave here," The Butcher says in a cool voice. "I know we made a deal and I apologize for not releasing you after you fixed me. However, there are still important matters that I still need to address before I leave Brockton Bay. Something that requires your Dragon lover and a certain Villain organization here…but if you truly want to leave here Taylor Hebert...there's another way for you to do so…"

"What do you mean by that?" Taylor inquires, her heart almost bursting from the hope that instantly surges through her after hearing his words.

"I mean that I can be merciful to those who are worthy of it…" The Butcher informs her. "If you want to leave here, then I will give you three days to convince me to let you go…"

"Three days to convince you?" Taylor asks, sounding doubtful.

"Yes and I will inform you ahead of time that no amount of begging will change my mind. So try to find another way to convince me to let you leave here unharmed. If you are successful in your endeavor, then I will keep my promise and let you leave...even at the cost of all of my plans."

"Why would you do this? Why give me the chance to convince to change your mind?" comes Taylor's wary question.

"Does it really matter what my true reasons are?" The Butcher replies as he releases her chin.

"Yes, I want to know your ulterior motive for all of this." She tells him.

For a moment, the Butcher is silent as he regards her through his black mask.

"I am giving you the opportunity to convince me because I find you very interesting and I want to find out what you will do next when faced with such a daunting task. Think of it as an experiment if you will," comes the Butcher's explanation. "Now that I have answered your question. Why don't you finish your dinner before it grows cold? I hate to waste such delicious food, especially when I specifically asked the cook to prepare it for you."

Taylor is no longer listening to the Butcher speak. Not after what she heard from him.

He finds me interesting? Hmn...perhaps I can do something about that... She thinks while her mind begins to plot about getting out of there before The Butcher can use her to control Kenta and his power.

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