A/N: Konrad Curze inspired Taylor. Worm is sorta Superhero grimdark, which is still noblebright by 40k standards. But basic premise is that the Emprah interferes with the shard bonding with Taylor through inter-dimensional god-powered bullshit and a paradox-poker favor from Tzeentch. Konrad was actually a fairly decent guy/ruler. The Night Haunter would make Batman soil his spandex. Two people in the same body and those two people get shoved into Taylor who acts as the bridge between them and provides a noblebright goal: be a hero, be the monster who hunts monsters. KC and NH are suppressed heavily, just the knowledge and some memories (that flash through). And it makes Taylor into a Matriarch.

So she gets standard Primarch upgrades. Gives her Bruiser(While no invulnerability innately, super fast healing, bones are basically impossible to break, super strong, and with PA probably gets bumped up to Alexandria levels or better of ability to tank damage), Mover(Low (2-3) rating but runs and moves fast and leaps crazy far and high), Thinker(Organic Supercomputer), Tinker(high rating because of 41st M tech), Stranger (2-3 from being the Night Lady), Striker(via tech) and Master (1 since she's inspirational like all get out and has a terror aura she can use) ratings. But has this theme in her head of Terror and Fear to control crime.

It doesn't really win her friends, but is stupid effective.

XXXXX

I slinked around the warehouse's roof, edging for a better position. Better line of sight. I certainly didn't need to move to hear them. To my now super human senses, which didn't see through walls, they were plenty loud.

It was not just some ABB bangers, but some ABB bangers and freaking Lung. And Lung was going to kill some kids.

First night or not, Lung or not, I couldn't let that stand.

I made sure my power pack was tight and dropped in, flinging my throwing knives at the bulbs, shattering them, and plunging the warehouse into darkness. They started shouting and I ghosted up to them. When I saw one of them shakily pull a lighter out I stopped just infront of him.

I had worked hard on my costume. I had seen how all the other heroes dressed. Bright, colored, occasionally revealing. Meant to inspire faith in the public. Mine was meant to inspire too. But not faith in the public, instead I wanted to inspire fear in the criminal element.

My mask, I did everything to make my mask terrifying. A humanoid bat's face covered mine. Like in those Earth Aleph movies. Even if the rest of my equipment could do awesome things, my mask didn't. I could see perfectly in the dark, smell at least as good as a dog, hear better than I could ever imagine. I was even pretty confident I could breathe in some toxic environments. A re-breather was in the works just in case.

He lit the lighter only to come face to face with my mask. I blew out the flame and into his face, before moving somewhere else. I was armored, but it was barely better than thick denim at this point. I had plans for armor, but not the means. And as I predicted, he screamed and began shooting where I had been.

I waited a moment letting them all freak out, all of them except Lung. Or rather, Lung was keeping his cool, but he had seen me too and his pulse had quickened.

"Come out, and maybe we won't hurt you so bad," he spat out into the darkness, even as he moved his men into a circle to defend from me. "I can light this place up and find you. If I have to do that, I won't stop burning until you are a charred corpse."

He stepped to the edge of his circle and blew out the strongest flame he could manage in his least form. Admittedly, it was impressive, must have taken him ages to get it down, and would have been intimidating if I had still been normal. I was, however on the opposite side of Lung and when the momentary flame revealed me took out, painfully, the mook in front of me.

He dropped screaming. A precision knife to the nerve cluster in his hip would do that. And the toxin coated on this particular set would cause hallucinations. Given that he was in pain, scared, and in the dark with the last thing he saw being my mask, he would begin panicking very soon. And like laughter, panic is infectious.

I disappeared, jumping straight up into the rafters. Jumping higher and farther than any human had a right to wasn't as cool as flying, but it worked for me. And it allowed me to dodge another blast of weak fire from Lung.

An interesting facet of Lung's power, was that only direct fighting really counted. He could make the inital shift, the one he was struggling to contain for now, but anything more than that and it would have to be direct. It seemed like it was tied directly into his regeneration. No regeneration, no improvement.

Of course, I could be very wrong, but there was a fountain of information and a derth of video of Lung.

I wasn't surprised when Lung did make the shift after I took out another mook. He did have the presence of mind to have his mooks grab the fallen ones and get out before he did though. Say what you want about Lung, but unlike Kaiser, he had something resembling care for his Boys.

His mooks would spread the tale of the monster that attacked them in the dark, but Lung, the Great Dragon that he was, wouldn't back away.

The fire that wreathed him and swiveling serpentine head eventually found me. Found me right as I dropped onto him and drove my claws into him.

These claws we weak and inferior to the grand ones in my mind. But the sparking 'lightning claws,' as I dubbed them, did their job tearing into his spine and cauterizing the wound. Lung might be immune to fire, but electric claws did the job. I rolled off of him as he writhed in pain before jamming a half dozen sedation knives into him. I stabbed him as hard and as fast as I could, so that the poison paste wouldn't burn off.

It was apparently hard enough to drive both braces of the knives up to the hilt. Given that I had punched a hole into one of the sunken rigs in the Boat Graveyard a few weeks back, Lung was stupid tough, even at this stage.

But it worked and the mighty dragon gave out a weak roar as he shriveled back up into a human with several knives stuck in his flank. I waited a few moments before approaching. A nudge with my boot didn't stir him. I carefully rolled him up to look at his back. Good, he was healing, but very slowly. Cauterization worked to slow him. I pulled the knives out slowly one by one ignoring the sudden gush of blood with each one. These wound were healing slowly as well.

If it had been anyone other than Lung, he'd be very, very dead. I had to work to refine my tactics. After all, I wanted to be a monster hiding in the dark, not a murderer. Even if it would do wonders for my campaign to mutilate the man's body and crucify him to a wall, head separated (just in case).

It wouldn't do, if I did as planned and joined the Wards. I did want some legitimacy, and Lung could fight an Endbringer. Which was useful, very much so. Though bringing in Lung should be a huge boon to my career.

Staying near Lung and keeping an eye and an ear open I pulled out my burn phone. Punching in the numbers was difficult with the claws. I would need to integrate a cell phone into my next model.

"PRT Hotline, how can we help you?"

"I need someone to come pick up Lung, warehouse on the corner of George and Smythe."

"Lung?! Is this a joke?!"

The operator sounded so flabbergasted.

"Do you often get people calling in Lung for pick up?" I asked idly.

"No... It's usually some low level cape they think is Skidmark..."

"I am very sure," I drawled, "That at my feet is the cape known as Lung and he and I are located in a warehouse on the corner of George and Smythe. If you want him to live, I expect someone here inside of three minutes. Otherwise, I will be forced to kill him."

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold-"

The line switched.

"This is Armsmaster, I will be at your position in two to five minutes, is that acceptable?"

"Yes."

I hung up and faced the group that I had just entered the warehouse mounted on giant monstrous dogs. It reminded me of something, a splash of memory, but the figures on the canines were far too small.

"Ave."

"Hello!" said the blonde girl in the domino mask and purple costume with rather forced cheer, "I guess we owe you our thanks, we heard that Lung was going to come after us, and decided on a preemptive strike. It probably wouldn't have gone well, so thanks."

"You are the children he wanted to kill?"

"We did steal from one of his casinos..." she offered, before looking a little panicked, she slipped back into her forced cheer a moment later, "Right, I'm Tattletale and I just remembered we left our oven on so we'll be going."

"Tattletale?" the one in the skull mask questioned his comrade.

"Yup, oven on. But before we go, you got a name?"

"Domina Nox."

"Lady of the Night? Isn't that a l-"

I didn't stop the hissing growl that left me and shut her up. I knew what 'lady of the night' was a euphemism for. But I was THE LADY of the Night. If she knew enough Latin to translate it, she would also full well know I meant Lady not lady. I was going to back the night in Brockton Bay and OWN it. And Latin was cool and not connected to any of the gangs in Brockton Bay. Even if 'Die Dame der Nacht' sounded way cooler, it would likely connect me to the E88.

"And the Protectorate is on their way, so if you-"

I cut her off again.

"I was the one who called them." And Tattletale paled.

"'Kay, thanks again, bye!"

And with a little urging she got herself and her compatriots out of there and my sight. If it had been anyone other than Lung at my feet and Armsmaster was coming, I would have followed them and caught them as well. They were, after that exchange, obviously villains, and not a small time hero group, rogues, or mercenaries.

And right as they left I heard something that sounded vaguely like a motorcycle. It stopped close by. Should be Armsmaster, after all who besides a tinker would have something like a motorcycle but not. As the door slowly opened and a bright light flooded the warehouse I lowered my hood and pulled off the scary part of my mask. I wanted to make something of a good impression. And the half face mask left would be fine.

While this man wasn't at the top of my hero list, that spot belonged to Alexandria, he did rank pretty high up there.

"You gonna fight me?"

I should have expected something like that, I did take out Lung and make a threat to kill him. On top of that, I was unknown.

"I'd like to think I'm a good girl."

"You threatened to kill him."

"Largely empty. I had to say something to get the operator's attention. But I'll bet when Lung finishes sleeping off my sedatives, he'll be more than a little angry. And while I would rather not kill him, I have no compunctions about taking a life to save my own."

Armsmaster nodded and lowered his halberd slowly.

"Reasonable. But you certainly don't look like a good girl."

While I was crafting an image to terrify, that still hurt a bit. I suppose in my pointy eared cowl like mask, black hoodie over my minimal armor, claws, braces of knives strapped in a few places, dark cargo pants, and black boots didn't paint a good girl image.

But since my figure filled out a bunch after my trigger I was definitely a girl. I had grown a bit taller, which was a little dismaying as I was already plenty tall, and fuller, much to my pleasure. I had something of a chest and rump now. Somehow I knew that I would grow even more, five foot nine inches just wasn't enough it seemed.

"I suppose you could say I'm trying for an image like the Earth Aleph comic Batman. Brockton Bay is getting closer to Gotham every year."

Something a little scarier than that, but true enough.

He seemed to mull over it for a moment and I looked at his chest seeing his emblem. The blue visor on a silver background that I had on a pair of panties. I was unsuccessful in fighting off the blush.

"You're telling the truth."

My eyes narrowed a fraction. There was no way he could hear my heartbeat like I could hear his. Then I remembered he was a tinker.

"Lie detector built into your suit?"

He nodded.

"Thinker?"

I shrugged. Which turned out to be a bad thing. My powerpack wasn't as sturdy as I thought it was. Later I would find a cable that had broken loose. The spark and crack sent a curse flying from my mouth as I practically ripped it off. Armsmaster fell back into a defensive stance at the noise and motion. I plopped it on the ground and pushed the necessary buttons to shut it down and flood the core with coolant.

It meant that I would have to make plasma again, setting me back a few weeks. I unstrapped my claws and their power cords with a few more curses and let them clatter onto the now nearly useless pack. I pulled the activation switch from my mouth with another curse.

"There goes two whole weeks of work."

Armsmaster calmed down again.

"You need a hospital?" he asked.

"No," I answered glaring at my pack for a moment, "And I'm rather surprised by that and that my strategy worked so well."

"What was it?"

"Kill the lights, spook the mooks, sedate Lung."

Another moment of silence passed.

"Please move away from Lung. I need to secure him."

I nodded and gathered my pack and claws, deliberately holding it in front of me. It would look as if I were impeded and given him some sense of safety. He wasn't. If I wanted to hurt Armsmaster, I could. My aim with my knives was beyond good.

In a few moments Armsmaster secured Lung and dragged him outside. I followed and watched the Protectorate ENE's top guy unfold some kind scaffolding and load Lung into it. While he did that I opened the pouch at the bottom of my pack and tucked the claws and their cords into it. When I stood and hefted the pack onto my back and re-secured it, Armsmaster faced me.

"You're a new face."

I nodded, "First night out. Only came up with a name a week ago. Domina Nox. It was still pretty hard to come up with a name. A lot of good ones are already taken or sounded too... un-heroic."

"I got into the game early enough that all the good ones weren't taken yet," he said. There was a small twitch of a facial muscle. Like he was suppressing a smile.

"But if you intend to be a hero, you should join the Protectorate. It'll help you find your limits and help you with funds for your tech. With those funds you can make better tech and have less malfunctions."

The gesture was aimed through me and at my non-functioning pack.

"I was thinking about joining the Wards..."

He frowned, "The Wards are for minors."

"I'm only fifteen."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"What is your pack supposed to do?"

"Right now? Power my claws. But the one in my head powers a whole suit of armor and much more powerful claws."

"And your claws, what do they do?"

"They get super hot and create plasma for cutting. These ones don't get quite that hot, because I had to deal with substandard materials."

"Why'd you get into a fight with Lung, of all capes, on your first night out? Especially if you were using 'substandard materials?'"

"He was going to kill some kids. They showed up, and I'm sure that they're villains. They stole from one of the ABBs casinos. They knew you were coming before I mentioned it."

I walked him through the whole fight this time. Including meeting the kids later, after hearing the descriptions, Armsmaster 'complained' about them. It was very useful information.

"They didn't seem very 'hardcore.' Tattletale seemed to want to leave almost immediately after meeting me, but definitely after I told her that I called you. She said something about leaving the oven on and hurried her team out of here."

"Could you have taken them?"

I frowned.

"I knew nothing about their capabilities, and I had to sit on Lung. I maybe could have held them here until you showed up, but they were in a real rush to leave. From meeting them until they left was less than a minute. I spooked Tattletale pretty bad just standing there."

Armsmaster nodded.

"If you're sure about joining the Wards, do you want to wait here for PRT van? We can get the ball rolling and tomorrow your parents can come sign the required paperwork."

I had to tell my dad? I lost a good portion of my composure at that. Big, strong, fast, sees in the dark, and telling my dad terrified me. Not because he would be angry or anything but because he would worry and... My dad might not be the 'World's #1!' but she had no doubt that he loved her and that he cared.

"I... uh... haven't-"

"That happens a lot. Talk to him. Tomorrow though. This isn't something that should be revealed this late at night on a Sunday."

I nodded.

"Now, who gets credit for Lung?"

What?

"Hear me out. What you did tonight was spectacular. You played a major part in getting a major villian into custody. You just need to think of the consequences."

"Consequences," I repeated with a frown.

"Lung heads the ABB, and its extensive. And he has two capes on his payrolls. Oni Lee and Bakuda."

"I know of Oni Lee, but not Bakuda."

Armsmaster didn't seem surprised.

"She's new. We don't have a lot of intel on her. She made her first appearance in waging a terror campaign against Cornell University. Lung recently recruited her and brought her here after the New York Protectorate foiled her plans. This is... concerning."

Terror campaign said a lot. It also made me fight off a smile. I wanted to show her what a real terror campaign was like.

"What do you have on her powers?"

"You know what the Tinker classification is?"

"Advanced grasp of science. Allows for manufacture of extremely advanced technology. Things like ray guns, armor like yours, advanced computers."

"And your power pack and claws if I'm not mistaken," he said with a nod, "Most tinkers, though, have a specialty. Something they're especially good at. Something other Tinkers have a hard time emulating. Bakuda's specialty is bombs."

I almost snorted. Bomb based terror campaigns were boring and easy. It made people fear for life and limbs. A real terror campaign made them feel afraid for their very souls. And that was hard to do without killing people. It took real skill.

This Bakuda was an amateur in terror as far as I was concerned.

Still, super advanced bombs. I wonder what she could make them do. Besides usual bomb type stuff. Like detonate with fire and concussive blast.

"I want you to be very sure that it is dangerous to take credit. Without a doubt, Oni Lee and Bakuda will have two goals stemming from this. Freeing Lung and getting revenge on the one responsible. These are scary people. Scarier in some ways than their boss."

That I smiled at. A cruel, frightful thing. I had practiced.

"Then I can show them how scary I can be, without killing a single one of them."

"And the civilian casualties?"

That brought me up short and my smile faltered.

"You have two options. One, get a move on and join the Wards. You'll have support and protection. Option two is to not take credit, and keep your head down. Fly under the radar."

I weighed my options. And thanked God or whoever for the ability to not need sleep anywhere near as much as I used to. Otherwise I'd probably just let him take all the credit.

"How long can you keep a lid on this? Tomorrow evening?"

"Not very likely. Late tomorrow morning at best."

I nodded. Guess Dad would be taking the day off tomorrow.

"Expect me and my father in the morning, at the PRT building. I'll send him in earlier than me, and I will come in costume. I will convince him to allow me to join the Wards."

Armsmaster frowned again. He didn't like that answer. Time to soothe his ego. He was going to be my boss. Maybe offering him the chance to take the lion's share of the credit, but keeping some fore myself. My reputation needed a boost somewhere.

"I'm sure that your bosses will be pleased to hear you recruited the cape that took out Lung. And I will be sure to remember the gallant Armsmaster who helped me get into the Wards and improve my tinkering. And the public would be glad to know that Armsmaster secured Lung with the help of his newest recruit, Domina Nox."

He seemed to mull over it for a moment and then broke into a small smile. And it was a smile that would give quite a few women weak knees, even if he were horribly disfigured. He probably wasn't. I bet he was actually rather handsome.

"I can agree to that. Though 'Lady of the Night' might not get approved by PR."

"Lady, capital 'L!' That's not hard to understand. I am not a hooker! If I were male it would be Lord of the Night!"

I huffed and he gave another smile with the shake of his head.

"I'll do my best to get them to approve it."

"Thanks."

With that, he gave me his Protectorate number and told me to call him on my way in, so I could get met by the proper people sooner rather than later.

"Can Miss Militia be there? My dad has a schoolboy crush on her, I think. Before Mom died she used to give him trouble over it. It would go a long way."

Armsmaster nodded with some obvious amusement. And then we parted ways. I leapt back up to the rooftops and made my way home, making sure to dip out of sight long before I reached my house. I didn't want anyone who I hadn't given my identity to, to figure it out.

XXXXX

A/N: So, Primarchs are literally designed to win at everything forever. And until the Heresy, they pretty much do. If there is a Primarch on the field, its pretty much in the bag lore-wise. So Tattletale's power looks at Taylor Curze and goes 'le nope. No chance. Super enough of everything that would ruin just about anyone's day. Do not get on her bad side. Recommend going legit. Cops and Robbers with her becomes Her and Stupid People.' If Contessa were to meet Taylor she'd probably worship her. The Path to Victory is considerably fewer steps with Taylor on board. Until Scion. But extend out the timeline and you can have a Matriarch and her Sons. All equipped with 41st M stuff.

When the S9 come to BB, they would be in for a very nasty surprise. Including a case of death. In true Night Lord style, because she can cut loose on them.

I had this thought in my mind that would make Panacea go gaga over Taylor because GG's aura makes Amy think Vicky is perfect, but Amy's power tells her that Taylor pretty much is. Conflicting lesbian love, but since Taylor isn't her 'sister' Amy goes for it. Like a poontang seeking missile.