OnAHiatus

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE - RILEY (PART TWO)

Riley’s hand trembled over the activation console as Superman took another step closer. She hated how steady he always looked, like no threat in the world—not even her bombs—could break his composure. It threatened to undo the fragile mask she wore, her defiance faltering, though only for a moment.

“You’re right,” he said finally, oddly subdued. “I can’t be everywhere at once.”

Bonesaw blinked, caught off guard by the admission.

“But I can stop you,” he...

CHAPTER ELEVEN - THE DEMON CONFIRMED

Taylor sat on a bench beneath a skeletal tree, its bare branches rattling softly in the cold breeze. The park, a rare pocket of calm in the chaos of Gotham, was nearly empty—just an older man walking his dog in the distance and a few joggers passing through. For once, it felt like the city had taken a breath, and so had she.

She leaned back, watching her swarm flit quietly between her fingers, hidden beneath her jacket. Despite her training, her body still ached from the raid at the w...

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR - RILEY (PART ONE)

Riley’s fingers tightened around her scalpel, the metal digging into her skin. Jack’s confidence might have been unwavering, but she couldn’t shake the images burned into her mind: the Siberian falling apart, William Manton brought low, and Superman standing there as if nothing could touch him.

This wasn’t what they had planned for. Jack always said preparation was key, that their games needed to unfold perfectly, their dance of terror orchestrated down to the smallest detail. B...

INTERLUDE

Taylor sat cross-legged in her rented apartment, the dim light from a single lamp casting deep shadows across the walls. The space was sparse—barely enough room to spread her legs between her bed and couch—but it was enough. The room smelled faintly of coffee and ink, the byproducts of hours spent staring at the wall where she had pinned maps, blurry surveillance photos, and hastily scribbled notes. She’d spent the past two days trying to make sense of what she and Robin had uncovered a...

NO MAN’S HIVE

I’m stuck on whether to make the weapons supplier a Tinker from Earth Bet or Ra’s Al Ghul

FRAGMENTS OF THE PAST

The forest stretched endlessly in every direction, its canopy filtering sunlight into dappled patches on the ground. Her swarm scouted ahead, a vanguard of buzzing eyes and wings, while she slid silently across the terrain. But despite her newly-found purpose and growing comfort in this wild environment, a part of her mind remained restless.

Memories of Brockton Bay tugged at her, a persistent reminder of the life she’d left behind—or been ripped away from.

Thankfully, as she...

PREDATOR AND PREY

Taylor moved carefully, her gelatinous form sliding over the uneven ground as she explored. Her experiment with the hive earlier had left her mind buzzing with possibilities, but it also highlighted her limits.

She was adaptable, sure, but was she truly strong?

The question lingered as she traveled deeper into the forest. She had grown larger and slightly more refined after absorbing rocks, dirt, and a few small creatures, but she still felt vulnerable. Her memories of Brockton Ba...

SWARM SOVEREIGN

Taylor had been moving through the forest for what felt like hours, though without a clock or the ability to feel fatigue, she couldn’t be certain. Instead, she could feel the life teeming in the forest around her in a way that was both alien and exhilarating.

Her gelatinous body slid effortlessly over moss and roots, leaving no trace of her passage, and her new senses—enhanced by the beetle’s traits—kept her attuned to every rustle of leaves, every skitter of tiny legs. Every ...

THE FIRST STEP

The forest hummed with life around her: birds chirped overhead, insects buzzed in the undergrowth, and the faint rustle of leaves betrayed the movement of unseen animals. It was so alive, at least, compared to the ruins of Brockton Bay.

Taylor stared—or at least, she thought she stared—at her own form. A gelatinous mass, faintly translucent, with no discernible limbs or face. Her mind churned as she processed what had happened. She was dead—or, she was supposed to be. Her last mem...

CHAPTER TEN - THE LONG-AWAITED CONFRONTATION

The rooftop was cold and silent, save for the distant wail of sirens and the hum of Gotham below, a patchwork of flickering lights and shadow. Taylor stood on the edge, her hood drawn tight against the biting wind, and clenched her fists, her thoughts going back to the warehouse raid with Robin. As much as they had gained, she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that they were falling behind—that they were playing catch-up in a game they barely understood.

She exhaled, her breath foggi...

CHAPTER NINE: WAREHOUSE ESCAPADES

The plan was simple enough, at least in theory. Infiltrate one of Black Mask’s primary warehouses, gather intel, and sabotage the operation from the inside. For Taylor, the simplicity was deceptive. Robin wasn’t exactly a team player, and neither was she. Their uneasy alliance, forged out of necessity, felt like walking a tightrope. Any misstep could send them spiraling into conflict.

“Stick to the plan,” Robin said curtly, his voice low as they crouched on a rooftop overlooking...

CHAPTER EIGHT - UNLIKELY ALLIES

Taylor had always known Gotham was a powder keg waiting for a spark, but the explosion that came with the gang war between the Penguin and Black Mask was unlike anything she had imagined. The news was littered with reports of shootouts in the Narrows, arson in the Diamond District, and bodies piling up faster than the GCPD could count. But what caught her attention—and what she couldn’t ignore—were the weapons.

The street-level thugs weren’t brandishing rusty pistols or scavenge...

CHAPTER SEVEN - STEP BY STEP

The alley was quieter than most in Gotham, though Taylor could still hear the distant hum of the city’s ever-present ambient noise. She stepped into the small community space, her eyes sweeping over the group of residents gathered there. It wasn’t much—a collection of mismatched chairs around a fire barrel, some tarps strung up for makeshift shelter, and a garden that struggled against the city’s polluted air. But it was theirs.

Taylor had stumbled across the community by chance...

CHAPTER SIX - THE WEIGHT OF RESPONSIBILITY

Taylor felt the weight of what she had come to realise was a gang war—between Penguin and a villain she found out was the Black Mask; few of the runners she had taken out had been his men—pressing down on her shoulders. She had saved a few lives in the past two months, but it wasn't enough. It never was.

Gotham didn't need another bystander. It needed someone who could fight back, someone who could make the city's predators fear the shadows. Taylor wasn't sure if she could be that p...

INTERLUDE

Taylor’s routine began to shift during the following weeks. She started small. A warning here, a whispered suggestion there. A woman being followed home one night found her would-be stalker chased off by a swarm of biting flies. A corner store that had been dealing with nightly thefts discovered the culprits tangled in sticky webs behind their dumpsters, waiting for the police to find them. Taylor left no names, no calling cards—just a growing sense among the locals that someone was watch...

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - COLIN

Colin Wallis had finally tracked down Shatterbird.

The faint hum of his visor alerted him to her presence before his eyes did. Glass dust hung heavy in the air, shimmering faintly in the slanted sunlight filtering through the ruined high-rise. His halberd was steady in his grip, its faint energy glow casting long shadows against the broken walls.

“She’s in there,” he muttered, barely loud enough for Battery to hear.

Battery stood a step behind him, quiet, her usual com...

CHAPTER FIVE - INCREASING POPULARITY

The warehouse incident had rippled far beyond what Taylor anticipated. She heard it in snippets of conversation at work, caught in the murmurs of passersby on the street—even the hushed tones of the news hinted at the fallout. The Penguin was livid. The weapons shipment had been crucial to solidifying his grip on the Narrows, and now it was compromised.

Taylor knew it was only a matter of time before he started looking for her. She’d been too sloppy in her escape, leaving behind too...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

A bit late, but Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays, if that's more your vibe). And thank you to everyone who supported me; you have made this Christmas a lot more special

CHAPTER FOUR - SCOUTING THE ABYSS

Taylor adjusted the strap of her bag as she stepped off the bus, her eyes scanning the street. Gotham’s early morning haze hung low, giving the buildings a muted, washed-out quality. The Narrows had a distinct atmosphere; she had learned quickly that Gotham was a city of contrasts, a place where the gleam of skyscrapers stood in stark opposition to the shadowed alleys below. Each neighborhood had its own flavor of corruption, its own brand of chaos. Crime was omnipresent, woven into the cit...

CHAPTER THREE - UNNEEDED ATTENTION

Taylor moved quickly through the narrow alleyways, her hood pulled low over her face. Her heart still raced from the mugging she stopped, though she tried to suppress the flicker of satisfaction. The man she’d helped had run off without a word of thanks, leaving her alone with the unconscious would-be robber. She wasn’t expecting gratitude—it wasn’t why she did this. But now she had a bigger problem.

The man she’d taken down wasn’t just some random thug. A tattoo inked onto ...

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - JACK AND RILEY

Inside the battlefield’s smoky haze, Bonesaw perched atop a crumbling wall, her ever-present grin faltering as she watched the events unfold. For the first time in what felt like forever, unease squirmed in her chest, and her fingers, usually so steady, twitched incessantly against her scalpel. She turned her gaze to Jack, who stood a short distance away, his back straight, his smile sharp as ever.

But his confidence—his infuriating, all-consuming confidence—felt misplaced now. 2024-12-24 05:38:51 +0000 UTC View Post

CHAPTER TWO - BENEATH THE SURFACE

Taylor walked briskly along the cracked sidewalks of Gotham, her notebook pressed against the side of her bag. The fire she’d read about at the library gnawed at her thoughts. The location, the timing, the faint connections to other incidents—it all felt like pieces of a larger puzzle she was just beginning to piece together. But the bigger question loomed: What would she do if she figured it out?

Her thoughts strayed to her powers. It was like trying to steer a ship with a broken r...

CHECK OUT CHAPTER ONE - A FRESH START

I’ve added new content to the chapter, so go read it.

CHAPTER ONE - A FRESH START

Taylor adjusted the strap of her messenger bag as she pushed open the door to the small print shop on Gotham’s east side. The bell above the door jingled, announcing her arrival to an otherwise empty space. Inside, the smell of ink and paper lingered heavily, familiar and strangely comforting.

The shop wasn’t much—a cramped, unassuming place nestled between a pawn shop and a boarded-up laundromat—but it was functional. Its main draw was that it paid in cash and didn’t ask too ...

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - WILLIAM

William Manton flinched as Superman tore the van door away like paper. Light flooded the dim, grimy interior, illuminating the sweat dripping from Manton’s brow and the terror etched into every line of his face. His breathing hitched as Superman stepped closer, towering over him like some inevitable force of nature.

The tether to the Siberian surged with fury and desperation. She roared in the distance, already sprinting toward them. Manton felt her hunger, her rage, her drive to prot...

INTERLUDE

Cherie Vasil didn’t waste time packing. The duffel bag slung over her shoulder held the essentials: cash, burner phones, clothes, and the tools she needed to stay under the radar. She’d survived too much—her monstrous family, the hellish trials of the Slaughterhouse Nine, and now the chaos of Brockton Bay—to foolishly allow herself to be caught in the crossfire. Nor was she stupid enough to think Jack’s gambit in Brockton Bay would end with a tidy victory for them as Superman, of al...

PROLOGUE - FRACTURED CONNECTION

Taylor Hebert sat on the edge of the rooftop, knees pulled up to her chest as the chill of Gotham’s night crept through her jacket. The city stretched out like a living organism: flashing neon lights, distant sirens, the low hum of voices and echoing engines blending into a constant buzz. It was chaotic and broken. Alive, but in the same way Brockton Bay had been alive—rotting from the inside.

She reached out, tentative, the same way someone might test an injured limb. The insects w...

GOLD MORNING REWRITE

I’ve been receiving admittedly truthful complaints about the direction I was taking the story and Taylor being OC in Gold Morning, so I am going to rewrite it. The first chapter will be posted soon.

INTERLUDE

Ranvesh Kapoor leaned over his workstation, the faint hum of machinery and soft beeping of instruments filling the seismic lab. The monitors displayed jagged lines, a frantic dance of activity that sent a chill down his spine. The tremor had been sharp, sudden, and deep—a signature that no natural earthquake could replicate.

“Tell me it’s just tectonic,” he muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible over the low buzz of conversation among his colleagues. The lab was ali...

CHAPTER FOUR - THE DOUBLE LIFE

Taylor adjusted the strap of her messenger bag as she pushed open the door to the small print shop on Gotham’s east side. The bell above the door jingled, announcing her arrival to an otherwise empty space. Inside, the smell of ink and paper lingered heavily, familiar and strangely comforting.

The shop wasn’t much—a cramped, unassuming place nestled between a pawn shop and a boarded-up laundromat—but it was functional. Its main draw was that it paid in cash and didn’t ask too ...