Taylor slowly regains consciousness a little later when she senses someone carrying her. As her awareness increases, she also begins to feel excruciating pain from the number of cuts she can sense on her back.

Based from the familiar masculine scent, Taylor knows that it is Kaiser who is carrying her. The future villain is carrying her in a way that her stomach is press on his shoulder. It's probably because this is a better option than carrying her bridal style, which will force him to wrap an arm around her shoulders and will become painful for her due to the numerous glass shards still embedded on her back.

With her increasing awareness, Taylor can feel each of the glass shards buried in her flesh. She can even feel the tiny fragments that have burrowed into her skin and sense the blood trickling from her many wounds which soaked the shirt that Kaiser lent her.

Slowly, she begins to offload her pain towards the bugs that she can sense in her range. However, after considering it for a moment, she knows that Kaiser will notice immediately if Taylor acts like she's not in pain. So with some reluctance, she allows herself to partially feel some of the pain while she lets Kaiser carry her to where she soon learns is his bedroom.

A moment later, Taylor lets out a groan when Max Anders lifts her off from his shoulder. Using both of his hands on her waist, Kaiser slowly begins to lower Taylor's feet on the ground, where he immediately wraps an arm around her waist to keep her standing and press against his tall, masculine frame.

Their somewhat intimate position should have caused her some discomfiture, but Taylor is too preoccupied with the number of shards buried into her skin and the blood flowing freely from her wounds that she simply does not notice how Kaiser is supporting her injured body at the moment.

"Taylor?"

She hears Kaiser's question and she tilts her head up to meet the boy's eyes. Taylor vaguely notes that her body is pressed tightly against his while his face is just a foot from hers.

"I don't know exactly what happened but you are wounded pretty badly. I think you might need to go to the Emergency room." The boy states to her in a concern but serious tone.

"No, no hospitals please…" is all Taylor can say as she grimaces.

Going to the hospital is a terrible idea. Not when I don't have a fake identification with me yet to provide the medical staff when they asked for it. Taylor thinks.

"Why don't you want to go to the hospital?" comes Kaiser's curious question.

"It's because I just don't want to, alright?" She says to him.

There is a temporary pause as Max Anders regards her contemplatively.

"If that is your wish, then I won't stop you. However, I hope you understand the situation you are in. Judging from the wounds on your back, you definitely require immediate medical attention. I know First Aid and I am properly equipped with the necessary things to help with your injuries but I may require your entire cooperation to assist you." Kaiser informs her as he continues to support her.

"I am willing to cooperate with you Anders. So you just do what you need to do to get the fucking glass shards off my back." Taylor says while she looks up at him.

"Then, I hope you won't have any objections at all if I ask you to remove your upper clothing so that I may have access to your injuries and apply the necessary First Aid that you will require," Kaiser tells her in matter-of-fact manner.

For a moment, it doesn't register to Taylor what Kaiser is implying until a few seconds later.

"You want me to remove my top?" She asks him with wide eyes.

"Yes and everything that might prove to be an impediment when I tend to your wounds," is Kaiser's calm answer.

Taylor becomes speechless at what the future Villain is asking of her.

Kaiser wants to take my shirt and bra off while he provides me medical aid?...Even the thought of it makes Taylor feel both apprehensive and alarm. However, after considering her entire dire situation, she knows that it will only be foolish of her if she refuses Kaiser's help. There are glass shards embedded on her back and she knows that she will have a difficult time removing each of them on her own. So Taylor obviously needs Kaiser's help for that.

"Alright, fine…" She says to him albeit reluctantly while a flush slowly creeps up at her face at the thought of baring herself to him. "I will follow your instructions even if it is something that I am not looking forward to."

"Good. I'm glad that you see it my way. Now, may I ask if you are able to stand by yourself?" Kaiser inquires.

"Yes, I think I can…" is Taylor's reply.

"Then, I will let you go now." Kaiser informs her while he slowly release her.

Still wincing in mild pain, Taylor allows herself to step back away from him.

"Since I don't think it's such a good idea for you to be lifting the shirt over your head, which will only aggravate your wounds. I believe I may have to cut the back of your shirt to better access your injuries."

"It's not my shirt. It's yours so I don't particularly care what you do with it." Taylor states.

"Very well then…" Max Anders say to her. "You may turn around."

Taylor frowns at him for a moment before she does what he asks her and presents her back to him.

She offloaded another portion of her feelings to her bugs within her grasp while she senses Kaiser does something behind her. She hears the familiar sound of grating metal and she instinctively reacts when she realizes that Kaiser is using his ability in that instant.

Without a second thought, Taylor is already calling for her swarm in and she is about to turn around and attack the future Villain when Kaiser suddenly moves close to her.

"Relax bug girl," His deep voice whispers right next to her ear. His breath brushing the shell of her ear that Taylor instantly freezes from both his proximity and the name he calls her.

Somehow he must have seen her bugs at work earlier when Taylor probably lost consciousness and thus outing her as a cape.

Goddamnit! He knows what my power is! She thinks.

Taylor remains frozen even as she becomes hyper-aware of him directly standing behind her.

"You have no reason to be alarmed," Max Anders says to her in assuring manner. "I am simply going to cut your shirt open."

After she heard him say that, she nearly lets out a gasp of surprise when Kaiser reaches forward to splay his large hand over her stomach and keep her in place. Taylor swiftly offloaded most of her emotional response to her bugs to keep herself calm, especially when she can feel Kaiser lifting the back of her shirt up and sense the kiss of a cold blade against her skin.

The room is buzzing with her bugs now as Taylor calls them to her. Ready to attack the boy who has a blade currently pressed on her back.

"I said relax," Kaiser says to her. His lips brushing against her ear and Taylor can't help the shiver at the contact.

"How can I relax when you have a knife press against my back at the moment?" is Taylor's only retort as she slowly gather her bugs around her, which include a wasp, a fire ant and black widow spider. All of which can deliver a degree of hurt on the boy if he as much as dare stab her with his blade.

"If I want you dead, you would have not been alive right now when I could have killed you while you were still unconscious. So trust me when I say that I'm only going to use the knife to cut your shirt apart. " comes Kaiser's statement.

Max Anders has a point. If he wanted her dead, the boy would have killed her when she was unconscious. However, it still makes Taylor feel wary of him despite knowing that fact.

Taylor decides not to say anything and waits for Kaiser's next move.

"Now, I trust that you won't question my methods of helping you this time?"

She hears Kaiser say from behind her.

"Just let's get this over with," is all she says to him.

"As you wish," comes Kaiser's monotonous response.

A moment later, she senses it when he swiftly runs his blade through the back of her shirt.

There is sharp tag and a rendering sound as her shirt is cut open with such ease that it surprises her momentarily.

There is a brief pause afterward as Taylor wonders what Kaiser is going to do next. She doesn't wait for long when she hears Kaiser asks her softly, "May I have your permission to take off your shirt?"

After transferring most of her emotional response to her bugs, Taylor now has a perfect clarity in what is required of her and understands that she can't afford to delay the medical assistance that she clearly needs considering that her injuries are quite severe. So when Kaiser asks her the question she doesn't hesitate to nod her head and grant him permission to do what is necessary.

Shortly after, Taylor senses it when Kaiser slowly and gently begins to pull her shirt off her. She can also feel it when the glass shards poking from her flesh gets hustled as the blood-soaked shirt is peeled from her skin.

Taylor can't help but shiver once more from both the cold air brushing against her exposed back and the warm masculine hands moving methodically to slip the shirt off her shoulders and down her arms. Fortunately, she is still wearing a bra. However, it seems that Kaiser is not done with her yet.

"Permission to remove the last article of your upper clothing?" comes his next question as soon as her bloody shirt drops to the floor and this time Taylor doesn't easily grant him the request.

"Is it really necessary?" She asks without looking at him.

"You know that it is...there are some glass fragments that may be embedded into your skin just beneath the back of your last clothing." Kaiser tells her. "Unless you want me to ignore that altogether as I remove the rest of the glass shards...Do you want to risk the chance of you getting an infection?"

There is another pause as Taylor considers the boy's statement.

"Very well Anders. You have my permission to take it off," She replies grudgingly. Taylor knows that she is not able to do it herself, not without reaching behind her which will simply aggravated her wounds further.

Not a second later, Taylor feels his hands moving to finish the task. He does not fumble or hesitate at all when he unclasp the hooks of her bra. Soon, he is slipping the straps off her bare shoulders and down her arms while gooseflesh immediately erupts on her exposed skin from where his warm hands touch her.

The moment her last upper clothing drops to the floor, Taylor crosses her arms in front of her to cover herself. She can practically feel Kaiser's gaze on her exposed back while he remains standing behind her.

"Taylor, I can't properly administer First Aid while you are standing, so I want you to lie down on the bed...but you have to lay in bed facing down since your injuries are on your back."

Taylor hears Kaiser say to her.

"I understand," comes her nearly automatic response. "Do you want me to get in bed now?"

"Yes," is the boy's short reply.

"Fine," Taylor says without giving any of her thoughts away.

The situation she finds herself in is so surreal. With Kaiser asking her to get in bed while she stands there half-naked, was definitely not something she expects when she ended up in this timeline.

With her arms still covering her chest, Taylor climbs into the bed while she allows herself to lie face first into the dark silky sheets. The moment her face touches Kaiser's pillow, she is instantly flooded by the scent of him. A scent that her feminine senses finds appealing.

"Please wait here while I get the First Aid Kit,"

Taylor hears him say.

Not waiting for her reply, Max Anders immediately leaves to do as he says. With Kaiser temporarily gone to fetch the First Aid Kit, Taylor allows herself to settle comfortably in the bed while trying to ignore the temptation to simply lie there and sleep. Suddenly, she feels downright exhausted. Today is an ordeal for her and it seems the days of sleepless preparation prior to her arrival has finally caught up to her.

Some time later, Taylor is partly aware when Kaiser finally comes back. She sees him set a red box on the bedside table while he sits down at the edge of the bed right next to her.

"You look like you are about to fall asleep on me Taylor," is Kaiser's remark. He must probably have noticed her half-lidded stare as she regards him almost sleepily.

Taylor feels it when he uses his hands to gently move her long, dark hair to the side and exposed more of her injured back to him. She notes how his bright blue eyes carefully assesses her wounds before he meets her gaze once more. "I know you hit your head when you fell. So I don't think it is such a good idea for you to sleep right now. Can you please stay awake for me until I'm certain that you have not suffered some kind of concussion?"

"I'm just tired, but I will try my best to remain awake." comes Taylor's soft response while she observes the future Villain opens the red box, takes out a pair of blue gloves and starts putting them on. Then, she watches as Kaiser pulls a pair of tweezers and some clean gauze probably to staunch the bleeding once he starts removing the glass shards from her back.

"That's good then…" Max Anders says to her.

The blue-eyed boy regards her momentarily right before he tells her, "Taylor, I'm going to start pulling out the shards now. I know this is going to hurt...so I apologize ahead of time for causing you pain."

Taylor no longer feels any pain after she has completely transfer most of it to her bugs. Still, she knows that it's not such a good idea to inform Kaiser of this ability so she simply says to him, "It's fine. Just do what you need to do."

"Alright then," comes Max Anders statement right before she senses him move his hands over her back.

Taylor feels the sharp tagging against her skin when Kaiser pulls out the first glass shard embedded on her back with the use of tweezers.

"May I ask the true reason you fell?" Max Anders inquires after a moment of silence as he works on slowly but methodically removing the sharp foreign objects from her flesh.

"I fell because apparently the table I was standing on top of got wet from the rain," is her only reply while she senses him clinically removing the shards one by one and staunching the bleeding afterward.

"But what prompted you to climb my furniture in the first place?"

She hears Kaiser's puzzled question and her only reply is a dark statement, "It was your cat."

"My cat?...You mean Adolf?"

Typical for Kaiser to name his black cat after the german leader of the Nazi. She inwardly grumbles.

"Yes, your cat, Hitler, is the reason I fell." Taylor states with displeasure.

"His name is Adolf. Not Hitler," Kaiser corrects her. He sounds both amused and exasperated at the same time. "And why are you blaming my cat for your fall?"

"It's because your cat was trying to get into your apartment from the skylight. I feel very sorry for it considering it's raining heavily outside. So I did not hesitate at all to let your goddamn cat inside your apartment."

"That was an unwise thing for you to do. When you saw my cat outside, you should have called me instead of taking matters into your own hands."

"You were otherwise preoccupied at that time and I don't want to interrupt your conversation with your girlfriend just because of your goddamn cat," is Taylor's response and instantly regrets it.

The hands on her back seems to freeze when she mentions his girlfriend.

Goddamnit! I shouldn't have said that. Now, he knows that I've been listening to his conversation this entire time. She curses mentally.

"How do you know I was talking to my girlfriend?"

"A lucky guess," Taylor hastily answers. "Your sister mention her to me and when you say that you plan to call someone else after ordering our food, I just simply assume that you are calling your girlfriend."

For a while, Kaiser does not say anything while he simply stares at her. Meanwhile, Taylor forces herself to keep her face blank as the future Villain continues to scrutinize her.

"Yes, you are correct. I did call my girlfriend." Kaiser informs her as he resumes the task of pulling the shards from her skin.

A long, tense silence followed after while Taylor can feel Kaiser tending to her wounds. Still neither of them speak up again, not even after Kaiser is finish removing most of the glass fragments and shards. Now, Taylor sees the boy cleaning her wounds with some saline solution and wiping the blood off her skin with gauze pads.

Taylor knows that injury like hers should be seen by the medical profession, but she also understands the risks of being discovered that she is not from this original time. Hence, letting Max Anders tend to her is a better option than seeking professional help.

She is nearly getting drowsy when she feels Kaiser using his gloved fingers to gently rub antibiotic ointment over her open cuts. The soothing, slow motion of his hands on her makes her sighs out loud as she presses her face against the silken pillow.

"I'm almost done putting the antibiotic ointment," Max Anders finally breaks the silence a little later and Taylor half-turns her head to look in his direction.

"Thank you Anders," is her only remark as she inspects the boy's handsome face.

"Don't thank me yet, Taylor. I still have to put the sterile dressing around you." He informs her.

"Hmn…" comes her mumbled reply.

It takes another few minutes when Taylor feels a hand shaking her.

"Taylor, we're almost done. I only need to wrap a dressing around the wound, but I need you to sit up for me so that I can do it." Kaiser tells her.

"Alright," Taylor simply says as she slowly rises up from the bed while carefully covering her front.

"I'm using a cloth dressing. So I will need to wrap it around your entire upper torso. You may need to raise your arms when I put the dressing on."

At Kaiser's words, Taylor understands what the boy requires her to do and she lets out a sigh when she says, "I'm not going to raise my arms up, but I'm going to place my hands on the headboard. Is that alright?"

"That's fine," is Max Anders reply. "Just don't hit me if accidentally brush against...something."

Taylor simply snorts and does not say anything else.

Afterward, she can feel him sit close to her back and hear him unwrapping the sterile dressing behind her. With her arms held perfectly aloft before her, Taylor senses him lean forward to begin the process of putting the dressing on. As Kaiser's hands move clinically around and behind her, Taylor forces herself to remain still even when she can feel the occasional brushes of his hands against her front that left her skin tingling with heat.

Soon, the sterile dressing is wound securely around her chest and back area that she knows that it's not going to fall apart when she moves.

Nonetheless, Taylor also begins to understand that she might require Kaiser to change her dressing again sometime in the future, considering that she is entirely on her own in this timeline.

"Fortunately, most of the cuts are shallow," is Max Anders comment the moment he finishes. "But you still need time to recover from your wounds…"

"I know…" comes Taylor's answer as she turns to look at him. "And I thank you for your assistance. I'm greatly in your debt now…but I'm sure I will be able to recover just fine."

There is a temporary pause as Kaiser regards her for a moment.

"I understand that you wanted to look for a place to stay on your own…" the boy begins to say and Taylor immediately guesses what he wants to suggest to her. "However, do you think it wise for you to do so now? You're wounded and still recovering and I know that you don't have anyone else to help you change your dressing...or help you when you need it in general…"

"What are you trying to say Anders?" She asks him although she already understands what Kaiser plans to do with her situation.

"If I give you the choice to stay here while you recover, will you accept my offer?" Max Anders proposes to her.

"And what do you get out from this arrangement once I agree?" She asks, raising a brow at him.

"Nothing much...I only want the truth from you…and perhaps I don't mind your company as well," as he says the last words, Taylor forces herself not to react when Kaiser slowly reaches out to brush aside a wild curl from her left cheek and tuck it behind her ear. The callous pads of his fingers almost a caress as he grazes her cheekbone while Taylor's storm grey eyes remain locked with his brilliant blues orbs.

Trying to seduce me already, are you Kaiser? She coolly muses. How about I turn your methods against you? I wonder how you will deal with that…

Taylor allows herself to smile at the blue-eyed boy while she slowly leans close to him. She doesn't need to move further of course, since the two of them are already sitting next to each other. They are so close that Taylor can feel the heat radiating from him while her knees brush against his.

As she moves forward, Taylor lets her hand settle on his thigh and she feels only amusement when Kaiser shortly tenses at her touch. Then, he simply becomes still as a statue when Taylor finally stops to whisper right next to his ear.

"Your offer is too tempting to resist, Anders..." She says to him, purposely brushing her lips against the shell of his ear that she can feel him tense all the more.

"So I will have to accept, but on one condition..." She tells him in soft and dangerous tone.

She allows Kaiser to wait for her to finish. With this close to him, Taylor can sense the anticipation building up in his mind and something else that she thoroughly wants to ignore for her peace of mind.

"I'm not going to ever sleep with you. So you might as well give up trying to seduce me." She finally finishes in an icy voice while she digs her fingers into his thigh ruthlessly and is rewarded by the sound of his pained grunt. Her words are a vow while her action is a warning.

However, instead of becoming wary or even angry at her actions, Taylor is somewhat astonished to sense something dark and hot flaring at the surface of his mind that she fails to move in time when Kaiser suddenly retaliates.

A hand shoots out to grab a hold of her neck where Max Anders instantly forces her to face him.

At once, Taylor's gaze locks into a pair of deep indigo eyes.

"You are very interesting bug-girl," is Kaiser's low remark as he regards her with dark, burning eyes. His breath is a pant as he seems to have trouble gathering his composure. Taylor knows what causes it. She can practically see it lurking in the depths of his eyes and feel it in his tensed muscles. She has completely unravelled him by her mere actions alone. This is not how she expects him to react with her open threat. Instead of anger or fear, she got something else unexpected.

Raw-fucking-desire.

"I like your ruthlessness Taylor...very much so," The hand on her neck tightens but Taylor remains calm in the face of Kaiser's wrath. She knows that he is not going to kill her. In fact, with this close to him, she can only sense him desiring to do the exact opposite.

"However, you should have known not to threaten me in my own home…Now, tell me one good reason why I should even help you now after you unsheathe your claws on me?"

"Anders, why don't we discuss this like civilized people?" She says to him calmly. "I know you want something from me and I want something from you. Perhaps it's best that we negotiate."

"Trying to negotiate with me now, are you? And what made you think that I want something from a complete stranger like you, who clearly doesn't have a home of her own, or even perhaps money and connections? I already help you as much as I could, but you turn all my good will to ash when you threatened me. So what makes you think that I am even willing to negotiate with you now?"

"I know you want information. Information that you desperately need," is all Taylor says.

"Hmn," comes Kaiser's answer while he regards her thoughtfully. "Is that all you have to offer? Information? I think you can give me something better than that."

"Since you already know I am a cape, I am willing to work for you if that is what you want."

"Now, you simply sound desperate. I know you can find work somewhere else, what makes you think that working for me will be better?"

However, Taylor is not given an opportunity to answer when she hears the doorbell rings.

There is a short silence as both of them just simply stare at each other.

"That's our food," Max Anders' states.

"Let's finish our discussion later then," she comments in rational tone.

"Save by the bell, hmn?" Kaiser remarks. "Fine. We can discuss everything while we eat."

Taylor doesn't say anything more to him even when he finally released her.