[PREVIEW] Great Sage Above Brockton Ch19

Taylor Hebert had seen a great deal in her short life. Happy moments with her parents and her friend were now stained black by the physical and metaphorical deaths of both. Living in the cape capital of the USA had tempered her reactions to extreme moments, be they comic, tragic, or just plain bizarre when explained out of context. And then she discovered her bully was a hero-in-training, had powers, and was offered training by a monkey.

Yes, it was completely baffling when she thought about it…but like every other curveball life had thrown at her, she could power through it.

But as she peeked her hooded head out from behind a street corner, the last coherent thought passing through her mind before it bluescreened was that maybe she’d spoken too soon. 

Because there was no rational way to explain the spectacle unfolding before her.

With trembling fingers, she rubbed some dust off her glasses and pulled back strands of messy hair…yup, a small army of monkeys was fighting off an army of knights.

She knew her teacher was weird. Be it his old-timey way of speaking, the strange comments he threw about whatever was around him, and the fact he was a…well, a talking monkey. Probably a Case-53 like Trainwreck. He wasn’t an active villain, but she remembered seeing him once in the newspapers. 

Yet this…

Where the fuck did that come from!?

This was a completely different level of weirdness.

It was a localized typhoon of phantom and fur on the street. Crusader’s clones swarmed inward and tried to pierce, slash and dismember anything that wasn’t them. Wordless howling echoed through the street in an eerie battle cry. Victor fired into the pandemonium from the side, causing her to wince at the staccato of gunfire. She could barely discern anything from the mess, not knowing whether or not any of the bullets struck true. More than once did a clone ram their spear into a furry body…

…only for two things to happen: either the monkey clone pivoted and twisted at the very last second, or the phantom weapon shattered against their skin.

Whatever the outcome, the result was the same: the clone (or was it Wukong himself?) would whack the clone over the head and it would vanish without a trace, only for another to take its place.

Which made absolutely no sense. Taylor thought her tongue would roll into her throat from how low her jaw dropped.

‘How can ghost weapons even break? How can ghosts break, period?’ 

Admittedly, Taylor didn’t know much about Empire capes beyond Kaiser. The news reports of the Protectorate or the Wards’ triumphs and losses - whenever their PR people attempted to save face - always included the villains they fought against. If she had any recollection of Crusader, it wasn’t screaming at her with familiarity. Victor rang a bell, and she’d seen photos of him in the paper, but there was nothing about his powers. From what she could remember from her times on PHO, there was a lot of speculation about it.

‘...well, whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to be helping.’