OnAHiatus
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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: EMBERS AND ASH
🕑 Added 2025-03-10 08:17:26 +0000 UTCThe Narrows burned.
Flames crackled, casting jagged, writhing shadows against the crumbling buildings. The streets—once filled with voices, laughter, and stubborn resilience—were now unrecognizable, paved with rubble and bodies. Smoke hung thick in the air, acrid and choking, mingling with the stench of scorched flesh. Sirens howled in the distance, too far to matter.
Taylor forced herself to move faster.
Her boots struck the cracked pavement, kicking up dust and embers as she tore through the destruction, vaulting over shattered cars and dodging flames. She barely registered the cuts on her arms from falling debris, the way her lungs screamed with every breath, or how she was moving faster than any normal person should.
The devastation blurred past her—shattered windows, collapsed walls, blood pooling in the gutters. Bodies lay where they had fallen, twisted and broken. Some had been swallowed by the flames, others crushed beneath the wreckage. A few still stirred, voices ragged and weak, calling for help that might never come.
Taylor didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop.
Her ribs ached, her limbs burned, but none of it mattered. Not until she saw them. That was all that filled her mind.
Marla. The kids. The people who had taken her in when she had nothing.
The moment she turned the last corner, she froze.
Her home—their home—was gone. The upper floors had collapsed inward, leaving only a skeletal ruin behind. Smoke poured from the wreckage, the faint glow of embers flickering beneath the rubble.
And there, just beyond the destruction, Marla sat in the dirt, her back slumped against a half-toppled streetlight. Blood coated her arms, her clothes, soaking into the fabric like ink. She was cradling something.
No. Someone.
Small. Limp.
Taylor’s breath caught.
She stumbled forward, her legs nearly giving out beneath her.
Evan.
Marla’s head barely lifted at her approach, but her hollow eyes met Taylor’s. She was barely clinging to consciousness, her body wrecked, her breathing shallow. But it was Evan she held onto the tightest, her fingers tangled in his bloodstained shirt, unwilling to let go.
Taylor finally dropped to her knees.
The boy’s face was pale in the firelight, his dark curls matted with dirt and caked blood. His arms hung uselessly at his sides, his body limp against Marla’s chest. He was too pale. Too limp.
Too lifeless.
A sharp, broken sound tore from Taylor’s throat as she reached out, pressing two fingers against his wrist. Please. Please.
Nothing.
Her breath caught, vision swimming. Her hands clenched, shaking as they hovered over him.
Marla swallowed hard, her voice barely above a whisper. “I— I tried—”
Taylor couldn’t hear the rest.
Her ears rang, the world narrowing to the boy in Marla’s arms. The child who had once pestered her endlessly, who had grinned at her like she was invincible, who had laughed like the world wasn’t broken. The one who had trusted her. Had lit the match under everyone’s asses.
Now he was gone.
And it was all her fault.
Her fingers dug into the fabric of his shirt as her shoulders shook, the words burning in her mind, hotter than the flames around her.
She had ignored the warnings. She had known Gotham was as bad as Brockton Bay—maybe worse. But even she hadn’t predicted this. Hadn’t seen this coming.
The Calculator—because who else could it have been—had made his move. And now the Narrows was in ruins. Her people were dead. Evan was dead.
Taylor let go before she could bruise him further, her fingers trembling as she dug them into the loose dirt below, clenching tightly. Her vision blurred, not from the smoke but from the sheer, overwhelming rage clawing its way up her throat.
She swore to herself then and there.
She would kill them all.
Every last one of them.
Comments
OnAHiatus
Taylor had one of the best plot armour in all of fiction. The people that fought her, esp Alexandria, were given the idiot ball
Disorder
Yep. People that tried to fight Taylor were dumb. Either find a way to deprive Taylor of her bugs or have something that makes her trying to swarm you with them useless. They did neither, so Taylor always had a chance to fight and win/survive. Should Taylor regain her powers, the villains will wise up and, much to her shock, do what you said OnAHiatus.
OnAHiatus
Yeah, it would’ve made things a lot easier—at least until everyone and their mother started wearing full-body suits to deter bug attacks or developing energy fields that instantly kill every insect nearby. Bruh, I just realized DC “humans” are basically Contessa on crack with how stupidly prepared they are for each other.
Disorder
Maybe. Maybe not. Calculator has seen Taylor in action for a while now, so he knows that she's all no talk and all business. Besides, compared to Batman, Taylor has yet to do anything that makes her scary. Pointing a gun isn't enough to scare the Calculator, or any of the major villains, all of them used to having their life in danger. The big time villains of Gotham do try to kill each other every now and then, so their not going to be scared of Taylor unless she does something extra special. Hah, bugs would've been nice.
OnAHiatus
Well, you can be sure to expect so much drama. Messy drama. But yeah, Taylor won’t waste time with threats; Calculator should be afraid
EverandAnon44
The best part about this, is that unlike all the named villains of Gotham, Taylor doesn’t bother with monologues, unnecessary complications, or just doing things to terrify the population. She’s just going to kill them, and move on to the next. Barring, of course, the inevitable intervention of the Furry Edgelord himself.
OnAHiatus
Not only that, but Bats is strong enough to enforce his rule on his own if need be
Disorder
Then, what Batman can do is get her to stop trying to justify her actions. The biggest flaw Taylor Hebert had was her ability to justify her actions, even the most horrible ones. Even when she acknowledged how terrible they were, she still kept repeating the same mistake because no one could get her to stop doing them. That stops now as Batman won't let her do terrible things for what she believes is for the supposed greater good.
OnAHiatus
She really needs to meet Superman for that to truly sink in. Batman inspires hope, but not the kind she needs. They are too alike—too stubborn, too weary—for her to ever fully see eye to eye with him.
Disorder
You know, Batman tearing apart her arguments may be the thing she needs to get her to open her eyes to the world she's in. That this is a world that isn't on the brink of ruin (despite all the world ending threats tha eppear). A world that isn't losing its heroes while gaining more villains. It's a world that still has hope, and one where heroes won't compromise their values in their efforts to do good like the heroes in her world, like her.
OnAHiatus
She will be at a disadvantage in whatever agreement she has with Bats, which she doesn't like
Disorder
Taylor may have to consider it once she has time and actually thinks of the long term consequences for her actions. She has no allies, so she can't force anyone to make a deal with her like she did with the PRT. So this means that if she goes too far, she will be arrested. She will be imprisoned and there will be nobody to help her, nobody to see that leaving her to rot is such a waste of her talents.
OnAHiatus
I won't call it okay though, more like tolerant of it to a degree. And they can't kill in front of him. Taylor has no such compunction. She will kill in front of him if she thinks it’s necessary. Taylor is too stubborn, she will definitely resist being one of his strays for a long time
Disorder
Batman is okay with with Harley and Jason, who have killed people before. After all, the reason Bruce gives leeway to people like them is because he knows how much the world wronged them. Taylor will be the same to, but only if she tries to be better and tells Bruce something about herself. Like I said earlier, Batman has a soft spot for people that have been wronged, and Taylor has faced a lot of injustice in life that led to her becoming the person she is today.
OnAHiatus
I think that will make their relationship very rocky😭
Disorder
If I were a betting man, he'll appear just as Taylor is about to kill a man.
OnAHiatus
Yuppppp Batman will soon make an actual appearance, but not in the way you’d expect
Disorder
Looks like the Calculator and the League are getting what they want. They'll see that Taylor is more than willing to kill people, except Spoiler is going to get in the way of Skitters return. Bat family knows what the eye of a killer looks like, and Spoiler also knows that she can't win one on one against Taylor, so time to bring in the family. Time to bring in Batman.
