The ground rumbled as sections of the black marble floor rose to form into broad, shallow stairs, leading from the two young women to Skidmark’s stage.

Quite handy!

Interestingly, this implies that Labyrinth is aware of their position and status. Can she or Spitfire see them, or does Labyrinth’s power come with an awareness of everything in the affected area?

The capes in Skidmark’s group were struggling to find ground to stand on, as they were crowded back to the edges of the platform by the statue that was still emerging from the wall.

Niice.

I take it none of them can fly.

A head and two forearms with reaching hands, all in dark stone.

Beautiful.

The cut on the back of my arm burned as I found a grip, then hurt twice as much as I hauled myself onto the top of the wall, my toes scrabbling on the untextured surface for traction.  I reached down for Brooks, but he shook his head and waved me aside.  He wanted to come up on his own.

Of course.

Fine, whatever.

Can’t just do something silly like accept help, right?

I hopped down into the next corridor.  The far left had an archway leading into one of the more open areas, a circular area that was serving as a clearing for Trainwreck and the red-haired girl to fight.

Might want to avoid that area, but at least this gives us an opportunity to actually watch for a moment, see what the red-haired girl is doing.

I crouched down as I reached the doorway, peeking out and trusting my bugs to give me the fuller story of what was going on.  Brooks appeared behind me and crouched, gun raised, his back to the wall.

This is oddly badass.

His breathing was quiet and controlled even after his recent climb and jog.

Huh, nice.

“Help me over,” I ordered Minor.  There was a crash not too far away as Trainwreck tore through one of Labyrinth’s walls.

I wonder if the walls are thick enough to run around on top of.

“Can give you and Brooks a boost, but not sure if I can follow,” Minor told me, “Maybe if I find a place with something to stand on-”

Hm. Maybe Taylor is about to say she should go alone, for some reason, but I mean, if they could both get up, that might be useful.

“That’s fine.  Look,”  I drew an arrow on the wall with my bugs, “I can give you directions.”

Ah! Giving up on keeping your power away from the bodyguards, are you?

There was little surprise on his face at the demonstration of my power.

“Well, there had to be a reason she was here.”

And hey, how many girls of Taylor’s build is the villain Tattletale known to hang around?

He gave me a curt nod, dropped to one knee, and wove his fingers together to give me a stirrup for my foot.

Make sure to lead with the correct foot.

At least when mounting a horse. Maybe not so much when climbing onto a wall. 😛

I sheathed my good knife, stuffed the spare between the sheath and the strap that attached it to my midsection and stepped inside the bridge of Minor’s hands.  He heaved me up, almost throwing me.

Nice work.

There was no way I was going back without him.

That’s a pretty absolute statement.

It’s clear that Taylor is filled with determination.

The intensity of the emotion I was feeling on the subject surprised me.

Yeah, it’s pretty intense.

Hell, you don’t even know if the kid’s still alive yet and you’re making statements that absolute.

I hated the idea of going back to Sierra and telling her I’d failed.  Hated the idea of that conversation on top of the news I had about Bryce joining the same Merchants that assaulted her friend with a broken bottle.

Yeeah, no matter how you spin it, it’s going to be an unpleasant debriefing. Might as well try to avoid it getting more unpleasant.

I couldn’t do it.  I couldn’t be leader of a territory and know that someone out there was maybe telling others I hadn’t followed through, fighting that constant nagging doubt in the back of my mind that wondered if ‘my’ people were whispering or laughing at me behind my back.

Oof, yeah, that’s another good point.

And maybe a small part of it was that my meeting with my father had been a reminder of how important family was.

Aaand that’s how it all ties together! I like it.

Bryce was the errant youth, his sister the anxious family member.  

Which makes Taylor… Dragon?

This paralleling is very interesting. On the larger scale we’ve got the heroes, mostly Dragon, trying to sway Taylor back to their side, and hints suggesting Taylor is not really that happy with her current role, and more than just hints that Taylor is really feeling guilt for abandoning Danny. And now on a smaller scale, we’ve got Taylor trying her hardest to retrieve a kid, someone who by her own admission parallels her, from the life of villainy for the sake of his anxious family member.

So metaphorically, she’s feeling an incredibly strong desire to save “herself” from villainy and take “herself” back to “Danny”.

Holy hell, this rabbit hole is deep. I’m glad Wildbow decided to point this out via Taylor, because I’m not sure I would’ve picked up on it otherwise, but now that I do see it, it’s a really strong piece of writing.

Damn.

Were my emotions here tied to the parallel between them and my father and me?

After the realizations you just sent me through I’d be quite disappointed if they weren’t.

There was a brief pause in the gunfire, then a single shot fired.  Sparks marked the ricochet between his shoulder, the back of his hand, and the armor that rose behind his head.

Pew cling clang cleang cloing…

He dropped to one knee with a suddenness that suggested he was wounded.

If, again, the redhead has ballerina powers, it makes sense that it would come with great coordination. That might extend to knowing exactly where to aim the gun to get a good ricochet.

Come to think of it, Flechette would probably have a pretty good idea of that too.

I hurried to the wall.  I could use my bugs to find my way through the maze, getting a sense of the layout, but I needed something faster.

Hm… like Lisa, maybe?

Labyrinth was using her power and adjusting the battlefield with every passing second.  The way things were, given how she wasn’t aware of who I was, I was included among her enemies.

Yep.

If I didn’t go now and the battle resolved one way or the other, I might lose my window of opportunity to get Bryce.

Better hurry.

It wasn’t enough.  Trainwreck smashed the pole from under her, sending her flying through the air to land in the midst of Labyrinth’s maze.

Whoop.

Labyrinth created a short pillar below the metal case and canisters, and began to extend it towards the gap in the roof.  Skidmark used his power to force the things off the top of the pillar and onto the platform, where they rolled.  A few stray papers fluttered from the case.

Heh, this is a neat moment. We’ve got someone who can make an elevator out of the floor, and we’ve got someone who can make that elevator useless.

There was a crack of gunfire, and I saw the momentary light of the shot to my right.  I couldn’t see over the wall, but I saw Trainwreck lumbering forward, one oversized metal gauntlet raised to protect his head, the only vulnerable part of his body.

Was that the redhead shooting? Although I’m not sure she’d be able do, what with having the maze walls around her, just like Taylor.

I directed some bugs to the scene, and realized that a woman with the exact same proportions as the red-haired woman was firing at Trainwreck.

Interesting phrasing. I’d expect Taylor to just say “the red-haired woman”, but I guess Wildbow wanted to be clear on how she came to that conclusion. That, or he’s setting up a bait and switch, but I don’t see a good reason to do that with this particular thing.

She’d made it through the maze and back to the skirmish with Trainwreck so quickly?

Ohh, I see. Taylor had reason to believe the redhead shouldn’t be there.

I guess if she’s got ballerina powers, or at least foot powers, that might also make her a speedster and/or a jumper (though Taylor might spot her if she were to jump over the maze). Alternatively she might be a teleporter, but then why would she not just teleport in from the roof?

Not quite.  Faultline and Gregor, yes.  I didn’t recognize the other woman, and she was too tall to be Spitfire with her mask off.  Red haired, slender, older than Spitfire or Labyrinth had been.

Oh, huh. New member? Or perhaps someone they’re just temporarily working with.

She slid down the pole, up until the moment Trainwreck leaped from the stage and caught the base of the pole with his shoulder.

…alrighty, then. Putting on a front, or genuinely trying to help out the Merchants?

He was built like a football player in a quadruple-thick layer of cast iron protective gear, steam billowing behind him as he tore past the stone pole like it was nothing.

American football sounds pretty cool if they’re all wearing steampunk mechs like this.

They are, right?

It cracked in four places, and the girl dropped out of the air.

Well, was nice knowing you for five seconds.

No, I think she’ll be alright, but how?

One section of the pole hit the ground in an upright position, and she landed atop it with one foot, wobbling briefly.

Damn. Got a ballerina over here.

Controlling the angle the pole fell, she angled her fall toward a nearby wall of the maze.

Nice work.

Her power probably involves her feet, and balance. Landing like this gracefully and without breaking her ankle would be an incredible feat if it didn’t.