"I can't just walk in and ask them to leave. That's going to get someone killed, and not by me."
"... Huaaaaggghhh…"
"No, no, I don't actually care, but it's the principle of the thing. I only kill the bad guys, the ones who are actually causing problems."
"...nnnrrrggghh…"
"Of course I know the PRT hates me! I've killed, what, six capes now? That's not exactly pro-unwritten rules behavior."
"...bleeeeeeeggghh…"
"I just… I know I'm not a perfect hero. Hell, I'm not even a good hero. I mean, Eidolon and Alexandria have killed people, sure, but that was back before the Endbringers were a thing. Back before the villains outnumber the heroes."
"...greeeeeennnhhhgg?..."
"No, you're right, I really shouldn't be worrying about it too much. I mean, I have friends now, Tattletale, Parian… well, two friends, I guess."
"...aaaaauuugggrh…"
"No, Alucard doesn't count. He's, like, a mentor or something."
"...gggggrrrrrumph…"
"What do you mean to join the Protectorate!? Didn't we just cover this?"
"....mmmmurrrgg…"
"You've got a point I guess. Still, I don't think the others would be as up for the idea. I know Parian wants to go back to being a fashion designer, but I don't think the other faction will actually leave her alone after all this."
Taylor was about to ask the ghoul a question when the door to her room opened, her dad poking his head in.
"Ah, Taylor? I think you have some people at the door… also, why is there a… zombie in snake costume in your room?" He asked, slightly confused by the situation.
Taylor waved him off, "That's just Tom, you know, the guy who went by Coil? Had plans to fuck over half of the villains in the city?"
Danny nodded, "I…. Think I remember you telling something about that. Still, they're waiting for you downstairs, you might not want to keep them waiting."
Taylor nodded, "Alright, I'll be down in just a minute."
Once her dad closed the door behind him, Taylor frowned, "Hey, Alucard, should I go in costumed or civilian?" She asked.
"Well, your identity is kinda shot as is… so, civies? I still think the whole secret identity thing is kinda stupid."
Taylor hopped off her bed and bounded down the stairs, and when she reached the bottom, she was greeted by two people. One she recognized easily as Tattletale, only without the mask and costume, and wither her hair let down. Huh. Maybe Alucard was right, if Taylor could tell who Tattletale was this easily out of costume, maybe others would recognize her too?
"And now you see my point! Utterly stupid…"
Taylor's eyes wandered over to the second person, who she at first didn't recognize. She was short, with a darker skin tone, and wore a blue shirt and skirt and held what looked to be a clothes box.
"Uhh…" Taylor 'uhh'd, not really sure what to say at that point.
Tattletale coughed, "Lisa," she said, pointing to herself, before jutting a thumb in the other girl's direction, "Sabah."
Taylor nodded, "Alright then. So, when were you going to tell me you were stopping by? Cause I would've bought some snacks if I knew you were coming." She explained.
"Aww, you would've bought snacks?" Lisa asked, grinning.
"For who, them or us? Because there's a very big difference behind the meaning of 'snack' when it comes to you guys. And me, for that matter, but none of you are really old enough."
"Yes," Taylor said, answering both Lisa and Alucard's questions.
Lisa blinked, "Huh… that's weird… anyway, I wanted to officially introduce ourselves. I'm Lisa, and this is Sabah, and I also believe she has a gift for you." she said, elbowing the girl next to her.
"Oooh, a surprise?"
Sabah glared at Lisa, "I, well, I wanted to thank you. You saved my life and helped make up for what Coil did, and thanks to tattle- er, Lisa, I've also made back more than enough to make up for what I lost."
Taylor blinked, "Lisa? What do you mean 'make up for more than what she lost'?"
"Shush, I'll explain later, present now," she said, gesturing for Sabah to go on.
"Well, anyway, as a thank you, I wanted to give you this. It took me a couple of days, which is why you're getting it now and not, well, two days ago, but… well, since your old costume is kinda… ratty, I figured you could use a new one." She said, holding the box out to Taylor.
Taylor blinked, before the pieces almost immediately fell into place, "Oh! Your Parian!" she said, quietly enough that her dad or others in the neighborhood wouldn't hear.
"You'd be surprised how many people can't do that. A lot of them just yell out the revelation like 'OH! HE WAS A TRAITOROUS BASTARD ALL ALONG! CURSE YOU WALTER!' Which is what I would have done, had I not done the other thing."
"Yes! I'm Parian, don't let it get around. Now just- just open the damn thing already…" she said, a blush crawling its way onto her face.
Taylor shrugged, taking the box into her own hands and flipping the top off. What she found… was glorious.
A blood-red long coat folded neatly over a white button-up, with a pair of black pants beneath that. A pair of gleaming opaque red round glasses topped the whole package, with Taylor's grinning face reflecting in the lenses.
".... Oooooooh… dis gon git good now…"
[-----]
Butcher fourteen. Formerly known as Quarrel. In the past, she was… resistant, to the voices in her head. Now? She accepted them. Many tried to control her. Others were just mad, rambling on about things that didn't matter or didn't make sense. She ignored those, instead, she focused on the ones that told her how she could better use her powers, or how she could get out of a seemingly helpless situation.
She was currently in such a situation.
"GE BA HERE, BUCHOOR!"
Lung, the leader of the ABB, had taken a dislike to the fact that the Teeth had set up in what the dragon had claimed as his own territory. It didn't matter that it had been E88 territory less than two weeks ago, now, it belonged to him apparently.
Animos was perhaps the only member of the Teeth capable of keeping up with Lung at this point, as he was still bigger than the Asian crime lord. An advantage that wouldn't last long, unfortunately. Still, his roar did seem to stall Lung's rate of growth, despite not stopping it altogether.
Spree was working to send armies of clones at Lung, for all the good that it did. The clones were fragile at the best of times, and Lung's continuously growing form had started batting the clones aside like gnats a few minutes ago.
Vex formed a wall between herself and Lung, managing to cut into his flesh and stall him long enough for her to get out of the way when he lunged forward and slammed into the wall of a building. He stood a good bit taller than Animos now, and at the rate, he was growing, even with Animos' roar, they likely wouldn't be capable of fighting him in ten minutes. The Protectorate would show up, but at that point, they wouldn't even bother engaging Lung, choosing to let him calm down and run away.
If they fought the raging dragon any more, he would only get bigger, and collateral damage would only skyrocket.
Butcher popped out from where she was hiding behind the corner of a wall and brought her minigun to bear, firing a burst of fire into Lung's side, the bullets correcting course when they missed, slamming into the capes chest dead on. They sank into his flesh, ripping into him and causing blood to fly into the air. Unfortunately for the Butcher, Lung was not one to be stopped by simple bullets, not at the size he was.
His chest soon became covered in metallic scales, hardening against the barrage of ammunition and causing the bullets to start bouncing off his armor instead of sinking into flesh. The Butcher recognized this fact and wisely decided to go back behind cover as Animos tackled Lung again.
Lung threw the animalistic cape off of him and into the side of a building, destroying windows and walls. He swung his head around, looking for the Butcher or any other capes that he could take his unending rage out on. He seemed to sense her position, as he huffed and started walking towards the building she was hiding behind. She almost jumped out of cover to take a shot at him when she paused.
Lung soon screamed as he ran into a wall of Vex's forcefields, the tiny, razor-sharp objects tearing into his flesh, ignoring the increased density and armor. He pulled away, roaring in pain. In anyone else, it would have meant they were down for the count. For lung, it just made him angrier.
He pulled in a breath, and when he let it go, fire consumed the street. The Butcher paid no attention to the heat, it could hurt her, after all. Vex and Animos weren't so lucky. The forcefield generator screamed as the fire got through the holes in her field and burned her skin. It wasn't bad, at least, not enough to kill her, but she would need medical attention. Animos yelped as the fire caught him, and he started running away from the raging dragon.
Butcher was silently glad that Hemorrhagia wasn't there. As useful as she may have been, there wasn't much she could do to fight Lung. She'd just get burned.
Butcher came out of cover as the fire washed over her, and she hefted her gun. She pulled the trigger, and a stream of bullets slammed into Lung's face. He roared and stopped coating the street in flame as the projectiles forced him to close his mouth. It wasn't as if they would have actually hurt him, but they would have caused more pain. As much as he liked getting stronger, to fight, he wasn't Crawler. He didn't revel in pain.
Spree, from his rooftop perch, sent a dozen clones leaping from the roof down onto Lung. The distracted him long enough for Animos to leap back in, slamming into Lung's back. Lung stumbled, but he didn't fall as he would have a few minutes ago. The Teeth decided to cut their losses at that point, as there was little they could gain in fighting Lung any further.
Vex retreated, helped along by Spree who had climbed down from his perch. Animos ran, taking off in the opposite direction. He would meet up with them again.
As for the Butcher, she turned away from the raging dragon and started walking. She'd shot out his eyes, so he couldn't see her, couldn't track her. Oh, his eyes would grow back, she knew that much, but it wouldn't be for a while. She only got a few feet when she noticed a figure in the distance, coming closer.
It was a woman, taller than average, wearing a red coat his a broad collar. Her head was tilted downward, her hair covering her face as she walked. The Butcher was intrigued by this new person. A cape, most likely, but who?
"Well, well, well… looks like the Dragon got bit by the Teeth!" The red-clad cape said, her head tilting upward.
Her hair fell to the side, and the Butcher managed to get a good look at the woman's face. She was smiling. Her teeth were pointed, her canines elongated into fangs, and her eyes covered by opaque red glasses.
Yes, this was who the Teeth had come for. This was the one that had drawn their attention. This was Carmilla.
"Sup' bitch!" the vampire cape shouted.
Taylor wasn't one to panic. No, she was usually calm, stalwart, and fairly… well, not necessarily level-headed, but she knew how to keep her cool. So when the Butcher started opening fire on her with the minigun, Taylor felt justified in running to the side, out of the way of the oncoming storm of gunfire.
She ran behind what appeared to be a long-abandoned apartment building, and after glancing around, she spotted the fire escape. She grinned as she started climbing.
And climbing...
And climbing…
"How high does this fucking thing go!?" Taylor cried out in rage.
"... you do know we can just jump from here, right? Or, run up the wall."
"... shut up." Taylor said, before jumping over the guard rail and latching onto the side of the building, her fingers digging into the brick wall. She heaved herself upward, grabbing the edge of the roof and vaulting over it.
She walked over to the other side of the roof and peaked over the edge, only to duck back as a hail of bullets raced toward her. Lung roared in the distance, causing Taylor's gaze to wander over to the raging dragon. He was thrashing around in the street, but the Teeth had already evacuated, with the exception of the Butcher who seemed bent on attacking Taylor.
Taylor hummed to herself. Lung was a more immediate threat, as he was the one that was causing the most collateral damage in his raging state, while the Butcher was just a villain who apparently wanted a shot at her.
"Mmmm… I say we deal with Rage Dragon first. Knock 'em down a bit, then eat Butcher."
"You do realize that if we eat the Butcher we'll have, like, fourteen other voices in my head right?" Taylor asked.
"Tay-Tay, trust me, I am no stranger to dealing with extra voices in one's head. If they start causing trouble, just let me deal with them."
Taylor hummed, "Fair enough I guess. So, Lung first?"
"Banzai!"
Taylor sprinted off the edge of the building, jumping off the last foothold and flying toward Lung's now towering form. The Butcher shot for a second, the bullets ripping into Taylor's flesh and causing a spray of blood to go into the air, but all of them hit center mass, leaving Taylor's arms free to wrap around Lung's neck.
"Who wants a hug!?" She shouted into Lung's ear, cackling as Lung roared, setting himself alight.
His fire burned, searing Taylor's flesh, but for all the damage that it did, Taylor regenerated. She was only removed from her place around Lung's neck when he reached around and grabbed her with his hands and pulling her off. She wouldn't let go of his neck, so instead of her grip loosening, there was a sickening rip and crack of flesh and bone as Taylor's arms were ripped from their sockets.
Lung roared as he tossed Taylor's body into a building, before reaching up and ripping her arms from around his neck and tossing them after her.
"Well… this is a... sticky, situation. Think you could use a 'hand' here Tay-Tay?"
Taylor sat up and looked around. She was in an abandoned, wrecked apartment, with her sitting on what was left of an old mattress and her arms laying burned and partially melted in the corner of the room.
Taylor sniffed and wrinkled her nose, "Man, burnt arm really doesn't smell good." she noted.
"Oh, believe me, the burnt leg is worse. The thigh isn't so bad, as long as it isn't too badly burned, intestines can actually be rather nice. Bowels are what you have to watch out for though, they can be horrendous even at the best of times, especially if the burnt bowels your smelling had tacos the night before."
"Alucard, remember a while back when I said too much information?"
"Ye?"
"Well, too much information."
"Aww, your no fun."
"The you of two minutes ago, and I'm willing to bet you of about thirty seconds from now, really disagree with that statement."
"Wait, Tay-Tay, what are you doing?"
Taylor hopped up from her sitting position and forced her regeneration through, her arms coming back and her costume repaired along with them. She grinned, before jumping out of the hole in the wall of the apartment and looking around. The Butcher was nowhere to be found, and Lung was actually smaller than he had been moments ago. His power was wearing off since as he perceived it, there weren't any more threats. He had gone from being close to twelve feet tall, to now being only about eight feet.
"Ohhhhh, he's fucked."
Taylor grinned, before shooting off and slamming into Lung's chest. Lung roared as he felt Taylor's hands sink into his chest, her fingers digging into his softening flesh. Taylor grinned as she clawed at his chest, digging deeper, hoping to locate her prize. In response, Lung grew. Nine feet, ten feet, and growing steadily. He clawed at Taylor, ripping her flesh and tearing away bones.
She could almost taste it. It was just out of her reach, and the fact that he was getting toughed wasn't helping matters. She didn't have to worry about his scales since she was far deeper than that, but now she was digging through muscle, bone, and guts. One of his ribs was missing, broken out early on in the digging process. She had one arm sunk into his chest up to the elbow, even as her legs wrapped around his waist and she held on.
She kept digging, even as his flames burned her flesh and melted her. He was back to twelve feet now, and if he didn't… ah!
"Here we go, there you are." She said with a grin, gripping the large, throbbing object within Lung's chest.
His heart was hot, boiling blood pumping through it as it provided fresh blood to the rest of his body. She grasped it, pulling it back. Her arm was sunk into his chest up to her shoulder now, and he had gotten a grip onto her and was trying to pull her out. Before, it had been a nuisance, but now? She held onto his heart tightly, and let go of his waist, allowing him to pull her and his heart out of his chest.
He roared in agony, and Taylor grinned in victory. His heart was still beating, and somehow, several veins and arteries were still connected, still sending blood to the rest of his body. Lung choked, bits of flame coming from his mouth. His heart sprayed hot, steaming blood into the air with every pump, and Taylor grinned.
"Ohohohohohohoh! Yes, yes Tay-Tay! Do it!"
Taylor opened her mouth, her sparkling teeth gleaming in the light provided by Lung's flames, before sinking her teeth into the beating heart. Blood flowed, hot and sweet, and Taylor drank greedily. Lung Roared in agony as he felt his blood leaving him. He struggled and thrashed, trying desperately to dislodge Taylor from her position, but she was stuck now, and as his strength waned, Taylor's only increased.
A second Later, Lung fell backward, his life flashing before his eyes. He thought of his home, Japan, before it had been ravaged by Leviathan. He thought of his family that he had lost. He thought of his friend, his lieutenant, Oni Lee. The man had served him well. He thought of his life and realized how much he had wasted. How much time he had spent as Lung, and not as Kenta.
He thought of this and closed his eyes.
His back hit the ground with a thud, as Taylor drained the last few drops of blood from his body, which had shrunk back down to the size of a normal man.
"Mmmm… that was good." Taylor remarked as she licked her lips.
"I dunno, does dragon taste spicy?"
"A little bit, not much though. It was more… I don't know, tangy?" Taylor paused as she smacked her lips, "Yep, definitely tangy."
"Huh, whada ya' know."
[-----]
Lisa stared at the news footage with a bottle in her hands. She took a drink from it as the live helicopter view showed Taylor tear open Lung's chest. She idly glanced at the bottle in her hand, and then looked to the two other people sitting next to her. Sabah was chugging a bottle and Danny sat with a bottle hanging at his side.
It occurred to her that she technically shouldn't be drinking since she wasn't yet twenty-one, but considering Danny had brought a six-pack from the fridge once Taylor had appeared on TV, she figured she might as well make the most of it. She'd grabbed one once Danny sat down and started drinking.
Taylor looked to be digging through Lung's chest, looking for something. Lisa's power supplied the information that she was looking for his heart, and following that train of thought, it was fairly obvious what Taylor wanted to do with it. Lisa sighed as she took another swig from the alcoholic beverage.
"... Aren't you, like, sixteen?" Sabah asked, even as she took a drink of her own. The fashion designer had never been a fan of alcohol, hadn't even considered it an option before, but considering her savior's antics… well, she was along for the ride, and she needed something to keep her sane in all of this.
"I stopped caring when Taylor came on screen," Lisa muttered, glaring at the now empty bottle.
Sabah looked over at Danny, "You're an adult, shouldn't you be the one responsible for keeping this stuff away from minors?" she asked.
Danny raised an eyebrow in her direction and pointed at the screen, "I think she said it herself, I stopped caring as soon as my daughter showed up on the screen. She's got vampire powers, has killed over a hundred people and is considered an A-class threat. Underage drinking is probably the least of my worries right now."
Lisa blinked, "You're kind of a shit dad, you know that?"
He sighed, "I would argue, but… you're right, unfortunately." he said before taking another drink.
"Think you could pass me another bottle? Mine's empty." Lisa asked.
Danny shook his head, "I think one is enough for you. I might be complicit, but I'm not going to endorse it."
Lisa huffed but didn't get up for another drink. It probably wasn't worth getting drunk over anyway. She started doubting that decision when Taylor sank her teeth into Lung's still-beating heart. Maybe one more…
She grunted when she felt Parian's strings holding her in place, "I really need a drink…" she muttered.
"Danny may not care, but I do. Your power and drunkenness would not mix well." Sabah explained.
Lisa sighed and let go, sitting back down, "Outing us to Taylor's dad now are we?"
"For the record, it was pretty obvious the two of you were capes from the getgo. Taylor doesn't exactly have many friends." Danny offered.
Or any friends at all, Lisa's power mentioned helpfully. Great. Lisa winced as Sabah took another drink, "And besides that, he's somehow managed to keep Taylor's power a secret, I doubt the two of us have all that much to worry about." Sabah explained.
Tattletale sighed, "Fair enough I guess… How did you manage to do that by the way?" she asked, turning to Danny.
"Lots of drinking and a friend who can keep a secret." He explained.
Lisa hummed. It seemed as though she was in good company. She looked back to the TV and saw that Taylor was now tap-dancing on Lung's corpse. She looked over at the pack of drinks with three left in the pack. Maybe she could do a bit of convincing...
Taylor hummed as she gazed down the street at the PRT vans coming toward her… and the helicopters… and Armsmasters bike… and was that dragon up there? Taylor whistled, "Look's like we got someone's attention." she remarked.
"I think you might possibly maybe sorta kinda probably pissed them off. Maybe."
"I mean, I did just eat one of the biggest crime lords in Brockton Bay," Taylor said.
"Yeah, that might actually be cause for concern for them. Wait, didn't you just obliterate those Nazis like… a week ago?"
"I mean, yeah, but… I left most of them alive. I kinda just ate Lung. That and I don't think they appreciate the collateral damage."
Taylor sat in silence as she waited for the PRT to reach her, with Armsmaster's bike screeching to a halt in front of her. The Protectorate leader lept off his bike and brought his halberd to bear, pointing it at Taylor. She tilted her head, a little confused.
"Hey, Armsy, why are you pointing that thing at me?"
Armsmaster's frown deepened, "Carmilla, you are under arrest."
Taylor blinked but didn't get the chance to respond as she heard a large crash from behind her. She spun around to see Dragon in one of her mechanical suits, the chrome finish and white highlights betraying the smooth curved and ridges, her glowing blue eyes finishing off the whole look.
"Carmilla, please… just surrender," Dragon asked, her voice reverberating through the speakers in her suit.
Taylor wrinkled her nose, "I'm in trouble aren't I?"
[-----]
Emily watched the live footage from her office and sighed in disgust. There were a thousand better ways they could be handling the situation, and yet the higher-ups had insisted on bringing Carmilla in. She had killed too many people, even as a heroic vigilante, and things were getting out of control. She was a wild card, one that the PRT couldn't count on to do anything.
She'd been quiet for the better part of a week after she'd finished the Empire, and the members that she had captured had actually stayed in prison, rather than escaping a week after they were put in.
But then she'd killed Coil, also known as Thomas Calvert. The only reason they found out that the secretive super villain was one of their closest associates was due to the fact that once Carmilla had killed him and destroyed his compound, Thomas had gone missing. He never reported to his scheduled meetings with the Director, and while his company was still being run, the man himself hadn't been seen in the flesh for days.
It was disturbing when they'd gotten a message from the villain Tattletale -- through their own network -- that she had taken control of Calvert's assets. His business, his mercenaries, his money, all of it. Not only that, she had claimed that if they were willing to pardon her and let her keep Coil's assets, she would be willing to join the Wards. It was an idea that Piggot herself wanted to accept, desperately so, but the letter part of her offer complicated matters.
Still, she believed that they could make it work.
Turning her attention back to the screen, she saw Dragon land behind Carmilla and ask her to surrender. The blood-covered cape wasn't afraid of Dragon, that much could be seen from her posture alone. If nothing else, she seemed more surprised that the hero actually took the time to confront her. Piggot felt her stomach churn, and she hoped desperately that things wouldn't escalate.
Fortunately for Piggot's heartrate, Carmilla lept away from the capes surrounding her, turning into a black mist and teleporting away. Piggot sighed, knowing that while she would now be an arrest on sight target, her teleporting away was probably the least combative option she could have taken.
She sighed, leaning back in her chair as she pressed the call button on her phone, calling Armsmaster, which he picked up almost immediately, "Armsmaster, report." she said.
"Carmilla fled the scene as soon as she was confronted by Dragon, ma'am. By standard PRT and Protectorate procedure, she is now an Arrest on sight target." The man said, confirming what Piggot already knew.
"And Lung's corpse?" she asked. Carmilla's Master 8 rating was there for a reason. They didn't need a zombified dragon running around. Granted, they'd never seen what actually happened to capes that got drained by Carmilla, but it was best to assume the worst.
Stormtiger's ghoul didn't seem to use his power, but that wasn't a guarantee. They were never able to recover the bodies of Skidmark and Squealer. There wasn't enough left of Hookwolf to reanimate, and like the Merchants, they were never able to officially locate Othala's body, though they found enough blood matching her DNA that they severely doubted she survived her encounter with Carmilla.
"Already being taken care of, ma'am."
Piggot nodded, "Alright then. Recover the body and be ready to make a PR announcement, I don't want this to spiral any further out of control."
If things got any worse, Carmilla would find herself rated as an S-class threat, something that no one wanted. Already the PRT had enough evidence to get her thrown into the Birdcage, especially if they railroaded the court. While the Director herself hated the fact that someone could be Birdcaged without a proper trial, it was a system that had been put in place for those villains that didn't cooperate. Unfortunately, this also meant that many capes that were relatively innocent could be sentenced to the Birdcage without knowing it like Carmilla likely was going to be.
It didn't help that the girl had a body count.
She hung up the phone and reclined in her chair, sighing as she looked up at the ceiling. Thing's were escalating, people were dying, and the few predictions they had said that an Endbringer attack was due almost any day now. Piggot didn't want to deal with that, she wanted to sit at home and drink. Unfortunately, her dialysis didn't allow her to indulge in alcohol very often.
Her dialysis was one of her largest inhibitors, and time and time again she had been offered help from Parahuman's who had taken pity on her. She hated that fact, and the stress of her job had brought her to the edge of accepting those offers many times. If she caved, if she gave in, she could be healed. She could stand on her own two feet. She could actually have a good night's rest for once.
"You know, you should really consider letting Panacea have a look at you, maybe fix you up a bit."
Piggot whirled around and stared at Carmilla, who was now leaning against the back wall of her office, grinning like a mad hatter, "What didn't think I'd come to talk to the head honcho after learning that I'm apparently a wanted fugitive now? Look, as much as I like the Protectorate, the fact that I've been doing your jobs for you is… kinda pathetic. And now you want to arrest me for that?"
Piggot grimaced, "You have over a hundred confirmed kills to your name, Carmilla, you have blood on your hands. That's not something the PRT can ignore."
Carmilla shrugged, "Well, yeah, I know that, but you could at least tell me that when you come to arrest me instead of just demanding my surrender." she explained.
Piggot frowned. It seemed she would need to have a stern conversation with Armsmaster later on, "I don't know why Armsmaster didn't explain the situation to you, but you have done more damage to the city than most villains in a remarkably short amount of time. If you are allowed to continue, the city might not survive your rampage. The status quo exists for a reason, and-"
"Fuck the status quo!" Carmilla shouted, interrupting the Director, "You do realize the status quo is what gets people killed, right? Yes, I've killed over a hundred people, Alucard count's it as close to a hundred and fifty, but that is nothing compared to the amount of suffering caused by the other gangs and villains in the city done over years of unpunished activity."
Piggot grimaced. As much as she hated to admit it, the girl was right, many people were hurt or killed by the villains in the city, but…
"I'm afraid you don't have the whole picture, Carmilla." Piggot informed her, "As I said before, there is a reason the status quo exists. Without it, villains would run rampant. They would take more drastic measure's not to get caught, they would be willing to push the law farther. You are aware of the unwritten rules, yes? Those are part of the status quo. They exist to keep capes alive, to allow them to participate in battles against greater threats. Endbringers, the slaughterhouse nine, Nilbog… these are the threats that face us, the reason we play nice with the villains so that when the time comes when we need to fight something bigger, something that doesn't care for the concept of hero or villain, we can. Hundreds of capes, mostly villains, attend Endbringer fights in order to save lives. It doesn't always work, but it's the best we have."
Carmilla paused, staring at Director Piggot through the opaque red lenses on her glasses. Her speech was long-winded, and something she would have been impressed by had it not been delivered to a spree killer with complete disregard for the very rules she just laid out.
"You know, you almost convinced me there for a second," Carmilla admitted.
Piggot winced, "Almost?"
Carmilla nodded, "Yeah, almost. You say the rules exist in order to help fight greater threats, and in the case of the Endbringers, your right. But what about Nilbog? What about the Slaughterhouse nine? The three Blasphemies? Sleeper? Why do they still exist? As far as I know, Ellisburg is pretty much uninhabited except for Nibog's creatures. Why don't you just firebomb the place? Or nuke it? And the nine… you've killed members over the years, sure, but what about their leader? Jack Slash has always managed to slip away, always managed to find a way out of any situation. Why is he ever allowed to talk? Why doesn't Legend just fire his most powerful beam at him before he gets a chance to run his mouth? That's the reason I don't give a shit about the status quo, because for all you hold it up, for all you say it's the reason these threats aren't just wiping us out, its. Not. Working."
Carmilla's rebuttal made Piggot pause. She had a point in her speech. It wasn't the same inane rambling that she usually spouted when speaking with the other heroes or villains, no… this was more like what had happened with Shadow Stalker. Her voice was laced with venom, her tone wasn't wild, but it was hard. She wasn't speaking without thought.
"What do you suggest we do, then?" Piggot asked, "Use lethal force against every villain we come across? Kill Teenage parahuman's who have only just triggered, and are panicking?"
Carmilla shook her head, "No, I'm just saying you need to tighten your grip. You need to make the villain's aware that you won't tolerate them. Do away with the lines, do away with the unwritten rules, they only serve to make thing's more complicated."
The red-clad cape grinned, "And beyond that, who knows, maybe you can actually start cleaning up this city."
Piggot sighed. She loathed Carmilla, even more so than most capes. The girl was notorious for collateral damage, but when it came to diplomacy, she was scarily competent, "What do you want, Carmilla? Why are you here?"
Carmilla shrugged, "Two reasons, mostly, number one; I know you know my identity, and I know there are those who wouldn't hesitate to use it against me. Threaten my dad, and you won't get the chance to act on that threat."
Piggot nodded. While she didn't appreciate being threatened, she wasn't surprised.
"Number two was that I wanted to say that I have every intention of killing the Butcher. I already have a voice in my head, so I don't think having fourteen more would be much of an issue."
The director gripped the armrests of her chair. That… was a more complicated point. They couldn't afford to have someone as unstable as Carmilla become the Butcher. If she actually could control herself, if she wasn't driven mad by the voices, then having a Butcher be on the hero's side for a change might actually be nice. She doubted that would actually happen though.
"And lastly, I want you to go visit Panacea."
Piggot blinked, "What?"
"I said, I want you to go visit Panacea. I'm not blind, Director, I know you don't like capes -- which brings into question your career choice, but that's neither here nor there -- but I also know that you hate the position you're in. I did some research on dialysis, and I can already tell it's not fun. So, you go see Panacea, get your Dialysis fixed, and get over your paranoia around capes. Sound good?"
She growled. What Carmilla was asking… no, demanding, was something that she dreaded. If she gave in once, she would give in again. Give the capes an inch, and they'd take a mile. If she accepted their help-
Everything stopped. Her thoughts screeched to a halt. A single sound played. One that she dreaded hearing.
The Endbringer siren.
Piggot spun around and looked at her computer, looking at the automatic alert system. The Simurgh was in Canberra, Australia. She was attacking the city. She turned to look at Carmilla, but she found that she was already gone.
Piggot only hoped that she had left to help.