Shape of Magic Chapter 22: Mission Complete

<<<Taylor Rose>>>

“Goddamnit Aisha…” It felt so nostalgic to say that after all these years.

It reminded her of the good days with the gang, they didn’t have any job to run, and everyone was just hanging out. Bitch was wrestling with her dogs, Brain was taking a nap, Alec was playing his games, Lisa was doing Lisa things (quite possibly trolling on PHO), and Aisha… just goddamnit Aisha.

The girl was… is chaos incarnate and always getting into some sort of mischief. Honestly, she still hadn’t figured out how the girl shrunk her skitter suit to make it skintight*! Admittedly… it made her look really sexy (though that realization came only with the benefit of hindsight), it was just a pity she never got a chance to show it off.

And even when she could’ve, neither she nor Brian were in the proper headspace to really appreciate it.

Aisha running off with Amy, that was a pure Aisha move if there ever was one. And God dammit that hurt, seriously these fairies had to be pulling from her memory because they acted so much like the people she knew. Honestly, if she didn’t have Amy to talk sense into, she’d probably be brooding and trying to burn the entire place down by now!

Admittedly, she might just end up doing that anyway. They ran into almost no guards as they snuck into a blocked-up room that, supposedly, held the key they were going after and that made her worry.

“Ah, paranoia my old friend… I didn’t miss you…”

“I should’ve just tied her up and left her back home…” Grue- no Brian not Grue- grumbled as they ran along.

At least she wasn’t alone in her irritation, and despite how fond she was of Aisha… she had really shit timing. The fact that Amy went along with her blew her mind though! Amy was the smart one, why would she even think going with that damn gremlin was a good idea?

“Mm, we might have to break the door down,” Lisa noted, “Aisha had the lockpicks. Brian, Alec! The door needs a key in the shape of a boot!”

“... Of course she did…” Taylor muttered.

“On it!” Brian exclaimed as Alec backed him up as they tried to knock the door down.

While Taylor, Lisa, and Rachel were on look out, Taylor could help but think over this whole thing. Things had been going smoothly… too smoothly really, Aisha dragging Amy off? Taylor had been expecting the gremlin to do something along those lines, even with the Undersiders, Imp was always something of an Agent of Chaos. It was kind of nice that Aisha was emulating her friend so well so she could plan around her chaotic antics. 

Still, something about this whole situation was making her paranoia flare up.

Taylor twitched as the door came crashing down, ready for a horde of soldiers to stream out from the corners, the roof, the windows, and the halls… but nothing.

“Found the key!” Lisa announced, “Now, what’s our exit strategy?”

Taylor barely stopped herself from staring at Lisa, wasn’t she supposed to be the Planner?

“Well… we expected guards,” Alec noted with a snicker at her dumbfounded look, “And you know Amy better than us, so where would she go after getting the key?”

“Honestly? I give very good odds that Amy got caught.” Taylor sighed, “Amy never did anything like this.”

“... That would be very bad,” Lisa started, “The queen likes to behead people they catch. Or that are just, you know, around her without permission. Or are frowning.”

“Well, looks like this heist turned into a rescue,” Taylor said with a faint sigh, “Why can’t our heists ever go smoothly?” Seriously… the Wards on her first job, then the Pain bomb… why couldn’t things just go to plan at least once!?

Aisha chose that moment to enter through the window, key in hand. “Man, you guys are slow. Also, Amy got caught, so we’re going to have to deal with that. She wouldn’t have if she’d just followed my lead but no, the window was too scary or something!” She complained, pouting and crossing her arms petulantly.

“... Fucking called it…” Taylor grumbled, “And me and her are squish humans, jumping out of towers is either crippling or terminal.” She added dryly, “So! Now, is it safe to assume she’d be taken to the dungeon first?”

“I didn’t jump all the way out!” Aisha said, “I hung onto the lip! It’s not my fault I didn’t have time to explain!”

“No, she’ll probably be taken straight to the queen, which is a problem because… there are a lot of soldiers there,” Said, frowning and clearly thinking, “She’ll want to do something public I think, a big event to hang the thief. Could be our way in, some of us going into the crowd and distracting the soldiers while others of us perform the actual rescue?”

“Stupid fae… if I had my powers, I’d unleash a biblical swarm on everyone…” Taylor grumbled, “Okay, sounds like a plan, Tat- Lisa,” She added as she rubbed her eyes.

“Fae?” Lisa asked with a frown, “I don’t think any of us are fairies. We’ve met a few, but we aren’t one.”

“Really? Huh.” Taylor shrugged, “Well Amy and I were adopted by a half-fae woman and her husband. And I’m just blaming fae because I can’t think of anything else that would stop me from using my power completely.”

Lisa shrugged, “Anyway, let’s go! They’re probably already starting the execution proceedings.”

That was a worrying statement.

Sometimes she really wondered if Fate was actively screwing with her, or she just had really shit luck.

<<<Amy Carlson>>>

Amy wished she could say she was nervous, she wished she could claim this was the first time this had ever happened to her. But she really couldn’t, granted this was far beyond being held hostage by a junior gang of villains but it followed similar beats.

Really what threw her for a loop more than anything else? Was the fact that… all the Wards were guards, and the Red Queen was Glastig Uiane! They even acted like who they looked like!

Vista was too serious and try hard, Gallant was well… gallant, Clockblocker was the jester, figuratively anyways, Aegis tried to keep order and be mister serious, Shadow Stalker was moody with a mountain of chips on her shoulder, and Kid Win… was there.

Honestly out of all of the Wards, she never really got to know Chris.

Thought the fucking Fairy Queen… she didn’t know, and even when she was in the Birdcage, she kept her distance from the Cape Boogeywoman. Everything she did know was all second head accounts, as well as a few firsthand ones directly from her father.

All together it painted a picture of either an extremely eccentric cape or one that had a psychotic break from reality and that decided to never return to reality. Though, according to what Amy had learned, the Fairy Queen wasn’t murderous. If you were polite to her, she was polite to you. And as long as you followed the rules, she would leave you be.

But since Amy was obviously not following those rules and, worse, was stealing from the crazy bitch…

“Why does she still have her head?” The Queen asked, arms crossed, “Where are my subjects!?” Her head shook, looking irritated by what answer she’d been given, though Amy couldn’t hear it, before turning back to her, “I’m sorry, Lady of Clay, this delay must be terribly taxing for you.”

That was a new one, admittedly. Still, it did fit. What did you do with clay? Shape it. The Queen didn’t match perfectly with Glastig, the giant head evidenced that, but she did rhyme with her.

“Um, that’s fine, Ms. Queen,” It didn’t hurt to be polite, “take all the time you need.”

“My thanks, Lady of Clay,” The Queen said with a faint nod before looking at someone she couldn’t see and nodding, “Ah, our first guests have arrived!” She announced, standing and beckoning… Taylor and Lisa into the room.

If Amy stared perhaps a touch too long at them, she felt she could be forgiven. The audacity of the two bitches coming as guests. Taylor even winked at her, while Lisa grinned! Oh, if, when she got out of this, she was going to give those two utter hell!

“The Lady of Control and her band of jester thieves!” The Queen said with a wide smile, “More beheadings are needed I think! Best grab more axes too, don’t want them to get dull!”

“... I was hoping you wouldn’t recognize me,” Lisa sighed, “You can forgive the theft of a single little boat, can’t you?”

Taylor turned to stare at Lisa too as the Queen replied, “No. No I can not. Guards, seize them!”

“Well, it was worth a shot,” Lisa said, “Time for plan B, Brian now!” She shouted.

“Wait, no! Stop them!” The Queen shouted, but it was too late as smoke bombs flew in through the now very broken, stained-glass windows and exploded, shrouding everything in darkness.

Amy choked on it, it smelled awful and was hard to breathe through, but it was just as hard for the guards to see and move with it in the air as it was for her. She still almost headbutted the first person to grab her, though it turned out to be Taylor.

She’d have to bitch her out later.

“Come on!” Taylor said as she drug Amy away while the rest of the Swamp Pirates were causing chaos.

Amy was reasonably certain she heard Aisha cackling, and she dreads to imagine what the girl was doing. Eventually Taylor and Amy exited the smoke-filled hall, both of them coughing as they did so.

“You! Stop!” Amy looked and saw that stupidly handsome face of Dean, and she just reacted.

Lashing out with a very crude (but proper) punch, she would later look back and feel somewhat disturbed by how much she enjoyed the sound of Dean’s nose crunching under her fist. After he hit the floor Amy was seriously considering kicking him in the ribs but was stopped by Taylor.

“As cathartic as it’d be, we need to go!” She said, “Also I give that punch a five outta ten.”

Amy groaned before complying. “It’s a good thing they didn’t tie me up,” She noted, “Very polite of them.”

“Between you, me, and the wall? I don’t think anyone here has a lick of common sense.” Taylor confided as she led her… somewhere.

Maybe the vault the Pirates were wanting to rob? Amy wasn’t entirely sure honestly.

“Bitch will meet us at the vault with her dogs, we’ll load up on what we can carry and get out of here. We’ll meet up with the rest of the Pirates near the Tixe caverns not far from the castle. That’s where we’ll separate and…” Taylor just trailed off.

Amy knew what she was going to say and simply gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

Even knowing Taylor would have to do it, it didn’t make it easier to say goodbye to the Undersiders.

“Oh no, you guys aren’t going over there,” Lisa replied, “You’re leaving through the vault. I thought we told you that?”

“Really? Probably slipped my mind after realizing Amy was caught.” Amy snorted, Taylor had a habit of forgetting things when she got frantic, “Well, I guess…” She just trailed off once more.

Lisa smiled faintly, “I get it. Yeah, and I’m certain that your Lisa wouldn’t want you moping,” She said as they finally approached the vault, “Same with the others. You got your new beginning, Tay. Don’t let our memories drag you down,” She added as she unlocked the vault, and the door opened.

“Our?” Taylor asked, but Lisa didn’t seem to have noticed the question.

“Grab what loot you can!” She announced, darting in and piling gold coins into a sack alongside chalices, silver jewelry, at least three knives, and what looked to be a flail. Why an entire flail would be inside a vault, she had no idea.

Still Taylor decided not to question it and joined in the looting, and Amy followed a few seconds afterwards.

Gold, some weapons, a nice-looking cane (Taylor rapidly snatched that one for herself), and a nice pair of diamond stud earrings.

Amy looked around and found a pair of earrings that she liked, the fact that the jewels seemed to have been in the shape of a spider just made her smile. After some more looking she grabbed a locket, a few gold pieces, and a very odd-looking dagger that looked more ceremonial than practical.

It’d make for an interesting show piece at least.

Still eventually it had to come to an end, “Head through there, and live your best lives.” Lisa said, pointing deeper into the vault, “And if you ever have a daughter name her Lisa, eh?” She added with a wink.

Taylor glared at the girl without heat before walking in that direction, not seeing much of anything except a tarp covering… a mirror. A great, big, mirror.

Amy just looked at Lisa with narrow eyes before running over to Taylor, “I swear if this is anything like the Mirror of Erised I’m breaking something,” She said flatly.

Lisa giggled out, “You have to go through the looking glass.~”

“Just like in…” Taylor blinked, “SON OF A-” Lisa pushed her through, and the glass parted like water, instantly cutting off her friend’s voice.

“... You’re more than a memory, aren’t you?” Amy asked, as she looked at the mirror.

“I’ll let you figure that one out later,” Lisa replied before shoving her through too.

[hr][/hr]

Amy opened her eyes and stared at the canopy top of her bed, “... Fucking bitch…” Though it lacked the heat she’d normally have towards the blonde thinker, “... Thanks…” She said with a faint smile.

Taylor needed this more than anything, but the question was… was it all a dream or not? Signs pointed to not because her pajamas were loaded with coins, some jewelry, and when she looked over to her nightstand that ornate ceremonial dagger was just sitting there.

Taylor opened her door, looking more than slightly annoyed. “Do you know how often I read those books as a kid!?” She asked, ranting, “I memorized every line!”

“More than enough.” Amy said as she sat up with an amused smile on her lips, “But do you regret it?” 

That caught Taylor short and after a few seconds she smiled, it was a small thing and Amy could clearly see her eyes watering slightly, “No… not in the slightest…” She admitted before she went over and sat beside Amy.

Amy just pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back.

“... Still an easier heist than the ones we did in Brockton,” Taylor sighed, “And more profitable. No pain bombs, no concussion from being hit on the back of the head with a fire hydrant…” The girl pulled back from the hug and gave her a look at that. “You realize that if I panicked when that happened, lots of people would have been bitten, right?”

Amy just laughed at that, “Of course I do. But a single bite from a Black Widow isn’t lethal, just painful,” She said, “And, honestly, despite your edgy costume, I could tell you weren’t actually interested in hurting anyone. Honestly, if my sister didn’t well… do as she does, I think that day would’ve been a lot less stressful.”

“And if the entire Wards Team didn’t have a day off for some reason,” Taylor sighed, “We never did figure out the reason for that, I don’t remember if so anyway.”

Amy shrugged, “Well, shall we examine our loot then?” She asked with a smile.

“You don’t just remember what you got?” Taylor asked with a grin, “Chance that things just vanish in the next few hours?”

“Shut up and indulge me. I’ve never stolen anything before,” Amy said with a huff as she rolled her eyes.

“Fine, fine,” Taylor replied, “Show off your stolen goods then, oh thief of the ages.” Her eyes sparkled in good humor.

“Remind me whose first act of villainy was robbing a bank and holding a dozen people hostage again?” Amy snarked.

“Ah, but you see, we didn’t get caught,” Taylor replied with a nod, “That makes me better than you at this type of thing, my loyal vizier.”

“... Tay, just shut up and let me examine the goods…” Amy deadpanned.

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[spoiler=*]This is the pic that inspired this

https://files.catbox.moe/fi1q45.png

[/spoiler]