Taylor Hebert Dungeon Girl Part 36 (Patreon)

Danny glanced over at Taylor as she walked into the kitchen. “Pancakes?”

“Sounds good,” Taylor agreed as she walked over to the table and sat down.

Danny loaded a plate with a small stack of pancakes. “Is this going to be recurring theme with lost villains? If you’re not careful you’ll end up like a crazy cat lady that just can’t say no to one more more cat with a sob story.”

Taylor shook her head. “Nah, eventually we’ll run out of redeemable ones.”

“Sort of like cats,” Gothic spoke up as she walked into the kitchen.

“You don’t like cats?” Taylor asked with a touch of disappointment as she worked on cutting up her pancakes.

“I like the fuzzy little balls of razor blades just fine, that doesn’t mean some of them shouldn’t be in cages, sort of like people.”

“Do you think the Undersiders are redeemable?” Danny asked as he loaded up a plate for Gothic.

Taylor finished cutting up pancakes. “They seemed pretty reasonable when we were playing video games last night. Tattletale didn’t want to be a villain in the first place, Grue just wants to get enough money to get his younger sister out of a bad situation with their mother, Regent has issues with his family and Rachel got screwed by the system. I can give Brian a job at the garage which helps with money and a lawyer should help with his sister and Rachel’s legal issues.”

Gothic said, “Worst case, I make a couple tweaks to her features and we can get her a new identity.”

Danny turned off the burner under the frying pan then set the plate of pancakes on the table next to Taylor which was fast becoming Gothic’s favorite seat. “Let’s save that for plan B. Franklin probably knows a couple people that could help with their legal cases.”

“Can you set something up?” Gothic asked as she sat down next to Taylor.

Danny glanced at the clock on the microwave. “I’ll give him a call at lunch, it’s a bit early and I’ve got to get ready for work. What about the case 53 or should I say ex-case 53?”

“She’s a gamer with increased strength and regeneration, it shouldn’t be hard to talk her into running dungeons with us.”

“She’s strong enough to help with the ninjas?” Danny asked, curious just how strong the new girl was.

“Yep, it’s a nice light blue for her,” Gothic said smugly as she finished pouring syrup on her pancakes. “Heck, even the Final Fantasy dungeon is only yellow for her.”

Danny shivered as he thought about the clip he’d seen of the Final Fantasy boss destroying part of a city. ‘That’s a yellow for her? How the hell?’ He was fairly sure someone able to destroy entire sections of a city would be deathtrap for most capes outside the Triumvirate. “That rating might not include the bosses.”

“Considering the mini boss in the leatherworking dungeon is rather nasty, I doubt it does which is a bit annoying,” Taylor admitted.

“Considering the feathers, I can see the attraction for looting the dungeon but I’d rather you didn’t go in there.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not planning on going anywhere with a black or red entrance.” Taylor speared one of the pancake squares and popped it into her mouth.

“Good,” Danny muttered as he moved the mixing bowl filled with pancake batter into the sink. He ran some water into it while the girls worked on their food. ‘I should probably stop by the garage after work so I can meet everyone.’

0o0o0

“It looks real enough,” Noelle muttered as she looked around the dungeon that Neverland had created for them to explore while she was dealing with school.

Brian frowned as he looked around the so called dungeon they’d gotten to by walking through the door that should by all rights lead to a storeroom. “It looks like Winslow.”

“You went here?” Gothic asked curious about the new capes they were probably going to be running dungeons with.

“There’s a reason I got my G.E.D.”

“Any random death traps that we need to worry about?” Alec asked.

Gothic raised her eyebrows. “Nah, we’re basically in a dungeon based on the local school, we’re saving the death traps for later.”

“Seriously?” Brian asked warily.

“Some of the dungeons Neverland can create are more than a little dangerous,” Gothic admitted as she gestured toward the end of the hallway. “That said, the boss has a crossbow and the minions in the cafeteria have knives and other melee weapons so it’s not completely safe.”

“Great, crossbows,” Brian muttered, thinking about Shadowstalker.

“Any decent swords?” Alec asked with amusement.

Gothic shook her head. “Not in this dungeon though Diablo has some decent swords.”

“You have a dungeon based on Diablo?” Noelle asked in disbelief.

“Neverland does. It’s a great place to grab swords and magic weapons.”

“Magic weapons?” Lisa asked sceptically.

Gothic shrugged. “You could claim they’re like the items Dauntless imbues but those only work for him and don’t make physics cry or at least not nearly as much as some of Neverland’s trinkets. Besides, at the end of the day, it’s just easier to call it magic even if it isn’t.” She wasn’t sure it wasn’t magic but she didn’t see the point in arguing.

“Fair enough. So what’s the goal?” Noelle asked, curious if there was anything specific they had to accomplish.

“Defeat the random minions, pick up the loot and toast the boss. It’s not exactly rocket science, if you take a hit that gets through your armor, fall back and I’ll heal you. The basic leather armor should be enough to keep you safe against everyone other than the boss. Noelle should be able to close on the boss fairly easily.”

Brian frowned as a teenage girl walked around the corner and ran toward them with her fists raised. “Are they real?”

“Not particularly,” Gothic replied as she raised her left hand and blasted the girl with lightning until she thrashed on the ground and turned into pixels, leaving a pair of shoes behind. “They’re basically video game sprites.”

“They can still hurt us, right?” Lisa asked warily, not sure about exploring dangerous dungeons that she hadn’t had the chance to survey first.

“You’re wearing the equivalent of tinkertech armor but yeah the mobs can actually hurt us in this particular dungeon.”

“Is the loot real?” Noelle asked as she looked at the pair of shoes just sitting there.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t,” Gothic replied as she headed toward the end of the hallway. “The minions are always a bit scattered so keep your eyes peeled.”

Alec began to smile....

Five minutes later

Lisa frowned as she watched Alec beat one of the Winslow security guards until the man turned into pixels. “That looked personal.”

Alec picked up the nightstick and the wallet the guard had dropped. “Bastard looked like one of the boardwalk enforcers that harassed me a couple weeks ago about not being in school.” He pocketed the cash in the wallet then stuck the wallet and nightstick in the expanded leather bag Gothic had given him. 

“It’s possible,” Gothic replied as she raised her elemental lightning pistol and shot an Emma look alike in her left knee.

Alec laughed as the fashionably dressed mob dropped to the ground screaming while grabbing her left knee, “Is that a lack of skill or bad equipment?”

“No, I’m just practicing my knee shots.” Gothic replied as she shot the Emma look alike in her right knee.

“Seems reasonable to me,” Noelle agreed as she kept watch for more security guards while Lisa worked on picking the lock on one of the lockers.

Brian looked away from looting the locker he’d opened with a crowbar as he asked, “Why?”

“It’s a good skill for a girl to have,” Gothic replied with amusement as she shot the Emma copy in the head, turning her into pixels. “Headshot for the win.”

“Are you sure you’re a hero, heroes aren’t normally this vicious.”

“I prefer the term protagonist.” Gothic smiled as saw a jock walk around the corner down the hall. “Left.”

Alec started as the left side of the Jock’s head exploded. “I’m suddenly really glad we never had to fight you.”

“But I’m the nice one,” Gothic said with a pout.

“Nice?” he asked in surprise.

Gothic shrugged. “The Amy is snarky, I heal people and Player 2 is much more... goal oriented.”

Lisa smirked. “Hey Alec, we’ve finally found a place where you fit in.”

“Bite me,” he replied with a grin as he closelined a knife wielding cheerleader.

0o0o0

Alec glanced at the door to the cafeteria that contained the boss. “Is there a reason we’re not just sending Noelle to deal with the minions? She hit the captain of the football team hard enough his head hit the wall at the end of the hallway before it turned into pixels.”

Noelle sighed as Alec brought the story up for the fifth time in the last ten minutes as they worked their way through the lockers and office. “First, I didn’t mean to hit him that hard and second, it’s about practice and teamwork. If I clear everything you won’t get any practice. Speaking of practice, we should probably get into the habit of giving an overview of the bosses before we get to them.”

“Nothing to worry about, she’s got some type of phasing ability,” Gothic explained, curious about Brian’s reaction to learning the boss was basically Shadowstalker. “We used to lure the minions out in small groups but we have a lot better gear than we started with.”

Noelle shook her head. “From what you said, the other dungeons are actually dangerous, let’s avoid picking up any bad habits for the moment.”

“It’s like a job, do the research, do the job and get paid,” Lisa reminded him.

“Fair enough,” Alec agreed.

Gothic stepped forward, opened the door and shot the closest minion then jumped back behind the rest of the group. “Incoming!”

“Didn’t we just cover not getting bad habits?” Noelle asked a touch exasperated and yet amused at the situation as two teenagers came out of the door and quickly got taken out by Alec and Brian. “Is that it?”

“With the first pull.” Gothic shrugged. “I wasn’t shooting them randomly, you just hit the first girl next to the wall.”

“In other words, you weren’t goofing off?” Alec asked slightly disappointed.

“Not particularly, goofing off would be shouting something like Void Cowboy and running into the room.”

“Which we’re not doing, right?” Noelle asked warily.

“Nah, someone else can pull.”

Lisa shook her head. “I don’t don’t have a ranged weapon.”

Gothic handed Lisa her elemental pistol. “Just point and shoot.”

“Seems a bit like shooting fish in a barrel,” Brian complained, still not sure about shooting mobs that looked indistinguishable from a real person. 

“Exactly,” Alec replied with a grin.

“You really should get those psychopathic tendencies looked at,” Lisa half joked.

“Technically it’s sociopathic, not psychopathic, I understand right from wrong, I’m just enough of an ass that I don’t always care.”

“Point,” Lisa admitted as she stepped through the doorway and shot the next two minions which accidently pulled the rest of the mobs in the room other than the boss. “Shit!”

Gothic grinned slightly as she took another step back to give the group room to deal with the knife welding girls. Normally she would have helped but they were wearing magical leather armor that would take more than a knife to cut through considering none of the mobs were brutes. Besides, they had Noelle who was basically a one woman wrecking crew.

Lisa turned and glared at Gothic once they finished turning all of the mobs that had rushed them into pixels. “You should have mentioned shooting the next girl would pull them all in.”

“It’s a bad habit to expect them to behave like computer sprites. Either way the group is dealt with, we just have to take out the boss.”

Brian looked at the remaining mob through the window, noticing the girl’s curiously familiar stance. “So, phasing and a crossbow, Shadowstalker?”

“Yep, she’s a bit of a bitch,” Gothic agreed.

“Why is there a hero in the dungeon?” Noelle asked.

Alec snorted. “She’s not a hero, she got blood on my last couch.”

“Stop complaining, you weren’t the one that got shot,” Brian complained.

Noelle turned to look at Alec. “How did she get blood on your couch?”

“She shot Brian, he bled on my couch, thus it’s her fault,” Alec replied smugly.

Lisa shook her head. “She’s only a hero in the loosest of terms. If she hasn’t killed anyone it’s only by luck.”

“That and she’s a psychopath,” Gothic complained.

“In that case, I’ve got this,” Brian said as darkness started pouring off of him and heading for the cafeteria.

“Personal experience with the actual cape?” Noelle asked.

“I’ve fought her several times, my darkness screws with her power.”

“Keep in mind her power might be slightly different but it’s worth a shot…” she trailed off as Sophia shouted, “Grue!”

“Is that normal?” Lisa asked as a crossbow bolt came out of the darkness and imbedded itself in the wall.

“Nope, she’s never done that before,” Gothic admitted, a touch surprised about the change in behavior.

Brian ducked into the darkening cafeteria wanting to close the distance and have the advantage.

‘We should probably figure out a way to see through that,’ Gothic mused as she waited for Brian to deal with Sophia.

Brian slammed his nightstick into Sophia’s stomach, rather glad that he didn’t have to hold back, worry about reinforcements or legal consequences. He dodged her wild swing then hit her in the elbow, taking the shots he could without letting her connect with any of her kicks or punches.

“How are we splitting the loot?” Alec asked.

“Considering we can run it when Neverland gets back, I wouldn’t worry about it,” Gothic replied as she waited for Brian to finish up. “You’re welcome to anything that drops other than the mask.”

Noelle shrugged, not terribly concerned about the mask, knowing that they owed Neverland for helping them out and that the mask was part of the group’s identity.

Brian slammed his nightstick into the back of Sophia’s head, turning her into pixels and a couple of items. He frowned slightly as he realized that he felt no guilt about beating her to death and in fact felt a measure of satisfaction, much like shooting a character that looked like her in a video game. He pushed his feelings to the side as he reached down and picked up the book and vial she’d dropped. He gave her panties a wary look then picked them up, thankful that he was wearing gloves. “Get To Lickin’… I so didn’t need to see that.”

He glanced at the book’s title as he walked out of his darkness. “A Beginner’s Guide to Archery: Showing You Where to Stick It?” He looked at Gothic. “I thought you said she dropped decent loot?”

“The vial dyes clothes so they blend in with the shadows and as for the book... open it,” Gothic said with a grin, having setup the punchline to this joke when they’d first entered the dungeon and said she’d take any school books they’d found as her share of the loot.

“Open it?” Brian asked as he opened it. He blinked as a video game popup window appeared asking if he wanted to learn ranged a ranged weaponry skill. “What the hell? It brought up a window and it’s asking me if I want to learn ranged weapons.”

Alec and Noelle stared at Brian and Gothic. Noelle asked, “Skill books? You have to be kidding me… right?”

“Neverland’s power is more than a little bullshit,” Gothic said smugly.

“How skilled does that make a person?” Lisa asked.

“Just the basics, but you gain skill in the subject a lot more quickly than you normally would as well,” she explained.

Alec blinked as he connected the dots. “Is that why you wanted the boring textbooks from the lockers?”

“Not so boring now, are they?” Gothic asked with amusement.

Brian warily tapped the accept button then blinked as a skill meter appeared and quickly filled up twice before it faded out. “Skill bar?”

“They come with decent perks. Why do you think I’m a crack shot after a couple days of practice?”

“A couple of days?” Alec asked in disbelief, thinking about her shooting people in the knees.

Gothic smirked at Alec. “Repeat after me, Neverland’s powers are complete bullshit.”

“Were there any interesting books in the lockers?” Noelle asked as she glanced at the pair of panties Brian was holding.

“Not particularly, I’m fairly sure most of them are just academics books.”

“We’ll have to make another run, those would help Rachel,” Brian pointed out.

Lisa shook her head. “How well do you have to be able to read to use the skill books? Her education wasn’t the best.”

“I wasn’t aware it was that bad but yeah that’s who I was thinking about giving them to,” Gothic admitted.

“That would be easier than getting her to study,” Alec said.

“Now that we’ve beat the boss, what’s left?” Noelle asked as she worked on looting the weapons the girls had dropped.

Gothic shrugged. “We could beat up some of the teachers, sort through the loot or we can take a break and watch movies in the other dungeon.”

“Which teachers?” Brian blurted out.

“You had Gladly, didn’t you?” Gothic asked with a touch of amusement.

“Yeah. If you weren’t popular you were pretty much invisible or a potential criminal.”

“How bad was the school?” Noelle asked warily as she glanced between Gothic and Brian.

Gothic shrugged. “I never went, I just heard stories but it has more than a couple issues.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Brian agreed, thinking about the gangs and the administration and the burnouts they called teachers.

“In that case, let’s punch Gladly’s face in, then we can hit the movies,” Gothic said excitedly.

0o0o0

Director Emily Piggot glared at the budget sheets spread out on her desk, even if they drastically cut various programs they’d be hard pressed to afford the payout and she’d already tried to kick the request up the chain. The response hadn’t been promising, mostly a we’ll get back to you, which didn’t help considering the time constraints the vigilante salvage laws put in place. She looked up as Armsmaster walked into her office. “Any luck with the Protectorate budget?”

Armsmaster sighed. “It’s even worse than yours, if it was only a million or two we could deal with it but twenty million is out of the question. I talked to the Mayor, they don’t have enough money free to make forcing the issue worth it.”

“Considering the state of the city, I’m not surprised,” Emily admitted.

“Can we connect the power outage in the area to their attack? Maybe get some leverage?” Armsmaster asked hopefully.

Emily shook her head. “We don’t have any proof of their involvement and even if they were guilty it would be a fine at most and up to the court to prosecute which they wouldn’t considering they took out Calvert and the power was only off ten minutes. If they’d screwed things up we might be able to use it but they didn’t.”

Armsmaster could understand her point, success often meant the rules were a bit relaxed while failure generally meant you had to care about the details a lot more. “I might have a solution to the problem.”

“What?” Emily asked, curious where Armsmaster thought he could get twenty million dollars at the drop of a hat.

“The Mayor mentioned not having the budget but they have plenty of abandoned property that they can’t do anything with for various reasons. It shouldn’t be that hard to convince the team of heroes to trade the endbringer shelter for various abandoned properties.”

“The problem then becomes the assessed value of the properties in question; many of them haven’t been maintained in decades and the cost involved in bringing them up to code and getting them active would mean they’d effectively be ceding vast swathes of the city to an independent parahuman organization,” Emily frowned darkly. 

Armsmaster nodded. “Which they’d have to protect.” 

“Much of the abandoned property is also in gang turf which lowers the property values further,” she shook her head, “I’m afraid it’s a losing proposition.” 

“Which gives them a reason to clean it up,” Armsmaster said, knowing they might have to call in extra help if they went villain but he considered it worth the risk.

Emily snorted. “It also gives them a reason to refuse entirely.” 

“If they refuse we can go with my second idea, Dragon has a been looking for a secure location in the general region to increase her response time to various threats. She’s a known hero with a long track record and is a member of the Guild in good standing which should be more palatable than a mostly unknown group of independants.”

“So you’re basically saying we should borrow the money to acquire the base so that we can give it away? I’m fairly sure their lawyers would have a field day with that.”

Armsmaster shrugged. “Not if we tell them the plan and lay our cards on the table. We have to face facts, we can’t afford to pay for the shelter which means that if we can’t come up with a way to pay for it, they can legally claim it. Maybe we could tie them up in court but that would cost us a lot of PR, especially with Panacea and Glory Girl involved. If we can talk them into making some type of deal with Dragon, we’d have someone keeping an eye on them. That’s assuming we can’t talk them into accepting the property deal.”

“We’d have to clear things with the Mayor but I doubt it would be a hard sell.” She doubted the heroes would go for the deal but it sounded like a reasonable plan as such things went. “Ask Dragon if she’d be interested with the understanding that we’ll pitch the other deal first. I’ll talk to the head of the legal department to see what our options are.”

“I’ll see what she says and get back to you,” Armsmaster agreed as he turned and left.

Emily picked up her phone and hit the button for the legal department, knowing that it was going to be a long day.

0o0o0