Path to being mom? Try again. [A stepmother Contessa Worm quest]

Do you know that feeling when you know you are doing something very wrong, but can't stop yourself from doing it anyway? Well, that's what I'm feeling right now. But who cares? Here comes yet another quest.

You are playing as Contessa on her mission to save the world... by becoming Taylor's stepmother. There is only one issue... for some reason, Path to Victory doesn't work on Taylor. At all, even through simulation like with Eidolon or Endbringers. And for the world to be saved, Taylor must like her stepmother. You have one year in-story before the world ends. Good luck.

PS: don't take anything too seriously. Or seriously at all.

---

"We have a problem."

Everyone gathered looks at you. Of course, they all knew there was a problem, you have called them for emergency gathering. Still, the Path to Explaining_the_problem required you to say that. Probably for dramatics, but who knows? You can't read your Agent's mind.

"Contessa. What's going on?" Doctor Mother asked you. You could see from her face that she was in a bad mood. Not surprising, given that you discovered the problem in the middle of Path to Massaging_Doctor_Mother.

"All Paths that last more than a year from now on suddenly end. I also cannot Path anything starting after the year." And wasn't that worrying? There are only three things you know that can stop your Agent: Eidolon, Endbringers, and Scion. And if the whole world stops being Path-able, it's not very likely to be Eidolon.

"Do you know what will happen?" Alexandria, as fast as always with her brain. While you wish you could use this situation to continue Path to Taking_revenge_for_eating_your_pudding, the situation was too grave for that.

"Unfortunately, no." You answer truthfully.

"Dammit. Is Scion going to attack faster than expected?" Eidolon murmured. Loud enough for everyone to hear him, of course.

"It might be a new Endbringer?" Doctor Mother presented another idea.

The group started discussing with each other the possibilities. You didn't join it, the Path making you wait for something. Legend also didn't join, instead checking something on his phone? Whatever it was, he was done shortly, and asked the big question.

"Contessa. Did you try Pathing the way to learning what's the problem? Or how to solve it?" What is he talking about, that's obviously... Huh... You facepalm, and others follow you after a moment. How is it that Legend is capable of making the whole group facepalm by telling you the obvious answer no one else can think of whenever there is a problem? Is his phone the secret? Or does he have some hidden thinker power? Should you Path it too? No, maybe later. "Well then, could you Path the way to writing out each step you have to take in order to solve the problem?" You don't have to be so smug, Legend, everyone remembers you were the one to find out how you can learn all the steps to Path instead of just being told of them by your Agent in the middle of performing them.

You grab the paper, a pen, and start writing. Then you read it aloud for others.

"Step one. Seduce Daniel Hebert. Step two. Become the best step-mother possible for Taylor Anne Hebert. Step three. Question mark, question mark, question mark. Step four. Profit."

You blink. What? Just what? You check the Path to make sure there weren't any mistakes.

"Did... did your Agent just play a joke on us?" Eidolon was as shocked as you, it seems.

"I followed the Path correctly."

"What's up with the question marks?" Asked Number Man.

Alexandria answered. "The same happened when Contessa tried to Path out Endbringers, so it's probably about something blocking her. I'm more wondering about the 'Profit' part. But first, Number Man, check what we know about the two mentioned in the Path." Grumping, the man followed the orders.

"Daniel Hebert. 43, wife Annete Rose Hebert died in car accident, has one daugher Taylor Anne Hebert. Head of hiring and spokeperson for Brockton Bay's dockworkers union. Had his brain scanned, it's confirmed he can't trigger. Some other details that don't interest us. Taylor Anne Hebert. She is fifteen, goes to Winslow High School in Brockton Bay. Her brain was never scanned, so we don't know about her potential to trigger, but about two months ago she was hospitalized due to toxic shock. Spent about twelve hours inside her locker filled with toxic waste. Police reports indicate that investigation into the matter was stopped due to lack of evidence, despite the girl naming some girls responsible. The names aren't mentioned. Looking at her school records and grades, she was a victim of a bulling campaign since the beginning of her first year in high school. Seems like a perfect environment for a trigger event."

Hmm... You Path the way to seduce Daniel Hebert. Nothing seems wrong. You Path the way to becoming the best step-mother to Taylor, as strange as it sounds. Then you grab the paper and write something, and the Path ends. You read it, but it's just series of numbers.

"Do those numbers mean anything to any of you? I tried to Path the second step, but the whole Path was just about writing this." Before you are even done speaking, Number Man grabs the paper and pulls it out from your hand, roughly. He really needs to learn some self-control, there is already a small bulge visible on his pants.

"This is ASCII code. Let me translate it." He wrote it. "I think this is german. Can you translate it, Alexandria?"

"I should, I know german." She took the paper from him. The bulge was no longer visible. "It says... No way I do that. Queen Administrator will kill me. I think your Path went wrong somewhere."

You agree with Alexandria, and try to Path it out again. Once more you write something, this time it's... "I wrote a message in Morse code. It says... something in a language I can't speak. Alexandria?"

The woman sighed, but took the paper. "It's Italian. I said no. QA is crazy. Are you sure you aren't joking here, Contessa?"

"I'm perfectly serious." You say and try the Path for third time, while trying to ignore the disappointment and hope on Number Man's face. For the third time, you write something. Seems like Number Man will be happy after all. You silently give him the paper. He looks like a kid when he grabs it.

"This... Hoho, interesting! Hmm... I see! That's clever, Agent, but not clever enough for me! Oh, so amazing, such careful use of numbers! More!" By that moment, everyone in the room put on headphones made specifically to block his sounds when he got really involved with his numbers. The fact that you even needed them was depressing.

Some ten minutes later, he is done. All of you take the headphones off, and he gives Alexandria the paper. She looks at it... and looks... and stares... and then... "I give up. I don't know this language." You raise one eyebrow at that. It's not like Alexandria can speak all languages, but she can speak all the common ones.

The group takes a look at it. "It's Polish." You look at the one who spoke - Legend. Under your stare (and probably others') he blushes and explains. "My husband is a fan of Aleph games, and some time ago he got into some game called 'Witcher' or something. He could only get polish version though, so I picked up some things. Like this word, it means 'me'. Or this one, it means 'want'."

"So, whatever it means, Contessa's Agent refuses to Path Taylor Hebert, because it is scared of some 'Queen Administrator'? What the hell could scare an Agent?" Doctor Mother, calm down. You can't panic now. Eidolon is doing that for you.

"I'm more interested in the fact that Agents can be scared at all. Do they feel other emotions as well?" Alexandria, now is not the time.

"So, what are we doing?" Legend, thank you. You are the only one that can be trusted with keeping the others focused on the topic.

"I'll go. I'll grab this girl, interrogate her, and we will learn this way what's going on. It's not like she can stop my might!" Eidolon spoke. Loudly.

"No, you won't. The Path wants me to go. So I'll go. Doctor Mother, you need to teach me everything you know about being a mother." You say. It will be a challange, to be sure, but what's the worst that could happen? Huh, the Path to Survival changed. Strange.

---

Seducing Danny wasn't difficult. The Path to Victory took care of that. Now, he was dating Fortuna Tyche, a...
[] new history teacher at Arcadia.
[] new cook at the nearby Italian restaurant.
[] ... well, he thinks that you work for PRT. You keep telling him your job is a bit of a secret. In truth, you are Good Rest, a thinker specialised in making other parahumans relax to make them more efficient when working later.
[] musician, a new singer and raising star of 'Four tanks, one dog', heavy metal band surprisingly popular among Dockworkers.

The man was pretty great, actually, and you had to admit that you were enjoying your time with him. Maybe not at "love" level, but definitely a fun guy you don't mind dating. And good in bed. You were blushing just thinking of that night. Was it because he was a dockworker?

Now Taylor though... well, she was a bit odd... And with the Path not working, you had exactly 0 idea how to talk with her. As it turned out, Doctor Mother had no experience in being an actual mother, so... At least your first meeting could have gone worse. Maybe. After all, it didn't escalate to you calling Doormaker. Even if you were considering that. But you can't be blamed! She really surprised you when she...
[] put a knife to your throat and said "I don't care that you are a parahuman, or what you think you are doing. If you hurt dad, you. Will. Pay.", with some aura of pure horror surrounding her.
[] nearly suffocated you when she started hugging you like Alexandria did when you bought her that '50 Shades of Chevalier' book, together with "Yay! I finally have an auntie! Ciara will be soooo jealous!" shouts.
[] started giggling and sending you looks without saying anything, then giggling louder, than you had a pancake in your face and she was gone. Then she was back, and you had to run away from the orange jouice filled ballons she was throwing at you.
[] gave you a look, said "You have to train more. Your muscles are way too small." and showed of her muscles, breaking her shirt in the process.

But, somehow, you survived. And now, you were returning to your new home.

---

Just so you know, the second choice affects Taylor's personality, not her power. Her power is already chosen.