Megan Maldonato had just made police detective in New Orleans, Louisiana, when she felt, for the first time in her career, that action outside of the law was needed. She had finally been able to arrest the head of one of the worst gangs in the Treme district, a man she had fought almost from her first day on the force, and he was going to walk due to a lab fuck-up. This man, Marco Hernandez, was responsible for numerous murders, not to mention his extortion rackets and active drug smuggling. Megan knew with ever fiber of her being that the world would benefit if Marco was removed from it. Hell, even in prison he would still be a problem, orchestrating through the bars and brutalizing those with a chance at redemption. No, it would be far better if he were to shuck the mortal coil.
Megan usually detested notions of street justice. Like most officers, she was pledged to uphold and defend the law, first and foremost, but the thought of Marco free to torment the already downtrodden ate at her dreams. Every night she would dream of him, dream of the evil Marco perpetrated and how good it would feel for her to end it all with a flash of gunpowder and Marco's blood. After almost a month, Megan had found an unregistered gun, with thoughts of violent justice on her mind, when she was approached by a strange Lawyer. The man wore all black suits, except for a scarlet tie, and his white, white teeth flashed almost as brightly as his piercing, dark eyes. The lawyer told her that, with her help, they could use a civil suite to destroy Marco. He never fully explained how, however. Megan met with this man and the two talked, the lawyer expertly steering the conversation to her feelings about Marco, and just what she'd do to stop him. For some reason, Megan told him everything, and then they parted ways, agreeing to meet to 'strategize' again.
The next day however, she woke in a cell, of sorts. She was laying a bed that seemed to grow from a giant black tree that towered high into a blasted sky, the limbs of the tree twisted into a cage around her. After an indeterminable amount of time, a small, winged creature flew up to her, grinning with pointed teeth. It told her that she was in Hell and that a car bomb had killed her. When she asked how, and why, it laughed and said that it was because of the deal she'd made. She'd told the man with the dark eyes and scarlet tie that she'd give a life to stop Marco Hernandez, and the man had taken her up on this, though he took her life rather than Marco's. In exchange, the police would find evidence from the bomb leading them to Marco, and that he would be put away for life in isolation. The tree then opened and a great winged beast caught her up in it's talons and carried her to a grand city that floated upon a lake of magma.
She was brought before the man, who now wore grand robes, had delicate, artful horns sprouted from just below his hairline, and was somehow more magnificent than he had been before. He explained to her that she was a departed soul who belonged to him, and that he had agreed to take her soul in exchange for her services because he needed a servant to enforce his rules and make sure none escaped punishment for their infractions. To start her off easy, he ordered her to hunt down an escaped beast and bring it before him, dead or alive. This she did, thinking she had no other choice, and it was just the first task of many. For some of her time in this hellish portion of faery, she would patrol the twisting streets of a city so fantastic and strange it was almost beautiful despite its gloom and the twisted, alien inhabitants. She would find those who broke the laws of the King of the Burning Lake and bring them to the pits for punishment. Other times, she would find those who escaped from the pits and bring them back to an even more dire punishment. She felt damned, convinced that the murder in her heart had called this bargainer of souls to her, and that she had failed her last test, causing her to fall forever. Over time, the scent of taint would alert her to those who broke the laws, and help her find those who fled from them. Her eye teeth grew long, her eyes red, her hair blacker than shadow. Her nails grew thick and dark and her ears grew small tips. The king of the burning lake jokingly began calling her his black dog, and he rewarded her for her efforts with hellish versions of her usual tools.
Finally, there came a day when Megan realized that the world was not as she thought it was. A young girl, clever and more resourceful than all the others had fled the city and disappeared into the thorns across from the lake of magma. Megan went to find her and was led through the Hedge back to the mortal world, where she emerged into New York. Shocked to be back in a world she thought she'd left forever. She wandered around, as though in a daze, fleeing at the sound of sirens, realizing that someone had finally called the cops on the strange armed woman walking around. She was eventually found by the New Orleans freehold and talked down until she agreed to give them her weapons and speak with them. It was they who told her that she had been told a lie, that she had never died but had been kidnapped and replaced with an imposter to frame her death. Many in the freehold were leery of her, due to her role in stopping escape from the King and his Burning Lake, but others realized she had been manipulated and was also a victim. Over time, she was able to obtain a new identity, one that was as real as any could be, and she obtained work with the security firm ran by the Summer Court. Subsequently, she joined the court, wanting to pledge herself to protecting those who had already escaped, no matter the cost. Word of Sacramento trickled into New York, and Megan, though now she was Tasha, decided that she wanted to move to a city that needed her help....
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Harden the Mask, 
