Because of the War Chapter 10

Because of the War

Chapter Ten

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Paige had never considered herself a particularly perverted person, neither lustful nor particularly inclined towards anything creativewhen it came to sex. In fairness, of course, she had never had sex or even done much more than heated kissing and over-clothes-exploration. Just another fairly vanilla straight girl with a boyfriend and a career, that was her!

Or, she acknowledged to herself with a dry mouth as she watched the display before her, it had been her. Self-discovery was an important and unavoidable path in everyone’s lives, but she hadn’t quite imagined hers would start by literally running into a very tall girl and end (in the temporary sense) in watching said tall girl more-or-less holding her own against three taller, older, veteran commandoes in hand-to-hand combat. Granted, Taylor was kind of cheating given her psionic powers and the download of bad-assery her power had shoved into her head, but (as one of said Commandoes, Bloodsong, had pointed out) possessing knowledge and having the physical build and muscle-memory to carry it out were not the same thing. Thus, the nightly training where Taylor threw down with the more melee-oriented members of XCOM.

Not what most people would consider to be life-altering experiences, especially as nothing more than an observer, but as a result of her voyeurism, Paige had discovered something about herself: she had a type. She had thought Eugene (handsome, complimentary, good at making ‘friends’ to help her get gigs) was all she had wanted in life, but as it turned out her realtype was tall and athletic ravenettes that lead armies of projections and could create purple crystalline psychic sword-gauntlets. The elegant dance of combat, the pounding beat of limbs striking limbs and the low grunts of exertion and reaction, the dips and swirls and sways of their bodies…it was genuinely entrancing. And beautiful, God was it beautiful! Taylor was beautiful, and Paige finally admitted (even if only to herself) that she had somehow totally fallen for the other girl.

All well and good, but now what the hell was she supposed to do? Her last, and only, relationship hadn’t exactly ended that well, and that trouble was quite literally on its way back to screw things up for her all over again. Damnit, she didn’t even know how to have a healthy relationship with someone! What would she do, a teen-drama style confession with a letter and chocolates? Taylor might like that, sure, but given the general culture of strength around the house Taylor might think she was a stupid girl with a crush and hate her forever. Logically she didn’t find that likely, but then how much was logic going to play in her ‘worst-case scenario’ theorizing?

“Enjoying the show? Having some profound thoughts, maybe?” the amused and teasing tones of Lily Shen broke her from her reverie, and she shot the gearhead a censorious glower that was ignored with a grin and a wink. “Aww, don’t be like that, Little Bird, you know I’m just teasing.”

Paige couldn’t help but blush at the term of endearment that Taylor had wrapped around her neck. She had finally gotten the whole story about Taylor’s own ‘Little Owl’ moniker and had teased her friend about it as soon as Danny had finished speaking. Embarrassed but unwilling to suffer without defending herself, Taylor had retorted by claiming Paige as her ‘Little Songbird’ that she had rescued from a vulture and brought home. Lily, and certain other impish members of XCOM, had latched onto the ability to tease someone that wasn’t their superior officer or her father.

It was flattering, though, to have a pet name from her newly-acknowledged crush.

“Seriously, Paige, what’s on your mind? The Commander has started to notice that you’re acting different, and we can all tell there is more on your mind than the Avenger-sized crush you have on her. Work with me, here.” Lily asked her softly, teasing gone, and Paige sighed tiredly before gesturing towards a small bench that consisted of a few barrels and planks. They sat down, Lily watching Paige with something akin to worry as the blonde songstress rubbed her palms along her thighs with a deep frown.

“I’m worried about Eugene, Lily.” She said finally, with manifest unhappiness. “I know he can’t hurt me on the physical level personally, Taylor would never allow it, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hurt me. Tagg is a hardliner, you know? A popular one with a lot of people, and he’s obviously backing Eugene’s play. All he has to do is put me in a position where I talk to Eugene, and he can argue I used my power on him. They’ll come to arrest me, Taylor will protect me at all costs, and it all comes crashing down because of me. Taylor’s dreams of being a hero would be shattered forever, and it would be myfault.”

“…idiot.” Lily sighed, and Paige recoiled, turning to glare at her with hurt and confusion plainly apparent. Shaking her head, Lily turned and met Paige’s eyes firmly, hands reaching out to take hers. “Paige, listen to me. Yes, Taylor would protect you, without a doubt. Yes, she would probably use us to do it if she had to, and we would even if she wasn’t our Commander. Because you’re a good person who is in danger because of frightened, bigoted men and women who are so afraid of you turning villain that they are actively doing actions that could drive you to it just so you can survive.”

As reassuring as it was to know that Taylor did seem to care about her that much, and for that matter that she had made such a good impression on the projections of Taylor’s power, Paige’s worries for her friend were in no way abated by those same confirmations, and she said as much.

“Paige, something like this was always going to happen. From what you’ve told Taylor and the intel we’ve gathered, these people have it out for you. Maybe they would have already gotten you if not for your friendship with Taylor. The point is, you’re not alone, and between your paper-trail from when Eugene was imprisoned and the support you have from us, you’ll be fine.” The words were firm, the tone soft, and the knot of fear and pain and guilt loosened a little further, but it was not yet gone. Even if she came out okay, what of Taylor? What of her precious friend? “Paige, you know Taylor. You know her attitude, her power, her convictions. Someone like Taylor isn’t going to be close friends with the PRT and Protectorate. She isn’t going to toe the party line and play with kiddie gloves, she isn’t going to let people go just in case they mightshow up to an Endbringer fight, and she isn’t going to pull her punches with people that have body counts in the double or triple digits.”

That last, Paige was sure, was a reference to Hookwolf. As much as Kaiser tried to portray himself as a reasonable man of the people, only trying to protect the city from the likes of Lung and Skidmark through unsavoury means, the fact that he willing kept around a man who killed as he pleased and was famous for his brutal and sadistic dog-fighting rings cast his proclamations of paragonhood in an ill-fitting light. Yes, he was less psychotic then his father and sister had been, but in all honesty that wasn’t saying much, given the two of them probably would have fit in with the Slaughterhouse Nine if they had been so inclined.

“So you’re saying I shouldn’t blame myself it Taylor ends up facing off with the PRT, because it was going to happen whether she and I were friends or not?” Paige asked, not sure how to feel about that if she was to be honest with herself. On the one hand, she wasn’t solely responsible for the inevitable. On the other hand, was she just another useful excuse to Taylor for the conflict that the other girl seemed intent on?

No, she shook her head at herself for considering it for so much as half a heartbeat. That was absurd. Taylor wasn’t some bloodthirsty maniac that loved fighting for fighting’s sake. She was someone with firm beliefs on honor, courage, and civic duty. Paige was another reason for her to fight for Brockton Bay’s future, not another excuse. There was a difference, subtle but significant, and Paige would do well to remember it.

“Pretty much, yeah. Taylor was always going to be a hero, whatever label anyone ever wanted to give her, but she was always going to try and make the world a better place however she could with whatever means she could get her hands on.” Lily agreed with a smile and a small nod as the girl in question was picked up and thrown several feet, thudding to the ground as Bloodsong started lecturing her about being predictable and offering an opponent excessive leverage. “So, you know, don’t worry about it. Focus on getting your girl, and we’ll focus on keeping the two of you safe.”

As Paige blushed again, to busy looking anywhere but Lily and Taylor, the scientist’s smile faded away. Though she meant what she had said to Paige, she (and the rest of XCOM) were concerned about the direction things could go. Asaru claimed to be, and certainly appeared, benevolent. Hard to believe, but every race had its black sheep, and if the Ethereal’s black sheep happened to be a pro-human white sheep, that was fine with her. The problem was, Asaru had his own ultimate goal, the destruction of the Entities. Also a noble goal, one they supported whole-heartedly, but did his plans include Taylor surviving and living a full and happy life afterwards?

And Paige wasn’t wrong about the danger Eugene and the people behind him posed. While XCOM was far beyond anything conventional law enforcement or gangs could hope to deploy, with no base of operations to be found and attacked or infiltrated, they could still fall victim to capes without proper preparation and foreknowledge at their current tech level. Taylor, who would eventually be far beyond most (perhaps even all) capes, was still incredibly vulnerable emotionally and physically at this stage. They would have to be careful, lucky, and more than a little ruthless if they wanted to keep this ball rolling. And she would need to do some serious research. Fortunately, with Squealer in their custody, the reverse-engineering of her technology should move a lot faster. Psionics had a way of speeding up interrogations, after all, and to be honest Lily wondered if the Tinker’s knowledge could simply be subsumed by Taylor now that the woman was inside of The Commander’s mind. It was her mind after all, so it stood to reason that any knowledge in it was also hers, right?

Well, she didn’t know about that, but she did know that the war had only just begun. Things would escalate soon enough, and total war would come to Brockton Bay.

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Lily Hikari was, according to most, a beautiful young woman. Taller than most, slender, athletically gifted, with warm chocolate eyes and long dark hair, many would even consider her to be the classical Asian beauty. A bit stereotypical, perhaps, but that didn’t make it any less true. She was also a parahuman, a Siege Ward named Fletchette whose attacks could pierce every known substance and power on Earth. Like most, she had not gained her powers in a particularly joyful moment of her life (her sister trying to throw her in front of a moving train still gave her nightmares, all these years of counseling later), but as much as she hated their arrival, she loved having them. Helping people, protecting people, and having friends.

Of course, all of her friends were back in New York, a few hundred miles south of her. She was stuck in a city that had a gang that would hate her for being ‘disloyal to her race’ (those Triad-esque bastards in the ABB), a gang that would hate her for being a ‘member of a lesser race’ (the Empire), and a gang that would hate her for being a ‘lesbian’ (also the Empire, as it happened). A few months ago she would have mentioned the Merchant’s as well, but with their capes wiped out by XCOM the gang had pretty much collapsed in on itself. Not that she minded, one less group of thugs to worry about.

She would doubtless befriend her new teammates, certainly, and with the more modern sensibilities that had come around since Legend’s reveal she doubted too many of her schoolmates at Immaculata would give her a lot of flak for preferring women to men. The idea of working with Miss Militia, one of the first female Wards and her personal idol, was in and of itself enough incentive to agree to the transfer here, but more than that she wanted to meet three people: The Commander of XCOM, Paige McAbee, and Taylor Hebert. Well, mostly Taylor and the Commander, but all reports indicated Paige rarely left Taylor’s side outside of school, so it seemed that was a two-for-one-deal.

Why would she want to meet such people? Well, Paige and Taylor would certainly be the least…problematic on the political level, and they would be the easiest to find and meet with as well. After all, unlike XCOM and its Commander, they had an actual home address. How she would go about meeting them without looking too aggressive or (dare she say it) villainous was a matter of some contemplation, but she was sure it would be possible. The moment she had opened and read the file on Taylor, she had though two things: that this tall ravenette had eyes that could steal her soul, and that this ravenette was a strong, dominant, Type-A girl that had convictions…and kept to them.

Exactly her type.

The Commander, interestingly, was someone she wanted to meet for much the same reason. Though little was known about the other girl besides her basic bodytype and a preliminary analysis of her psychological profile, she was a hero. A knight in Kevlar armor, even if she herself rarely took to the field. Rescuing damsels in horrific distress from the worst scum the world had to offer, short of pedophiles, and the mystery surrounding her was honestly kind of alluring.

A buzzing alert from her phone notified her that her ride to the PRT building had arrived, ready to start her on this newest part of her career as a hero. Making sure her stove was off, she shouldered the utterly nondescript duffel bag that held her costume and back-up clothing before heading out the door of her nice, but not lavish, apartment. Nice side-effect of being an emancipated minor, having a place of your own in a new city. Sure, she technically had a foster family, but moving them at the same time as herself would have been far too obvious to anyone paying attention, and quite frankly she didn’t want them in the same city as herself anyway. They weren’t badpeople, per se, but they had never meshed over well, and even if that wasn’t the case, Brockton Bay wasn’t exactly a safe city.

“Good afternoon.” She greeted the middle-eastern woman driving the unremarkable sedan out front, briefly (and deliberately) glancing at the small and glowing ‘RideOn’ plaque on the dashboard. “You must be Hana?”

“That’s me! Lily right?” Hana replied with a warm smile. When Lily bobbed her head in a nod, Hana tilted her own towards the shotgun seat. “Hop in, and we can get you where you’re going! Just toss your bag in the back, okay?”

Moments later they were on their way, and Lily was glancing sideways at her driver. There was a chance that this was one of Miss Militia’s doubles, of course, but the Blaster was the woman in charge of the ENE Wards, so it seemed far more likely that it was the woman herself.

“Welcome to Brockton Bay, Miss Hikari. We’re all very glad to have you, Vista especially. She’s been wanting more girls on the team for quite some time.” Hana said after a handful of minutes, hands smoothly maneuvering the car through the busy streets.

“I’m glad to be here, as crazy as it sounds. This city might have a bad reputation, but I think that’s all the more reason for more people to come and help, not an excuse to write it off.” Lily responded honestly, smiling slightly at the though of the powerful (and painfully young) Shaker. They had met a few times during joint training or operations, and the girl had been a mixture of cute attempts at being an adult and gut-wrenching moments of maturity in the face of things she shouldn’t have ever experienced. “I look forward to meeting everyone, Vista and I get along well enough, and I’ve heard good things about pretty much everyone else.”

“With the exception of Shadow Stalker, right?” Hana asked dryly, though to be honest it was less of a question and more of a statement. Lily stared at her in silence, totally unsure of what response she should muster. Fortunately for her, she doesn’t have to, and Hana shakes her head with a slight grimace. “She’s honestly not as bad as everyone makes her out to be. She isn’t a raving psychopath that loves hurting people for the sake of hurting them. Some people handle their Triggers better than others, that’s all. I won’t betray her confidence by saying anything further, all I ask is that you try to get to know her. It won’t be quick, easy, or fun, but I think you’d be surprised by who she is at her core, once you reach it.”

This isn’t the sort of discussion Lily had expected when she had gotten into the car a few minutes ago, but it was the discussion she was having, and she was going to take it seriously. She didn’t doubt that Miss Militia would try to encourage comradery and quash interpersonal issues in the Wards, for obvious reasons, but she didn’t think that the other parahuman would trick her or lie to her to achieve it either. It didn’t seem to be in her character.

“I’ll try. God knows that Trigger events can really mess people up, and I can imagine that some places can lead to worse Triggers than others. Besides, she didn’t go villain, so she obviously has a good heart, even if it’s a tough one, right?” she agrees firmly, nodding her head and settling back in her seat. Hana shot her a proud smile, opening her mouth to say something, and the world went mad. A massive blow struck the car, smashing it from its wheels, and Lily screamed as it rolled onto its roof and skidded into a wall.

“Lily! Lily, are you alright?” Hana coughed, one arm wrapped around her ribs, and Lily could only groan in response as she tried to take stock of herself enough to formulate a proper report. She was a ranged fighter, damnit, but even when she had taken hits in fights, none had been that bad. Did getting caught by surprise really make that much of a difference? “We have to get out of the car, can you move?”

“I think so?” the teen shifted each of her limbs, finding them capable of moving without pain. Nothing was pinned, she could tell that much, and everything was in working order. “Yeah, nothing broken and I’m not pinned down. You?”

“I’m fine. Been smacked around worse than that during sparring sessions.” Came the huff of strained amusement, and there was a metallic click as she undid her seat belt. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Lily was reaching for her own seatbelt when she paused, frowning as her nose twitched slightly.

“…do you smell something gross?” she asked, and all movement in the car stopped as deliberate sniffs took their place.

“That smells like,” Hana started, only for both women to yelp as smoke billowed into the car, thick and acrid and pungent. “Fire! We have to get out, now!”

Lily scrabbled at her own seat belt, coughing as her eyes began to sting, but when she pressed the button and yanked nothing happened. For the briefest moment she froze, disbelieving, before yanking again and again even as Hana forced the driver’s side door open and started to crawl free.

“Hana! The belt! I’m stuck!” she cried, pressing the release as hard as she could and pushing the belt buckle further in, hoping to dislodge whatever the blockage was, but it was no good. However it had happened, whatever the damage was, she couldn’t get free.

“Lily, hold on, I’m…!” Hana said, sticking her head back in the car, but someone tackled her out of sight as an explosion rattled the air around them. She didn’t reappear immediately, and Lily wheezed and struggled as the smoke grew thicker, her head swimming with fumes and fear, wondering if this was how she was going to die. Trapped in a wrecked car by a seatbelt as a civilian, without even having had her first patrol in Brockton Bay?

Then there was someone there, a dark blur reaching for her as her eyes grew dim. She reached out limply, pleadingly, desperate for salvation. There was a violet flash, like a bladed spark, and then she was being pulled to safety. Her final memory, as the dark of unconsciousness encroached on her vision, was of a young woman with dark hair and worried jade eyes holding her close and brushing the hair out of her face.

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