Taylor and the Twisted Game Part 28

[That wasn't supposed to happen], Split complained as her host was yanked away from his desk and through what seemed like a portal into a commercial bathroom in the middle of puppetting him through one of her paths.

[Issues with your predictions?] Admin asked as she used her Widow's Venom spell to stun Coil so she could steal his weapons without having to worry about getting shot. She let the portal close then quickly stole his pistol and boot knife. "Stunned, twenty five seconds!"

"Go!" Emily ordered.

[Are you running stealth protocols?] Split asked as someone in power armor charged into the room and started moving her unresponsive host so he could shackle him.

[Sorry], Admin offered as she watched Armsmaster hog-tie the villain with conjured shackles.

"Stalker!" Colin called out as he held the butt of his halberd over the villain's head on the off chance that he had to knock him unconscious.

Sophia dashed into the bathroom then ran over to the hogtied villain and grabbed his costume. She phased with the costume then spun ninety degrees and took two steps back so she was out of range if the villain managed to flop at her or break the restraints.

"Fuck!" Colin cursed when he recognized the stunned man and got a better idea of the extent of their security issues. "Sap him!"

Admin conjured a hard plastic dildo then walked over and bashed the hogtied villain over the head, using her sap skill to stun the villain.

[Can I talk you into checking my host protocols and permissions?] Split asked as she sent Admin her configuration files and orders. [I have a feeling I'm going to need a new host and I don't have permission to acquire one.]

"Problem?" Legend asked, ready to dash into the bathroom or blast through the wall if he had to.

"He's a PRT consultant," Colin complained, glad that Valentina and Alec had already taken their family and left as he didn't trust the rest of them not to cause trouble.

"Is he secured?" Legend asked.

[I'll trade you the protocols for information on his base], Admin offered.

"Secure enough unless he's a brute, a changer or a breaker," Colin replied, planning on electrocuting Thomas if he moved.

[Data], Split replied, sending the information she had on Coil's base and his general plans.

[Thanks], Admin replied as she glanced over the files.

Legend changed into his breaker form then darted into the bathroom and past the chained up man then reformed and glanced around the bathroom on the off chance that something had gone wrong, relaxing a touch when he realized that the villain was securely tied up. "Who is he?"

Colin scowled at the stunned villain. "Unless I'm mistaken, Thomas Calvert. He's a PRT consultant or someone is taking his form for various reasons."

"Calvert shouldn't be able to be a parahuman, he tested clean after Elisberg, no sign of either a gamma or corona," Emily argued as she walked into the bathroom.

"How do you know that?" Legend asked.

"I checked his record, he shot a fellow officer in the back because he wasn't climbing fast enough," Emily complained, still angry that someone hadn't tossed him in front of a firing squad, mostly because of his smirk at the time that pretty much proved he hadn't been 'temporarily' insane at the time.

"And you're sure this is Thomas Calvert?" Legend asked Admin.

Admin cast her mind vision spell, focusing on Thomas Calvert and wasn't surprised when she got a vision of the bathroom from the prisoner's perspective. "I'm sure," she replied as she let the spell drop.

"This is going to be a mess," Legend complained, curious about how Calvert was connected to Manton and the missing vials.

"Do you want me to capture the rest of his minions and disable the self-destruct system he put in place?" Admin asked.

Emily scowled at Calvert, weighing the amount of trouble she'd get in for attacking a suspect they'd captured and the personal satisfaction she'd get out of kicking him. "We need to get him locked up and the base secured, are you willing to work with Armsmaster to make sure the base isn't going to explode?"

"Of course," Admin replied as she opened a void portal to his base and sent Efficiency the schematics and information so she could toss it up as a schematic.

[That's a waste of explosive devices], Efficiency complained after checking the information.

[He's not a tinker and he didn't want a tinker anywhere near his self-destruct systems], Split offered.

[Considering the extent we have to cripple things because of stupid rules, I can't blame him], Efficiency complained.

[How often do you get to raid a secret base anymore?] Sparkling whispered in the back of Legend's mind.

Legend turned to look at Admin. "Do you want help clearing the base?"

"Is that going to decrease the chance of getting to keep it?" Admin asked.

"No but your ability to keep it is going to depend on who owns the property," Legend replied, unwilling to promise something that he couldn't deliver.

Admin considered the question as she watched Armsmaster walk through the portal. "In that case, I wouldn't mind the help though I don't need it, tracking humanoids and void portals should make it easy."

"In that case, consider me an observer," Legend replied then walked through the void portal.

Emily turned to look at Sophia. "If he moves, knock him unconscious, we need him alive and functional enough to talk."

"Yes ma'am," Sophia replied without taking her eyes off the 'possible' traitor, glad that she was still feeling clear headed and sane rather than on edge and anxious to get out and crack some skulls.

Emily walked out of the bathroom. "Clock, I need a portal to the rig. Velocity, call Miss Militia and have her meet you on the rig, I want this suspect secured until he talks. On the off chance he's not guilty, don't slam his head into a wall on the way to the cells."

"Understood," Velocity replied as he pulled out his phone and called Miss Militia.

"Sorry ladies, duty calls," Dennis told Skitter's puppets, Aisha and Tats then headed towards the bathroom to open a void portal so they could toss Coil into a dark cell.

0o0o0

Danny felt like his brain glitched when he walked out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee and saw his daughter sitting on the couch reading a thick glowing tome. "Taylor?"

"Last I checked," Taylor replied with a grin. "I would have been here sooner but Panacea had to give us a health check up and we had to figure out what to tell people about the game."

Danny took a sip of his coffee as he studied his daughter, noticing her lack of glasses and the fact that she looked more athletic than he'd ever seen her. "I'm not asleep enough to have missed you sneaking in the door, how did you get in?"

Taylor grinned at her father. "I opened a portal while you were in the kitchen, summoned my grimoire and sat down to read, trying and apparently failing to look like I'd been here for a while."

"Portal? Any idea why you still have your character's powers?" Danny asked as he stared at the glowing book in her daughter's lap.

"No clue, everyone kept their powers." Taylor let the grimoire vanish and floated off the couch, showing off her flight ability.

"Okay." Danny took a drink of his coffee, wondering if the following conversation would go better with some whiskey in his coffee.

"Okay?" Taylor asked when she noticed that her father was being rather blasé about the whole magic thing. "That's it?"

"Are you sure you're not a parahuman?" Danny asked as he walked over to the desk.

"Panacea checked…" Taylor trailed off as she reached up and caught the magnet her father had just tossed her. "What's with the magnet?"

"It's iron," Danny replied as he studied her hand.

"Meaning?" Taylor asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Meaning that if you were a changeling, you'd have dropped it," Danny explained then took a drink of his coffee. "Do you remember your grandmother's favorite color?"

"Blue and Grams likes lavender," Taylor replied as she floated back to the ground.

"Probably not a changer then," Danny admitted.

Taylor glanced down at the magnet she was holding. "How does iron help if they're a changer?"

"It doesn't," Danny admitted. "But faeries don't like touching iron and you're talking about magic, I figured I'd check. Did you have any trouble beating the last boss?" he asked, changing the subject.

"He wasn't the last boss, just the last boss of the expansion and no, we hit him like a wrecking ball," Taylor replied with a grin, rather amused at how easy the fight had been compared to what she'd been expecting. "After that, we filled out an exit survey and found ourselves at the old ferry terminal in the docks."

"The ferry terminal in town?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Taylor agreed. "I'm guessing it had something to do with being out of the way and the fact that at least half of the people in the group were from Brockton Bay."

"Not surprising, we're vicious and mean, if anyone is going to make it out of hell, it's us," Danny replied, only half joking. "What happened when you got back?"

"We let Panacea check everyone for diseases, viruses and other health problems then Velocity showed up because Armsmaster's suit has a tracking device. The director got a call from the chief director and Legend showed up because he was someone important that could actually get here in a reasonable amount of time. Once he got there, he asked some questions about our powers and about our experiences in the simulation, then we tossed some ideas back and forth about what we're going to tell the media," Taylor explained.

"What did they decide?" Danny asked.

"A version of the truth. We're basically supposed to emphasize the sheer number of pricks in the simulation, how happy we are to be back with family, the most likely temporary nature of the powers we managed to acquire and the fact that we don't know what the company wants," Taylor explained.

"From what you said before, that's mostly accurate, right?" Danny asked, then took a drink of his coffee.

"It leaves out the fact that some of the areas are breathtaking and that you have a new body while you're in the simulation which means you don't have to worry about your previous medical conditions and that I'm fairly sure we'll get to keep our abilities permanently, but yeah, it's more or less accurate," Taylor agreed.

"I can see where they wouldn't want you to stress the positives. Did they make you sign anything?" Danny asked after finishing his coffee and setting the mug on the desk.

Taylor waited until her father was looking at her then tossed the magnet back. "Velocity suggested it but Brandish pointed out that having minors sign legal documents is pointless and that trying to haul in a parent would compromise our secret identities."

"At which point they just let you go?" Danny asked sceptically.

"There are a couple of things related to secret identities I've been asked not to mention but for the most part I'm in the clear," Taylor assured him. "Probably because actually keeping us locked up would be a nightmare and we don't technically know anything we shouldn't, at least not officially."

"Not officially?" Danny asked.

"If I had a yearbook, I could probably figure out a couple of the wards' 'secret' identities but I'd rather not, they're actually decent people," Taylor replied.

Danny nodded. "You mentioned portals, how far can you travel?"

"I haven't tried to open a portal to the Moon or into space but one of the girls opened a portal to London from a picture so, basically anywhere on Earth," Taylor replied with a grin.

"That should make taking a vacation easier," Danny mused. "What else did you pick up?"

"Flight, multitasking via minions and puppets, immunity or at least extreme resistance to various elemental damage types and a bunch of spells, including the ability to conjure ice cream, heal people and phase through various restraints," Taylor explained with a grin.

"Congratulations, you're a witch," Danny teased her as he stepped forward and hugged her, glad that she was back.

"Technically I'm a mage and a hunter, but yeah, witch works," Taylor replied as she carefully hugged her father back, being careful of her enhanced strength.

Danny let her go after ten seconds then took two steps back. "Are you having any emotional stability issues?"

Taylor shook her head. "I'm not a blood elf."

"They're the magic addicted elves that go crazy and wither when they don't have access to enough magic, right?" Danny asked, thinking about the website he'd read.

"Pretty much," Taylor agreed. "It didn't help that the blood elf king was sending tainted magic back to the capital."

"Intentionally?" Danny asked.

"A bit of both, they weren't as picky as they should have been and the king was stealing magic from demons," Taylor explained.

"You said something about being a void elf, what's the difference?" Danny asked.

"We don't have the same issues with magic and we can teleport a short distance through the void," Taylor replied as she glanced at the closed blinds on the window, wanting to double check that they were completely closed before she showed off. "If you agree not to freak out, I'll show you my alternate form."

"Why would I freak out?" Danny asked.

"No idea, you're the one tossing magnets at people," Taylor argued.

"I reserve the right to scream in terror," Danny replied with a grin.

Taylor gave her father an unimpressed look then swapped to her void elf form.

Danny blinked as his daughter flickered and an unfamiliar and taller purple skinned young woman with long wavy dark purple hair, pointed ears and glowing green eyes took her place. 'If she's not seven feet, she's close.' He took a second to study her faintly glowing black robe then looked down at her bare feet. "Aren't your feet cold?"

"Not really, one of the abilities I picked up is environmental adaptation, I can walk around in the snow or in a desert in a t-shirt and shorts and be fine either way," Taylor explained, happy that she'd picked up that particular power.

"Did you pick up any combat skills?" Danny asked thoughtfully.

"Hand to hand, swords, knives, blunt weapons, ranged and polearms, why?" Taylor asked.

"Because you look like you stepped out of a movie or off a book cover," Danny admitted.

"At least no one is going to recognize me," Taylor replied as she swapped back to her human form. "I wouldn't have minded a boost to my bust but at least falling into the game fixed my eyesight."

"Lucky. How long can you stay an elf?" Danny asked, ignoring her comments about her bust.

"As long as I want," Taylor replied with a grin. "I'm planning on using it for any cape related events where I can't just send a puppet."

"You're planning on being a cape?" Danny asked warily.

"Technically I'm planning on selling gear to the PRT and various heroes or rogues while staying out of trouble but I'll probably see something or get pulled into something and I'd rather not leave any trace of my civilian identity lying around. That and I'm probably going to hang out with some of the people I met in the simulation," Taylor explained.

"Would it help if I said you can't be a cape?" Danny asked, hoping he could talk her out of it.

"Considering the city needs help and I don't have to leave the house in the middle of the night or risk my life because of my puppets, I don't think I'm supposed to answer that question," Taylor admitted.

Danny smiled as he reached out and ruffled Taylor's hair. "You're like your mother."

"Thanks," Taylor replied as she headed for the kitchen. "Do you have any questions or can I grab some cookies?"

"What do your puppets look like?" Danny asked as he followed his daughter to the kitchen.

Taylor opened a portal in front of one of her puppets and next to the fridge then had her step through. "Like this."

Danny looked at the nearly seven foot attractive blue skinned void elf wearing a faintly glowing black robe that matched his daughter's robes in her alternate form then looked at his daughter. "Do you just give her orders or is there more to it?"

Taylor closed the portal as she didn't want anyone getting curious and stepping through. "Technically, it's a form of telepathy and she follows my suggestions but it's basically like being in multiple places at once."

"Can you read minds?" Danny asked, hoping the answer was no.

"Not really, it's more like a telepathic conversation channel," Taylor explained as she grabbed a couple of cookies and tossed one to her puppet.

The puppet caught the cookie then waved at Danny with her other hand. "Mmh, cookies."

"That's a relief," Danny admitted. "How many puppets do you have?"

"Five…" Taylor trailed off when the phone rang.

Danny walked over and picked up the phone before it rang a second time. "Hebert residence."

"Danny, just wanted to let you know that Emma's back, she was just at a friend's and the note slipped off the fridge, figured you'd want to know so you weren't worrying," Alan explained.

"That's good to hear, Merry Christmas Eve," Danny offered, wondering what Alan was lying about.

"It certainly is," Alan replied. "We're about to eat so I have to go, I just wanted to give you a heads up."

"I'm glad it wasn't anything serious," Danny replied.

"Thanks. Is Taylor feeling better?" Alan asked.

"Marginally, I'm pretty sure she's still contagious but at least she doesn't have a fever anymore and the vomiting stopped," Danny replied, feeling slightly guilty about lying to his friend but not guilty enough to tell the truth, especially when Alan wasn't telling the truth about Emma.

"Best of luck," Alan said then ended the call.

"You'd think a lawyer would be a better liar," Danny muttered as he hung up the phone.

"What's he lying about?" Taylor asked, annoyed that Emma was probably going to be spreading stories at school about her projectile vomiting or something equally as unpleasant.

"No idea but he was frantic when Emma vanished, he called asking if she was with you, you'd mentioned not wanting anyone to know you were gone, so I told him you were sick and that we hadn't seen her, but that's the curious thing," Danny said as he focused on Taylor's face. "You haven't mentioned Emma in months, more like a year now that I'm thinking about it and there's that twitch every time I say her name, what's going on?"

"She went nuts," Taylor admitted reluctantly after twenty seconds of trying to figure out a decent lie and failing.

"Define nuts," Danny ordered, wanting a straight answer.

Taylor shivered as the shadows in the room seemed to get darker for a couple of seconds before they retreated to where they should be. "She snapped when I was at camp, she's spent the last year and change emotionally torturing me."

Danny took a breath and let it out as he tried to calm down, reminding himself that his daughter was safe and sound and in front of him. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I thought it was a phase at first…" Taylor trailed off, not really wanting to go into his issues on Christmas Eve, especially since he'd gotten better recently, "then it just got worse," she admitted, not sure what else to say.

"If you want I'll call him back and ask him what the hell is going on," Danny offered.

"That ship has sailed," Taylor muttered, then she sighed as she realized she actually wanted to know what the hell had caused her friend to go insane. "Give me a second, I'll check on Emma."

"How?" Danny asked.

"I have a spell that lets me scry on people," Taylor replied then cast her mind vision spell on Emma. She blinked when her spell failed to work. "We might have a problem."

"What do you mean?" Danny asked warily.

"I can't find Emma, the spell failed," Taylor admitted, wondering who the hell was impersonating her ex-friend and more importantly, how long they'd been impersonating her.

"Is there a distance limit?" Danny asked, starting to wonder if he needed to swing by Alan's house to check on him.

"She'd have to be on another continent," Taylor complained then cast her spell on Alan Barnes, wanting to make sure he was safe. She stared in shock as she got a perfect view of a smiling Ember in the Barnes family home wearing the black robe she'd conjured for her with Anne standing next to her guildmate with a smile on her face.

Danny took a step back when he saw lightning start crackling over Taylor's hands. "Take a breath and calm down before you blow something up, what did you find?"

Taylor took a breath then let it out slowly when Ember changed into Emma, trying to get her temper under control. "I figured out why I couldn't find Emma…" she trailed off as she realized she needed confirmation. She dropped her spell and recast the mind vision spell on Emma, not sure if she was supposed to cry, laugh or smash the table to pieces when the spell worked and she got to see the familiar inside of the Barnes family home and Alan Barnes with a smile on his face. She dropped the spell then stalked over to the shelf and grabbed a bowl from the stack.

"Is she?" Danny asked, not wanting to ask if his friend's daughter was dead but needing to know.

"Fuck this shit, I'm out," Taylor replied then conjured two ice cream cones and dumped them in the bowl and smashed the cones with her hand with a bit more force than was strictly necessary. "She's alive, you don't need to call Alan." She grabbed a spoon from the silverwear drawer then walked back towards the living room, deciding that she'd deal with her ex-friend's fucking shit in the morning or at least after she finished calming down and eating her ice cream.