The rustle of cardboard and shoes on linoleum echoed through the place Coil had put the Undersiders up in until now. Taylor was organizing her few remaining belongings to be moved down to the Boardwalk. It was barely six, they hadn't had the chance to rest yet, but everyone agreed it was better to get settled in their new places.

“Hey Lisa,” Regent piped up as he came out of one of the rooms. Taylor didn't spare a glance, focusing on packing her things. “Any idea who the kid that was, trying to run me down like a freight train?” She grimaced, the raid had gotten...complicated towards the end.

“Amaranth, the rookie,” Lisa replied with a shrug, closing up a box and taping it shut. She scrawled 'DOX 2665' on the top then stood and turned to him. “A Brute with a force-field around her body, sort of.”

“And why me?” He collapsed dramatically on the couch next to Aisha. “I didn't do anything!”

“You're a pain in my ass,” Brian grunted as he stacked a few boxes. “I'm pretty curious too though, you said she ignored a shot to the head?”

“And disrupted my swarm,” Taylor added. “Still stung her a few times, but I couldn't get through her field usually.” Lisa nodded and crossed her arms.

“She wanted to kill you, Alec.” The temperature in the room plummeted, but Lisa continued. “Personally too, but...not exactly.” She pursed her lips. “I didn't exactly get a great look, I was focused on hitting her and not you. Amaranth was royally pissed at you Mastering little miss lethal ammo, but it was because of her, not Shadow Stalker.”

“I didn't do anything to her,” Alec whined, throwing up his hands. Lisa shook her head.

“I know you didn't,” she replied evenly. “Another human Master though, someone like you...someone related to you. Shit.”

“Heartbreaker?” Taylor asked, her heart beating quicker. Lisa grimaced and waggled her hand.

“Or one of his kids.” She glanced at a wide-eyed Alec. “And considering she's new, they're probably in town.”

“Shit,” Alec echoed her earlier sentiment, then groaned. “So now I have to look forward to a family reunion on top of Coil's crap?”

“At least we can plan for it,” Taylor said, crossing her arms. “Any idea who?” Both Lisa and Alec shook their heads.

“Don't even know who's missing,” Alec said with a frown. “Guillaume maybe, or Cherie? They were all home when I left though.”

“We'll deal with them,” Lisa replied. “Same as anyone that messes with us, got it?”

“I'm more worried about that Ward,” Taylor said with a frown. “You said a force-field 'sort of'. What do you mean?” Lisa sighed.

“It's not exactly that, more a really limited, invisible projection.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “That stupid...she was at Leviathan, how the fuck did I not pick up on that, god dammit.”

“Lisa,” Taylor said tersely. She wanted more information on this other Ward apparently willing to kill the Undersiders.

“Sorry, it's fine, just...” She shook her head. “Brian, you remember her?” He snorted.

“No,” he replied curtly. “I was busy trying to focus on the Endbringer outside.”

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“Wait.” Alec perked up. “You don't mean the one that yelled at you?”

“Yeah, she's the one.”

“What happened?” Taylor asked.

“It was just before we got teleported, the first wave” Lisa explained, two fingers rubbing her temple. “She yelled something about how 'sevens are supposed to be lucky'. It's been bugging me for a while, figures she'd be the one.” She glanced at Taylor and offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry, not important right now. So, her projection's pretty tough, but you said you were able to sting her?”

“Not through it,” Taylor clarified. “But sometimes I was able to. Can she move it?” Lisa nodded.

“Not much.” She held her hands a few inches apart. “But enough to work with. That's not what's interesting though. When I shot her, what happened?” Taylor frowned and considered it.

“I got a couple of extra stings in,” she replied. “But only for a split-second, it didn't break.”

“You're right,” Lisa said with a predatory grin. “It flinched. You remember she stopped suddenly, just before disrupting your bugs?” Taylor nodded. “See, Amaranth's got to think about what she's doing with it. If she gets distracted, startled, whatever, she loses a bit of that. Moves on reflex, rather than thought.”

“How much damage can she actually take?” Brian asked, cocking his head. Lisa shrugged.

“Before it breaks?” He nodded. “Good question. I didn't see how she did at the Endbringer fight. Alec, Taylor?” Alec shook his head.

“What was she wearing?” Taylor had seen a hell of a lot of capes that day.

“Grey sweatsuit, blue headscarf.” She nodded.

“Yeah.” Taylor thought back, her eyes widening slightly. “She was on the front lines, fighting. She stopped a few hits from Leviathan, no effect.” She frowned slightly. “She was there at the end too, in the shelter just before Bitch found me.” She'd tried to help and had been tossed through the air just before Taylor had had her back broken.

“Safe to say there's no reasonable limit,” Lisa said, her grin shrinking as she met Taylor's eyes.

“She can fly too,” Aisha added, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room. “What? Did you see how Bitch's dog threw her?”

“Well, that's true enough,” Lisa admitted. “Actually something in our favour, if she can't help being thrown around. Maybe we can get Skidmark on our side to turn her into a little pinball.” The rest of her smile vanished.

“It's just one more Ward to deal with,” Brian said after a minute. “Not much different than Aegis, except she can't fly.” Aisha opened her mouth, but Brian was quicker. “She's not a Mover. Rachel's dogs were effective, we'll use them again, if we need.”

They shared a variety of nods and shrugs of agreement, it was a problem they'd have to deal with in the future, but not unmanageable. Taylor was more worried about what she'd do to establish control in her territory. A show of force, certainly, but how? She rubbed her eyes and shook her head; another problem for later.

They slowly trickled out of the squat building, until only Lisa and Taylor were left. Their belongings had been collected just a couple minutes ago by some of Coil's mercenaries, to be delivered wherever. Both meticulously swept the space, making sure there was nothing left behind that could suggest they'd been staying here. Having a swarm to do the fine work made it a hell of a lot easier, though the fuzziness in her head from lack of sleep almost countered it.

Dammit, this day had just been going on too long. Not even ten hours ago, Shadow Stalker had tried to cut her throat. Later that night, the new Ward tried to run down Alec to kill him. Taylor's lips twitched down in a frown. She could still barely believe the heroes had taken in Sophia, but they'd made it a trend with Amaranth. The Protectorate ENE had a policy of hiring psychopaths.

“Right, we're done,” Lisa said after a few more minutes of silent work. She dusted her hands and gave Taylor a grin. “Walk me home?” Taylor let a smirk touch her lips and she nodded.

They grabbed their jackets and headed out into the gloomy, early morning. The humidity meant fog hung low in the streets, perfect to keep them drawing too much attention. Curfew was still technically on, after all. The Nat Guard were as crooked as the cops at least, so a few bills would keep them from causing us trouble even if we were caught.

“Good stuff today,” Lisa said warmly after a few blocks. “Really, if you hadn't dropped your swarm on Amaranth, I think she'd have caught Alec.” Taylor grimaced.

“She really would have killed him?” Lisa nodded. “Then maybe we should consider--”

“Stop,” she cut Taylor off. “I'm not even gonna spare the brainpower. We just raided their headquarters after kidnapping a Ward, and now we have to go claim territory. It's too much heat all at once. Don't worry, Shadow Stalker's done here, we'll just have the one psycho to deal with. Just like usual, alright?”

“Yeah,” Taylor sighed as she looked at the twisted girders of the Protectorate HQ poking out of the mist. “Like usual.”