The River King 12

The River King 12

Taylor Hebert

I considered leaving. Sacrificing Hookwolf to Tahm Kench was the whole point of tonight. So long as he was still breathing, him being a little braindead was actually a good thing for me.

But, even as I called the River to me, I hesitated. I was a hero. Maybe not the kind that got children’s cartoons made about them, but I was; I truly believed that the city was made better through my efforts. Armsmaster wasn’t my enemy.

Admittedly, a part of me was curious. What exactly did the leader of the Protectorate think about me? I knew what the PRT said about me, that I was a violent vigilante, but dad always said that an organization did not always represent its members. Just because the PRT said something officially didn’t mean the Protectorate heroes felt the same way individually.

Tellingly, there wasn’t a warrant out for my arrest. They wanted me brought in for questioning, which was a little different. They’d pressgang me, promise me a paycheck or threaten me with full villainhood, but no one had gone out of their way to send the heroes after me so far.

So, I waited. Soon, my human ears picked up the sound of his bike. Mere seconds later, he turned into the motel courtyard before sliding to a stop six feet away from me.

He cut an impressive figure. With his cobalt-blue power armor, he stood a full seven feet tall at least. His halberd was already in hand, eight feet of heavy steel and who knew what else. His mouth was locked in a stern line, a frown of disapproval at the carnage around us.

“Monarch,” he said tersely, like my name tasted bitter.

I gripped Hookwolf by his throat. The water that made up my arm rippled as my swarm drew near. “Armsmaster.”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Presumably the same job you’re supposed to be: catching villains.”

He looked around, zeroing in on the bodies. “People are dead in your little raid.”

“And that’s very tragic, but maybe they shouldn’t come to Empire block parties. If the rest learn that lesson, I’ll be satisfied.”

“That’s not how the law works, Monarch.”

“Maybe not, but forgive me if I don’t shed a tear for literal Nazis.”

“Come with me and surrender Hookwolf into my custody. Already, you are wanted for questioning in several cases of assault and battery, vigilantism, and destruction of property. Don’t make this worse for yourself.”

I couldn’t help the snort of disbelief that came out of my mouth. Assault? Battery? That was the worst they had on me?

No, on second thought, that made sense.

Rune was left alive to report back, but the Empire probably didn’t want people to know that I’d murdered two of their capes. Their main strength was that they had a lot of capes to throw at a problem. They probably put pressure on Rune and the mooks who were there to keep things quiet.

They’d likely clamp down on that information for as long as possible to preserve their image of strength. When it became impossible to hide, or maybe when Kaiser felt like really starting a crusade, he’d tell his mooks how I’d cruelly murdered the “righteous defenders of the Aryan race” or whatever. That’d whip them into a frenzy, maybe start a gang war.

I smiled. The thought of a gang war would have scared me a mere month ago, but I found myself not minding the possibility. If it came to pass, it’d force the heroes to act. So maybe it was a good thing that I was taking Hookwolf tonight. I could force their hand and cut out the rot in one fell swoop.

“Then what? Will you tell me all the benefits of joining the Protectorate? Maybe tell me that the Empire is looking for me? That you can protect me? Let them come. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Excessive violence does not make you a hero. It makes you a vigilante, no better than the villains you’re fighting. You’re too brutal. You need guidance.”

“Yeah?” I scoffed. “Maybe you’re not brutal enough. Maybe, if you want to make lasting changes to this city, the villains need to suffer lasting consequences.”

“Enough. Surrender yourself and relinquish Hookwolf into my custody.”

“No, I don’t think I–”

I didn’t get to finish. For a man in seven feet of power armor, he moved like a viper. He was by far the fastest cape I’d personally encountered, with the kind of fluidity that couldn’t have come from enhanced servos. In a straight, physical contest, I’d lose every time. His halberd shot forward as he lunged. Its tip was peeled back, the spear tip tucked aside to reveal a dart.

I didn’t hesitate. I had no idea how resistant I was to poisons so I moved Hookwolf’s unconscious body in front of me. Ironically, had Armsmaster been going for the kill, I would have been more hesitant to use him as a meatshield. After all, I needed him alive long enough to feed to Tahm so I could get my arm back.

I retreated backwards as my swarm filled the courtyard with angry buzzing. He was mobbed in moments. For all his vaunted discipline, he was a man in the end; a cockroach running up his chin and into his visor made him give up the attack. The lower part of his helmet quickly formed a seal around his chin, probably came with a gas mask or something, but the damage was done; my bugs were already inside.

The River rose and I allowed myself to fall to meet it. He said something but I couldn’t hear over the sound of countless wingbeats. This wouldn’t work a second time. He was the kind of flexible tinker who could no-sell a trick he’d seen before.

But that was for future-Monarch to deal with. For now, I had my escape. I sank into the water and pulled Hookwolf behind me.

X

I arrived at the warehouse with Tahm Kench already waiting for me. He was a big, hulking mass who loomed in the shadows, my friend’s eyes more than able to pierce the dark. He’d planned to head west–he said he wanted to see what the fuss was with Mount Rushmore–but had agreed to remain here for a few days so I could seal the contract.

He saw me and smiled, his pointed teeth glinting in the dim lighting. “Taylor, welcome back. I see you were successful in your hunt.”

“I was. I met Armsmaster towards the end, though,” I said as I tossed Hookwolf to the ground. “You know, I used to look up to him. He always reminded me of a knight in shining armor, but more plasma weapons.”

“Yes, he does look the type. How did it feel to meet your childhood hero? Was he all that you hoped he’d be?”

“Maybe? I guess, from his perspective, I look like a villain. He said that I’m no better than the villains I fight.”

“That’s not true. You are a woman of immense resolve and character.”

“Thanks, Tahm,” I smiled genuinely. He said it so bluntly, as if it was as obvious as the rising sun. “But that’s not what the law says. As far as the law goes, he’s right. I know he is. I hurt people. I killed people.”

“Guilty people. Monsters in human skin. People who wouldn’t think twice about hurting you.”

“True… I guess I’m a little disappointed.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Taylor. Childhood dreams are delicate things,” he said softly.

“They are. He attacked me, you know. He wanted to bring me in.”

“Did you fight him?”

“No,” I shook my head with a bitter smile. “He’s still a hero. I just… It wouldn’t have felt right. I dove into the River and came to you.”

“I suppose that’s the best case scenario,” he drawled. “And you brought me Hookwolf.”

“I brought you Hookwolf.”

“Well then, I suppose a deal is a deal. You desire your arm back, yes?”

“I do. I think I’ve been away from home long enough.”

“So be it, then.”

He ate Hookwolf like the rest. There was no fanfare. His mouth opened impossibly wide, his tongue lashed out, and that was the end of the Empire’s most notorious enforcer. I almost felt as if there should have been. He’d been my main fixation for so long that watching him die made me feel as if I was closing a chapter of my life.

Then again, maybe this was appropriate. A monster like Hookwolf did not deserve to be acknowledged. Maybe it was right then, that he’d die such an inglorious death. Even the arm he’d taken from me would be renewed. One day, perhaps I would even forget his name.

A melancholic smile spread across my face as the River surged within me. But rather than manifest in an external show of power, it formed a deep well in my soul. And from the River came my arm, a reminder of what I’d lost, rising back to the surface.

Bones grew anew. Muscles and sinew stitched themselves into place. Skin, pale and unblemished, formed over my new arm. All the while, I watched in mute fascination. It didn’t hurt, or feel like anything for that matter.

There was a mild, numbing chill that I associated with the River’s water, but that was all. Even that faded as my natural body heat suffused the new arm, warming it and giving me a slight pins and needles feeling.

I looked human now; I was whole once more. No one would mistake me for a damp-haired sea monster with tentacles for an arm again. But that did not mean that the River had faded. It was just beneath the surface, in the blood that coursed through my veins and the deep, dark well that I could only describe as my soul.

I held my hands up to my face. My right hand was a shade lighter than my left. Even in New Hampshire, I supposed I did tan a little bit. Still, it wasn’t immediately obvious unless I held my hands together.

I smiled. “I’m… I’m going to go home.”

“So you are, Taylor.”

“I’m so much stronger than I was, even just a week ago.”

“You are. You’ve earned this. Who else can be trusted with this power than ol’ Tahm’s dear friend?”

“Thank you, Tahm, really.”

“Go on, then. Run home, Taylor. May it be all that you desire,” Tahm replied with a knowing grin.

X

I stared blankly up at the ceiling as I lay in my bed. My room was exactly as I’d left it; I didn’t think dad so much as stepped foot inside.

He was like that. Dad was not a loud man. He had a quiet, soft-spoken “get shit done” attitude that mom said made her fall for him. And when he mourned, he mourned silently. He went through the motions of life without really seeing anything, building up tension but unable to find an outlet. I’d seen it before, when mom died.

The first thing he did was hug me tightly, hard enough to bruise a normal girl. It was like all that tension fell away, onto my shoulders. Except this time, I was strong enough to hold the weight.

Then came the demands to know where I’d been. I’d been gone for a week and the police hadn’t been able to find a damn thing. They were just about ready to mark me down as another victim of sex trafficking. The ABB did that sometimes, as if the pan-Asian Nazis were trying to prove to the literal Nazis that they could be monsters, too.

I assured him and the detective that came by that this wasn’t it. A part of me wanted to stir the waters with the ABB, but this wasn’t a good way to go about it. They’d just burn down my house or kill dad to make an example of us. No, that kind of work was for Monarch, not Taylor Hebert.

Instead, I gave him the simplest story I could think of. I was bullied and they took it too far. A few guys grabbed me after school and stuffed me in a van. They took me to a warehouse somewhere and transferred me to the back of a freight truck. I wasn’t sure how long I was there, but when the back of the truck opened and I could sneak out during a pit stop, I was halfway to Philadelphia.

I should have asked the driver for a phone, but I was too scared and disoriented to think straight. I didn’t remember anything about the truck and was too afraid to confront the driver. I stole some food from the back and began walking in the opposite direction the truck had been going. From there, I hitchhiked a few times until I got to Boston. I met a nice lady who gave me money to ride a bus home.

It wasn’t a good story. There were a lot of holes, not least of which that I’d never visited any of those places. Still, dad was so relieved to have me back that he didn’t question me too much.

Besides, it put some scrutiny on my bullies again. Emma, Sophia, and Madison probably deserved it, whatever they’d been up to. I figured that even if they did try to get me back, what those three bitches could do wouldn’t ever be as bad as the ABB firebombing my house or deciding that I should get the real kidnapping experience.

That had been two weeks ago. Things had settled into an uneasy, new normal.

I was now under constant watch. Dad had pulled me out of school for the remainder of the year. Given it was April, I wasn’t missing much anyway. It meant repeating a year, but this cut the bitches out of my life for the moment so I was fine with it.

Dad hovered around me like a shadow. He worked from home whenever possible. He found a reason to check in on me every few hours, coming by with snacks or to pick up laundry or whatever else he could think of. I couldn’t even sneak out at night because he’d wake up from a nightmare and make sure that I was still in bed.

I just… I understood, but I found it all stifling. My only success had been convincing him that I needed a phone. After my story, it wasn’t hard to justify. Then, I insisted on going out jogging before going to the library to study. This way, I could keep up the rhythm of being a student and I could text dad what I was doing whenever he wanted.

Of course I wasn’t studying. I had to feed Tahm to upkeep my end of the contract. It was also one of the only times I could be out during the day to keep tabs on the city.

Hookwolf, Cricket, and Stomrtiger were dead. After so long, the Empire couldn’t hide it anymore. But, they didn’t need to because I hadn’t made an appearance in my cape identity for weeks. Kaiser said that Monarch was in hiding, that I was running scared before the might of the Empire.

The mooks felt emboldened by Kaiser’s words and my absence. They began flashing gang colors and Nazi symbology freely again. They walked around like puffed up baboons, and while it was mostly a show of strength, the capes that joined them were more tangible dangers.

The ABB responded. How could they not? The Empire had taken losses, losses they could not replace. It was only natural for their rivals to capitalize on that. So, fighting in the fringes of gang territory began to escalate, erupting into gunfire even without my presence. The heroes were having a hell of a time trying to cool tensions, not that they’d ever been good at that.

And I missed all of it. I’d been out for two weeks and I felt as if it’d been years. When I could no longer put dad’s peace of mind over the city, I did what all teenage girls probably do at least once in their lives: I brought dad tea with some over-the-counter sleeping meds, stuffed clothes beneath my blanket into the rough shape of a person, and snuck out of the house.

My first order of business was to reclaim my territory. It was a strip of the city that used to be Empire turf, but hadn’t been patrolled too heavily before I came along. It sat between the “good” residential neighborhood, the downtown business district, and the touristy areas near the Boardwalk.

I hid a small army of fist-sized crabs in my jacket and began my patrol. Once my swarm reported the presence of Empire activity, I opened a watery portal and tossed in a couple. Each would emerge on the other side, crawling out of the River like an amphibious invasion, already the center of my water puppets.

Like this, I could hit ten different locations at once. From convenience store robberies to Empire safehouses, nowhere was safe. And, given that it took Hookwolf serious effort to crush my constructs, the average gangster wasn’t likely to do anything to them. Over the next half hour of activity, I only lost a single crab, and that was because one of the mooks had the bright idea to run it over with his jeep.

Then, I noticed something at the edge of my power’s range. Five of my constructs were assaulting an Empire storehouse that masqueraded as a seafood restaurant. Ironically, they were having a sale on crabcakes. My crabs went in and began yanking guests outside, sometimes bodily lifting them before depositing them in the parking lot. Any actual gang members in the back were subdued with far less pity.

It was a simple, clever setup. There were no basements or secret compartments. The seafood deliveries came in boxes packed with ice. The bottom layers contained sealed bags of drugs. It was probably enough to fool any K-9s, or at least leave enough doubt for a bribed inspector to look the other way. I only noticed because my bugs were a lot more thorough.

As I began setting the drugs out as evidence, I felt one of my crabs be bathed in a beam of light. The spiral of concussion and heat flash-boiled it in its construct, leaving behind a steaming, red carcass. There was only one person who could do that in the Empire.

Purity, maybe their most dangerous lieutenant, had arrived. I was marginally surprised by this. PHO hadn't seen much of her lately, only the occasional flyover through the docks. Some even said she'd retired from the Nazi life, or that she’d turned over a new leaf as a hero.

Clearly, they were wrong. If she blew up an ABB storehouse, did it matter whether she did it as a Nazi or a “hero?” As far as I was concerned, she was a Nazi and Kaiser had obviously seen fit to deploy his best artillery against me.

I followed the River to a nearby rooftop and saw her with my own eyes. She was a shining beacon, so bright that only the vague silhouette of a woman could be discerned from the glowing light that surrounded her.

I considered my options. As much as I'd prefer otherwise, the River needed a surface to flow on so simply teleporting up to reach her was out. I could throw things at her, but she was agile enough in the air that she could easily dodge or shoot down any projectiles. Out of all the heroes in the city, only Lady Photon could really contest her in the air.

Annoying. My constructs were just target practice for her. I ducked down and slipped out of sight even as I summoned more of my army from around my territory.

Technically, the right course of action was to continue my guerilla warfare strategy from before. Hookwolf was dead. I had no personal reason to stand and fight when I could split my forces and really make the Empire bleed. Purity had no way of hunting me down, just as I had no way of effectively reaching her.

Yet, I found myself sending my army anyway. It was a matter of pride. I’d been out for weeks now. The Empire threw around the rhetoric that I was afraid, and if I left now, they’d be right. Purity would have won the Empire a victory, giving them real substance to bolster Kaiser’s words.

No. One way or another, I had to win this. I’d make that bitch regret coming out of retirement.

She shouted something, probably the beginnings of a racist rant, but I wasn’t paying attention. Instead, I dipped into the River and emerged in the attic of someone’s house two blocks away.

The house belonged to a navy veteran, something I knew because of a glass display in one corner. The medals looked impressive, though I had no idea what they all meant besides the bald eagle carrying an anchor. All that mattered was that he kept his gun locker next to his medals and dress uniform.

I filled the lock with water and made it expand into the shape of the lock, not unlike how I’d ripped Hookwolf apart. The lock popped open with a twist and I had my pick of weapons. I’d picked up the occasional peashooter before, but these were the real deal, with a functional range in the hundreds of yards.

I teleported back to Purity. She’d boiled most of my crabs already. The parking lot outside the restaurant was deserted now, with only the gangbangers that had been in the restaurant littering the ground. Maybe breaking their kneecaps was excessive. Then again, maybe they shouldn’t have trafficked drugs.

As I watched, Dauntless and Velocity arrived. It made sense, Dauntless was the only flyer in the Protectorate. Aegis and Kid Win technically counted, but it’d be a cold day in hell before the PRT sent in Wards against a heavy hitter like Purity.

Dauntless and Purity traded a few attacks. I was marginally impressed with the not-Spartan’s shield. Some kind of energy field expanded from its surface, deflecting her helical blasts. If it hurt him, he didn’t show it, only flying back a few dozen feet with each attack. Although, retaliatory beams from his lance couldn’t even touch her so I had a feeling she’d win out in the long run.

Meanwhile, Velocity zipped around the area, moving from alley to alley. He was obviously looking for me, the general of the crab army. I could guess their plan: Take out the master and hopefully use that to deescalate against Purity.

I scoffed. It was so very like them. This kind of passivity was exactly what kept the city festering with rot. Letting Purity leave wasn’t an option, not if I wanted to cripple the Empire.

A single bug made its move. It was not a bee, nor any kind of biting or stinging insect. It was a beetle, about the size of my thumbnail. Its carapace was black, damn near invisible against the night sky. It took a while, but I got it to fly close enough to Purity to land on her back.

I smiled. The light she emitted was just that, light, not heat. She glowed like the sun, making aiming at her damn near impossible. At least, it did for normal people.

I wasn’t normal. If she countered my powers, I’d simply find another way. 

I shouldered my newly acquired rifle and placed a fly at the tip of the barrel. I’d never shot one of these before. My posture was probably atrocious. But in the end, I was a brute; even a rifle like this wouldn’t budge me.

I closed my eyes. If there was one thing I could appreciate about my bug power, it was the senses that came with it. Sight was nice, but it wasn’t necessary. Instead, I allowed my bugs to tell me exactly where she was, where she was going, and how fast she was moving.

Below, Velocity found me. He shouted up at me but I ignored him. He jumped onto the fire escape and tossed a grenade at me. But for all his speed, he was too late.

Carefully, I traced the bug on Purity. Once the bug on the barrel lined up with the bug on her back, I pulled the trigger.

A loud, piercing crack echoed in the night. The bug on her chest died instantly. That, more than anything, told me my aim was true. Crimson bloomed from her chest, a perfect, heart-piercing shot assisted by preternatural awareness.

She fell as the River called to me. It swept me away, the foam fizzling around nothing at all. Let the heroes grasp at nothing. If war was what it took to clean up this city, then war there would be.

Author’s Note

I imagine that being Taylor with strong bug minions is a bit like playing IRL Starcraft. Actually, I’m pretty sure there are a few fics in which Taylor has Zerg powers.

Purity canonically separated from Max and goes by Kayden Russell. She took custody of Aster (their daughter and meme queen) and became disillusioned with the Empire as a whole.

Before Coil outed the entire Empire roster (her included), she was trying to rebrand as a hero (unsuccessfully). She’s a very divisive figure in the fandom because of it. But, regardless, Taylor doesn’t know any of that. 

Did you know Taylor has an in-built aimbot? People keep forgetting this, but it’s a canonical use-case of her power.

Animal Fact: Praying mantis babies are called nymphs. So are cockroach and grasshopper babies, as well as "true bugs."

Basically, if they go through an incomplete metamorphosis, meaning they are born already looking like their adult forms, they are nymphs. If they go through a complete metamorphosis, they are larvae. This is because "nymph" is Greek for "young woman," not necessarily "sexy nature spirit every Olympian has banged at some point."

Oh, and mantises are cannibals so when they are born from the toasted marshmallow-looking egg sac, they are in a mosh pit of 50-200 cannibalistic siblings. They need to rappel down and hide before they get eaten alive, most likely by each other. They do this Mission Impossible shit without wings because nymphs don't get those until their final molts.