Collateral Damage Pt 3 (Patreon)

Part Three: Outburst

[A/N: this chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]

Legend was still talking, but Danny had stopped listening. He turned his head, calculating distances and directions. Technically, it would be possible to walk to the hospital, or perhaps drive there …

No, not drive, given the mess he’d made of the car when he blew up the house. He hadn’t thought twice about it, which suggested to him that he’d subconsciously known that his time as meek, mild Danny Hebert was at an end.

Up until now, he’d subsumed his darker side so completely into his civilian identity that sometimes he’d managed to ignore that that aspect of his life for days or even weeks at a time. But that time was over. His hand had been forced.

While it wasn’t the first time this had happened, he’d done his best to leave those in power in no doubt as to how dire the repercussions would be if they ever attacked him or his again. And they’d not only allowed Taylor to be attacked, but they’d refused to accept responsibility after the fact. Enough was enough. It was time to act.

The only reason Brockton Bay was standing—in fact, the only reason he hadn’t yet set about obliterating the entire eastern seaboard—was that Taylor was still alive. Now, he had to make sure she stayed alive; once he started reminding the world why nobody screwed with Ragnarok, at least one idiot would insist on targeting her. The sooner he got to her and made sure she was able to gruesomely murder anyone who tried to step on her, the better.

Resting the loaded shotgun over his shoulder, he entered coordinates by eye, and triggered the teleport. The last thing he saw before the swirling indigo energy took him away was the look of shock on Legend’s face.

The shockwave he created on arrival in the parking lot of Brockton Bay General Hospital was a minor one by comparison; only three cars were wrecked and two more overturned. Turning his head, he looked back toward the even bigger mushroom cloud just now climbing into the air over where his neighbourhood had once been. A few seconds later, the rolling boom reached his ears. He wondered idly if the surveillance teams had gotten out. If they’d had any sense, they would’ve started executing emergency bug-out procedures the instant Legend knocked on his front door.

Scratch that; if they’d had any sense, they would’ve flat-out refused orders to be on the surveillance teams in the first place.

Another explosion reached his ears and he turned to look up at the seventh floor of the hospital. He knew it was the seventh, because that had been the floor Taylor’s ward was on. Now, several windows and a chunk of wall were tumbling in shards and flames toward the asphalt below; smoke was beginning to roil upward from the newly made hole. Danny Hebert wasn’t a huge believer in coincidence, but he wasn’t quite sure what the connection was here. Then his eye fell on a PRT van parked inconspicuously on the far side of the lot, and it all fell into place. Somewhere up there, some idiot had tried to strongarm his daughter, and she’d responded appropriately. That’s my girl.

Sighting on the now-open side of the hospital, he triggered the teleport again. As with the last jump, he made sure to leave most of the damage behind. It would create a crater in the parking lot and destroy a bunch of cars, but that wasn’t his problem. People were messing with him and his, and he was about to make that their problem.

“… and stay the fuck out of my way!”

Lights were flickering and sparking as he arrived at his destination. The structure was creaking and groaning, which made him suspect that more bits were going to fall off, but his main focus was on the high-pitched scream. That was Taylor, but sounding angrier than he’d ever heard her before. As angry as he felt right then, in fact.

Good. It’s healthy to express a bit of anger every now and again.

Moving forward, he noted something interesting; intense indigo glowing points of light, made much more visible by the intermittent lighting, flying to and fro like fireflies on steroids. Still, it wasn’t his problem. “Taylor!” he boomed, his armour taking the word and amplifying it. “It’s Dad! Are you all right?”

“… Dad?” She still sounded angry, but not at the level of tear-the-city-down rage. A door creaked open, then gave up the ghost and fell off its hinges to land on the floor. His little girl stepped through, fists clenched, wearing the clothing he’d left for her on his first visit. More of those indigo fireflies were orbiting her.

Lots more.

“That’s me, honey.” He slung the shotgun and stepped forward. With a gesture at the surrounding area, he tilted his head. “You do all this? Nice work.”

“Wait … what? Dad, you’re Ragnarok?” Just like a typical teenager, she managed to sound curious and pissed-off, all at the same time. “What the fuck, Dad? Why did you never tell me? Why did you never do anything about all this shit? You could’ve blown the whole fucking school up, and I would’ve fucking cheered!”

“Yeah, that’s my bad.” He sighed. “I kind’ve said I’d retire after China. After your mom. I guess I should’ve been more alert. But I thought they’d do what they goddamn well said they’d do, and make sure nobody bothered you.”

“Well, no duh, Dad!” She turned her head, and screamed, “I said, fuck off!” With a gesture, a dozen of the orbiting fireflies zoomed off through the open doorway and disappeared. A moment later, a rolling boom echoed through the hospital. As if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, she turned back to him. “Wait, Mom? I thought she died in a car accident! China had something to do with that? That’s why you wiped out the CUI?”

Inside the helmet, he grimaced. “Yeah, basically. Nobody fucks with a Hebert.” Reaching into a pouch, he pulled out a linked-metal necklace with a tiny glowing indigo gem at its centre. “Here, put this on. I made it for your mom, but they managed to bypass it to get to her anyway. So I improved it. I’ve been meaning to give it to you for the last year, but it never seemed the right time.”

Taking the necklace, she frowned. “What does it do?”

“Same thing the one built into my watch and my chest-piece does. Incoming attacks are returned to sender, with interest.” Danny nodded impatiently. “Put it on.”

“Yeah, yeah, keep your shirt on.” She was doing a fairly good job at maintaining control over what seemed to be a vast pit of rage. He could see the anger simmering inside her. It was what he saw in the mirror most days. Up until now, he’d kept it securely locked away. No more. It was time to let the monster out to play.

Monsters. Plural.

The necklace clicked into place, and the gem flared briefly. She bared her teeth as she looked up at him. “Okay, Dad. I’m Ragnarok’s daughter. Kind of explains the exploding bugs. Why the fuck am I not freaking out more than I am, right now?”

He cracked a feral grin. “Because if you’re anything like me, you’re too pissed off to be freaked out. Exploding bugs, huh?”

“Yeah.” One of the little indigo fireflies buzzed ominously past him, then settled on an undamaged section of wall. With a loud crack it detonated, blowing a fist-sized chunk out of the wall. “I can see and hear through them, and I can make them go bang.” She shook her head. “I had no fuckin’ idea what was going on ’til just a little while ago, when the PRT guys showed up and started harassing me. So I got mad, and this shit happened. Turns out they don’t much like bugs going bang.”

Danny smiled proudly. “That’s my girl.” He looked out through the hole in the wall. Even over the creaking and groaning, and the crackling of flames, sirens could be heard getting closer. “You said something about blowing up Winslow. Still want to go do that thing?”

She grinned broadly, and he was pretty sure he could see an indigo glow in her eyes. “Oh, fuck yes.”

“Good. So, first things first. That necklace of yours? Doesn’t stop anything that’s blunt and slow, just sharp or fast-moving. Like so.” Stepping in next to her, he grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and back of the pants, and threw her out through the hole.

“What the fuuu …” Her voice rose in a shriek as she vanished from sight; a moment later, it was drowned out by a detonation from ground level.

Laughing harshly, he stepped to the edge of the hole and jumped. A couple of seconds later, he collided with the ground; or at least, his protective field did. There was a moderately large explosion, and he found himself standing in a crater. About ten yards away, Taylor was climbing to her feet in the middle of another crater. She’d landed on a car, which had not survived the experience. “Seriously?” she shouted. “You threw me out of the fucking building?”

“Got your attention, didn’t I?” He paused as an indigo firefly zipped in toward him, then detonated. He barely felt the shockwave as his protective field funnelled it back toward Taylor. The resultant blast blew her ten yards backward, through another couple of cars. Debris flew everywhere, but she got to her feet unharmed once more. “Maybe you don’t remember me saying that anything you send my way gets sent right back. Just be glad I gave you the necklace first.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Dear diary, my dad’s a kickass supervillain. Just my luck he’s a raging asshole too.”

“Damn right I am, and don’t you forget it.”

“So why the fuck didn’t my shield shoot back at you?” she demanded, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

He snorted derisively as he climbed up out of his crater and headed in her direction. Each time he reached a piece of rubble, he kicked it, sending it flying into the middle distance. “I designed the tech. You think I’d leave a loophole like that in?” Without bothering to give her time to answer, he went on. “So, you ready to go make a shithole into a smoking crater?”

“What part of ‘fuck yes’ did you not get, the first time around?” She came to meet him, her eyes still glowing that eerie indigo hue. “Might take me awhile, though. Bugs are great, but they’re one use only.”

“Bugs, pfft.” He took the kinetic sledgehammer from his waist and handed it over to her. “This’ll work better than any bug bomb.”

The look she gave him was pained. “Bug bomb? Seriously? Your dad jokes are worse than your fucking powers.” She hefted the hammer with a grunt, holding it with both hands. “What’s it do, anyway?”

“You’ll see.” He looked around as police cars screeched to a halt on the undamaged areas of the parking lot. “Well, they’re a day late and a dollar short.”

“Fuck ’em.” Taylor began to stalk toward them, swinging the hammer back and forth. “I’ve been itching to fuck someone up since I got my powers, and they just volunteered.”

Danny rolled his eyes. While it would be entertaining to watch Taylor smack around members of Brockton Bay’s finest, it would also be an immense waste of time. Quick strides caught him up with her, and he grabbed hold of her shoulder. As soon as he had a firm grip, he triggered the teleport.

“What the fuck, seriously?” As they emerged in front of Winslow High School in a blaze of indigo light and a moderate explosion, she pulled her shoulder free from his grasp. “Fuckin’ warn a girl, why don’t you?”

“You couldn’t wait even half a second, could you?” yelled Danny right back. “You had to go after the most unsatisfying target in the fucking city!” He pointed. “That’s the place you want to hit, right there!”

Taylor’s head swivelled, and she stared at the school frontage. “Oh … fucking … yes!” she crowed. Apparently forgetting the entire argument, she headed for the front doors of the school. Half a dozen glowing bugs zoomed in before she even got to the top of the steps; the doors disintegrated in splinters of wood and shards of glass.

Stepping past the rubble, Taylor entered Winslow like an avenging angel on a mission of total destruction. Which, all things considered, was a reasonably accurate summation of the situation.

Barely had she gone out of sight when the explosions started.

 Part 4