alderwitch

Init: 16

"It's been about a day, since then," Taylor provided to Stesha as she saw the men all talking around the issue. She reached up to twist the necklace at her throat, her fingers sliding over the chain links nervously, "You pushed me out of the way and took the full on blast. You... died, Stesha. You've been dead for about a day now." Taylor was too distressed by being the bearer of this news to even shoot Ace a dirty look for sounding surprised by her threat potential. Her thumb slid over the Eye's blinking jewel and she cleared her throat as she was quick to add, "No one knows but us."

Taylor focused hard to turn solid enough to grip his hand, her eyes dark and wide in her pale face. Her fingers clenched on his almost frantically but she gave him a nod. Turning as brave a face up to him as she could, Taylor was determined to do what she could to ease his fears as he was trying to push hers down, "It's not going to hold, Jack. Call James. Call our friends. Don't hold him off alone." Her fingertips slid over the wedding band on his finger before her concentration failed and her fingers were no more than mist against his hand once more. "If it all goes bad, Jack, I promise, he'll never get the baby." She turned her face up for what kiss she could give him before settling into Archevielle's contraption, trying to look unaffected at the strange shackles of the doctor that were able to hold her. When Archeville went towards the elevator, she turned back to look at him, "I have faith in you, Jack. I always will."

Taylor thought she'd cried herself completely empty but a few tears trickled down her face as Derrick scooped Stesha up in his embrace. It didn't escape her notice that they were both nude, but all Taylor did was smile through her sniffles and shoot Ace a look of warning. Reaching up to her throat, she pulled out the heavy cloak of her costume out of the amulet and sent it over with a wave of her hand to drift around the two of them. The folds should be more than sufficient to cover any nudity. Shakily, she leaned back against Jack. Taylor was aces in a crisis but afterwards, not so much. She stroked his cool hand gently and whispered, thinking just how transient and dangerous this life was, "I love you so much.." When the couple looked ready to look up, Taylor moistened her lips and managed a trembling, "Welcome back."

Taylor hauled her hand back, summoning a bolt of power to her hand as she felt the weird dimensional ripple - a clear sign of how on edge she was. She let the eldritch energy dissipate harmlessly with a wave of one hand and stepped forward to explain. "Dracula," Taylor explained as she set one soothing hand on Jack's arm. Actually, the same hand that she'd almost blasted with the doctor with seconds ago. Her fingertips plucked nervously over the fabric of his sleeve, "He attacked us tonight outside the university. He--" Whatever else Taylor was about to say she swallowed with a little gasp of pain as her muscles clenched again. This time, her outline seemed to blur in response, the hand on Jack's sleeve slipping through his arm as she lost her grip on remaining solidly in this reality. Her outline jitter-ed like a film slipping out of focus before she managed to bring it back inline with the energies of this dimension.

"No, I'm okay." The baby just had terrible, terrible timing. Automatically, she glanced down at her watch and made a mental note. Taylor put out one hand to cover his on her stomach. The gaze she flicked to him was actually frightened. It wasn't an expression that flashed across her face often, "Sweetheart, they didn't hit me at all. But... I think that was a labor pain. We might be having this baby tonight." In the middle of a fight with Dracula. Of course. She tightened her hand on his, "We'll get inside but we'll need to call in reinforcements. And soon."

Alex looked up as the bridge began to shake and shimmy in a rather alarming manner. She'd never tried this on anything so very large before. She rested both hands on one of the struts below the bridge, letting her forehead fall against the cool metal. Within seconds, that sparkly shimmer that covered the teen had spun out to coat the entire bridge like a film of cotton candy. With her brow creased in concentration, the petite psychic closed her eyes and began to start sorting what the bridge should have been from what it was. For those on the bridge, it was quite a site as cables began to restring themselves and rubble melted back into the cracks along the pavement. Metal whined as the bridge supports unbuckled and straightened to redistribute the weight.

Taylor twisted out of the way of the first wolf's charge, barely able to avoid the fangs. She flung her hand up to return fire with a bolt of power of her own but a sudden cramping that spread from her back all the way around her round middle distracted her with its sudden spasm of pain. The bolt flew wide, crashing into one of the parked cars and caving in one of the doors. The whine of the car alarm started up but Taylor ignored it to turn entirely ephemeral as she sank back into the pavement, curling in on herself. She stretched one slender hand up blindly, her fingers closing around Jack's left wrist as they turned solid. The moment her skin touched his, she yanked them through the Void and dropped them both ignominiously in the nearly empty parking lot of Archevielle's ArcheTech facility. Trying to uncurl from the cramping pain, Taylor forced herself to uncoil her body in an attempt to check on Jack. All that blood loss couldn't have been good. It took her a few moments to manage it, however, as not only was there the contraction to fight off, but righting herself took a bit of pushing and levering before she was able to get her feet under her once more.

Taylor simply glanced at the water and mystical power channeled some out to sprinkle over the fertile ground at her look. "I hope that's enough. I've never been good with plants. Stesha was always having to take my plants and rescue them." She stifled a little sob and turned her face away. "I'll be upstairs if you need me." She didn't spare much of a nod of thanks for the vanishing swashbuckler, too caught up in her own emotions. Taylor would feel guilty for that later, but for now she simply fled the scene upstairs as she was rapidly reaching the end of her exhausted composure and wanted to cry herself sick in the privacy of her own home.

Can Psyche use her Healing power to mend the bridge? I have the heal objects extra on it and will happily spend HP to do it. It would be a full round action.

Taylor took a step towards him, flinging one hand out as if it would snap the connection. Eldritch power rose to her fingertips, "It might be your diluted blood and that connection might give you additional power, but you've let your offspring grow too powerful. As you threw off your sire's control, so too he can throw off yours!" Her voice carried her confidence in Jack backed with her understanding of things mystical. She'd had several months to sit around with not nearly so much to do as her usual breakneck pace life, and she'd had the best incentive in the world to study tomes of vampiric lore. Protectively, her other hand rested on her stomach. Taylor's hands splayed out over it's round curve, her wedding band glinting in the dim light.

"Jack... Don't listen to his lies." Taylor twisted towards him, presenting her side to Dracula. She lifted one hand for him, her voice soft and almost pleading. With how hard his instincts were riding him, Taylor didn't honestly know how he'd react to this offer from Dracula. The ancient vampire had all the tricks of his descendents and then some, not to mention a powerful force personality, "That's not the world you want for our baby. That's not the world we want for our son."

Taylor lifted her chin proudly, drawing herself up to her meager height. Her eyes sparked dangerously as she continued to flicker ghostlike in the night, "For someone so concerned about names of power, you invoke my patron far too lightly." Her voice roiled with menace and echoes of the power that was hers by right, "She has Her own plans. I don't imagine that they're anything but counter to yours." Taylor took another step towards Jack, her hands still clenched at her sides. The wind billowed the dress she'd worn to the event around her body and the jewel at her throat glittered but Taylor made no move to summon Phantom's costume. She wasn't ready to escalate this to a conflict just yet. Not if there was a chance they could fight on their terms, rather than his.

Taylor's response was a startled gasp but Jack's hand was already slipping through her shoulder halfway through the shove. For once, her instincts came in handy rather than embarrassing. She phased as she fell, slipping part way through the car and then into the pavement below. She ghosted back up warily, emerging a few steps behind Jack. Taylor's hands were clenched at her side but not glowing with power. Dracula seemed to want to talk and Taylor was all for that. It might buy her enough time to get within arm's reach of Jack to teleport them both away from the vampiric madman. "So...?" She asked warily as she took a sidling step towards Jack, hoping that she looked like a nervous bride looking for protection. Which might have been the case except for the grimly focused and rather intent look on her face. Taylor had never been able to hide her intentions worth a damn.

Taylor gave him a look of frustration. She was growing ever more testy these days. Although she was physically fit enough (and had mystically enhanced regeneration that probably didn't hurt) that she wasn't suffering most of late pregnancy's complaints, she was still as round as a basketball. She'd grown somewhat used to feeling downright frumpy next Jack before pregnancy. Now that feeling of inadequacy was intensified. Emotionally, she was quite secure. Physically, not so much. It didn't help that their sex-life was doubly constrained, first by the pregnancy, secondly by the restriction on blood exchanges. Not to mention that Jack's was starting to become even worse about the danger lurking behind every corner. Despite the audible sigh, she turned and immediately made their excuses and let him take her arm to start moving her out of the lecture hall. Taylor fought down her various frustrations and looked up at him. As her gaze slid over his profile, her expression softened. She'd never admit it, but it was actually kind of nice to be cosseted and protected. It certainly made her feel loved. As her mood swung back to the 'I love my husband' end of the spectrum, she asked quietly, "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. All talk," Taylor teased the superhero, "Stesha and I both have masses of siblings. This isn't anyone's first baby shower I don't think." Taylor stopped the teasing to glance at the door. The door knob turned and it opened under the force of the mystic's will. Eldritch power was pretty handy when one didn't feel like navigating around the house or trying to climb out of the chair. Taylor gave Moira a dimpled smile and a wave, "Come on in, Moira."

Taylor whacked Ace on the shoulder with her palm, and rolled her eyes, "I don't know. I'm not paranoid enough to feel the need to keep tabs on Jack every minute of every day. If he's not in his study, he's probably out and about attending to work of one kind or another. Those of us that don't have a lunchbox line have to occasionally attend to things like that. Oh, speaking of which, I want you to take a look at the nursery before you go." She gave Stesha an amused grin, "I totally think we need to make Ace play the game with the diapers, don't you?"

Taylor walked through, dismissing her costume with a thought and leaned against Jack's side, heedless of the chill emanating from her husband's body. She folded her arms over her breasts and above her stomach, her worried gaze on the small flower. Her fingertips slid over the Eye of Heshem at her throat, a nervous tick for those that knew her. Taylor hoped that Dark Star would find some spark of life inside. Something to give more than the faint hope that they all had. She leaned her dark head against the leather of Avenger's costume, "Ace's been giving her sunlight. I suppose we could find some water..."

Seeing that Wander was after Breakdown, Psyche flew to the weakened bridge support. Along the way, she glared at one of the monsters that seemed to thrive on the carnage, raking at him mentally. She was surprised how resilient their brains seemed to be to assault but shrugged it off. Her main goal was getting down to the weakened support. Once she reached it, she pressed her palms against the bridge's strut.

Lessee, on her way over to restore the structure under the bridge, Psyche will pop off her DC 26 Will save mental blast on the brick. DC26will save vs damage.

"She's under the soil in our basement. Go look." Taylor said wearily, exhausted now that the adrenaline was fading. She rubbed one gloved hand over her eyes tiredly. "I can get everyone else back to the apartment myself. We can meet you upstairs."

"Oh, no. Don't you dare take off into the sky. I do not want to have to spend the next several months tracking you down across the stars." Taylor said, reaching up to shove her hood back, "Not until you've checked to see if Stesha's healing with all your massive senses. If she doesn't wake up, I'll open up the portal for you to get your vengance on myself."

"No, no. We totally need you. I have a plan," Alex said with a little grin and began pulling what looked like Frisbee strategy notes from her day-glo pink backpack. She let the mention of Zoe go with another frown directed at Eddie and look at Mike that seemed to share some silent communication based on their expressions. She pulled out a pen topped with a waving pom pom and sat down cross legged to eat her sandwich, "Trevor, you'd rather be on our team than Next Gen, right? Not that I would ever say anything bad about fellow students - except for maybe Daisy - but we are more fun."

He is completely insane. Taylor smiled at the doctor and firmly told herself that the man wasn't insane, he was just German. "Thank you, doctor. It's an amazing level of craftsmanship. Once I have a wall to put it on, I will be sure to hang it. At the moment, I'll have to put it in Jack's apartment." Her eyes danced in amusement at the idea of the clock hanging in Jack's sleek decor, "I'm afraid my apartment didn't recover from the zealot fiasco. I didn't even get my deposit back."

"I don't mind baby games, just no one's measuring my middle or they're going through a wall. Hey, Ace," Taylor pushed up to stand and give him a hug. It looked very effortless if you ignored the energy signature of her arcane powers 'help'. She gave Ace a bright smile that dimpled both her cheeks, "It's not exactly a huge party. Moira will be here too and that's really it. I didn't want to have that many people over." Jack had seemed a little twitchy over inviting Ace but Taylor wasn't sure if that was due to Ace's ability to aggravate everyone around him or if Jack was getting even more testy about letting people in their home. Taylor rather suspected that he was having some problems with his vampiric instincts with the baby's ever increasing presence. Taylor put it out of her mind and beamed at both of them, "I have a cake and a ton of snacks. That's as far as my party planning goes." She sighed and tapped ace on the shoulder with a friendly open palm. "Thank you for the compliment, backhanded though it may be. I promise the nursery is neither red nor black."