You would be lying to yourself if you tried to deny how much you enjoyed taking Emma home safe. Just because it meant you would stay out for a little more time. Your fingers were trembling
,when you unlocked the door to your new apartment. Looking down at your new clothes and the relief not to find
your dad's shoes already standing there. Even if it would only delay the inevitable.
The thought
, that it might not be inevitable never entered your mind. You sat there
, in the kitchen, hands in your lap, rubbing each other, your new bracelets and then your arms. Terpsichore sitting there on the table
, and Aletheia's tendrils wrapped around you, hovering near your shoulder and half resting on you, one of her hands on your arm
, and the other resting near your neck. You could feel her concern. The way she was still nervous and disturbed by the pain you had nearly forgotten in comparison to what was to come. You had promised yourself. You had to tell him. He wouldn't be happy, but you had to
. If you didn't tell him now, you didn't think you would be able to muster the courage to do it later. And you only just started talking again.
It hurt, already
, you knew
, that your dad wouldn't be happy
. He would worry, but you wanted your
dad back. Even if it might be selfish.
Startled from your thoughts, you stared at the incoming text. Work.
Your dad was needed at work, probably because of what you had done. You had already hurt him without meaning to
... without even telling him. But maybe there was one thing you could
do. You brushed Aletheia's hand from your arm., let her take a position on your head hugging you instead, while you got up. Straightened as
best as you could and checked the fridge, then the time. Just enough time.
Your shoes went right back on
. Terpsichore would be left inside the apartment, you were only going around the corner
, to the nearest grocery store to pick up a few fresh ingredients. It was the least you could do. Maybe it was buttering him up, but you felt if you were doing this for him you should at least try to make him feel better, so Mom's lasagna it was. He had written
that he would be four or five hours late after all. You had time. So you would get some minced meat and a few other things. Aletheia and Terpsichore would help you in the kitchen. Browning the meat, frying onions, cooking the sauces. They couldn't taste test, but it still felt good to be there, cooking together. Working as one unit to make the best lasagna you could manage. Telling
your dad to give you a better rough estimate so you could put it into the oven just in time. Making a salad for a starter and thinking about Mom.
would she be proud of you?
You liked to think
, she would be. Both of what you had set out to do and of your efforts to reconnect with
your dad. The idea of being a real family again chasing some of the nervousness away. Just keeping busy with your hands as much as you could. Setting places. Folding the napkins after that was done just to have something to do. You didn't care if it was a bit too much. Dad would understand.
Probably.
Then sitting with your arms wrapped around Aletheia and Terpsichore, once more a cat. Aletheia switching to your head once Dad told you he was on his way. The city would be empty of any traffic now, you had maybe ten minutes of hugging the fluffy, soft Terpsichore, keeping the salad dressing ready and watching your lasagna.
She felt him enter her range. Less than a minute to go. He probably already knew what you had been up to. The key turning in the lock. The sounds of
your dad taking off his shoes.
Your muscles tensed below your skin, holding onto the transformed Terpsichore, turning around to try
giving him a somewhat insecure smile.
Of course
your dad knew something was up. Even if he didn't seem to know what or how to handle the situation. You could see the bags under his eyes. But if you didn't say anything now, you kn
ew you wouldn't
later.
"Hey. Um. Dad." You took a deep breath. "We… we need to talk." You took another few deep breaths, Terpsichore pressing her currently feline body against yours. "Yeah, I know that sounds bad. Okay, it is bad, but I didn't know what to do!" You were shaking now, digging your fingers into Choire's fur. Choire who just pressed her muzzle deeper into your chest.
"Taylor?" His voice was so cautious now. You could hear the exhaust
ion just as much as you felt it. You swallowed. "Are you… are you alright?" You were almost crying. He didn't know how to react. Didn't matter. Didn't mat
ter that you felt faint or that your heart was beating so fast
that you could barely speak at all. That you could feel your blood rushing in your ears and feel every beat of your own heart. None of it mattered. It couldn't matter now. You pushed everything to the side and took one more deep breath.
"I'm a cape."
"I'm sorry!"
You shouted reflexively as his eyes
went wide. Swaying where he stood. You dropped Choire, unthinking, trying to hug him only to be pushed away.
(I'm suggesting adding the line above because otherwise it seems like Danny is the one who shouts 'I'm sorry'. The very next line makes it obvious that it isn't, but when you have a scene with high emotions like this, any confusion on the part of the reader pretty much destroys their immersion in the story, and ruins all of your hard earned buildup.)
"Taylor… I'm… I'm so sorry." His arms wrapping around you a moment later.
It was all his fault, How he neglected you. Neglected you enough to trigger. That
he was just making everything worse for everyone. Ever since Annette died. Making it more difficult for the Heroes, for the DWU, for you…
You wrapped your arms around him as hard as you could.
"No. Dad! It's okay. I'm okay. I'm okay." You took another deep breath your eyes were wet. "I don't know, I don't care. You grabbed his hand, as tightly as you could. "You promised we would talk. You promised, you wouldn't lie and… I didn't tell you."
"It's NOT your fault!" Even if it was. You didn't care. You wouldn't give Aletheia or Terpsichore back for what you'd had before. If this was what it took to get your
dad to talk to you again, you would take it. "And even if it is… I don't care! It doesn't matter. Not really." You were responding to his thoughts and he hadn't even realised yet. He would later, but that was fine. That was good.
"Look, Dad. I'm sorry. I didn't tell you, even when you told me about your powers." You could feel his hand grasping yours now. The pressure of his fingers on yours. His mind slowly recovering. Jumping to strategies, while your fear was coming back. While you were shaking again. You pulled him toward the table. "Let's just sit down."
He nodded, you couldn't see it but you and Aletheia knew anyway. And
your dad immediately put his fingers together. Even before he'd finished sitting down. Looking at you. "You have powers." You nodded. Aletheia mov
ed back onto your head, her tendrils crinkling the fabric of your clothes. Moving your hair. You closed your eyes and gave the command. Choire turning back to her form, Aletheia becoming visible on top of your head. Watching him with her three eyes while Choire leaped onto the chair to stride onto your lap and let your arms wrap around her.
"Yeah. I'm sorry. I was just so scared." One of your hands found Aletheia's tentacle like tail, her hands resting on your head.
Your dad was just half smiling, exhausted, conflicted but still somehow finding a little amusement in the sheer absurdity of it. You hadn't told him yet
that you could read minds, and you were sure
that you had to look terrified.
(I added this in but I'm not sure if that's what you were aiming for. The sentence is too vague, expecially since Taylor did just tell him something, so that makes it seem contradictory as well as confusing.)
"You know, I was scared too,
about how you were going to react once I told you. They kept me so busy, it was eas
ier not to say anything and look where that got me." You could hear the regret. The way he looked at your Masks and thought you must have wanted some kind of companion so badly…. How he wasn't even entirely wrong.
"Taylor… I know I wasn't the best father. I know I was… busy. I am busy, I'll even admit I was scared, this would happen, but I would never reject you for your powers. I wouldn't reject you for what you are.
; I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you ever had to…." His hands were shaking too. He was staring at your masks like he still couldn't quite believe it. "You ever had to…" His hand wav
ed toward
s them. "But please, trust me when I tell you I wouldn't. We can deal with this. Just… tell me what happened. Okay?"
You shook your head. "That's…" You took a deep breath.
"That's not why I'm scared."
"I mean, it's a part
of it, but it's not just that I have powers, that I have these Masks, but it's what they
can do."
You closed your eyes. He already knew,
or he would figure it out soon. You just had to say it and you would feel better. There was still ice in your veins, you felt as if your heart would force itself out of your chest entirely. Your arms were shaking hard, but you couldn't go back now.
"Dad. You know how everyone is scared of your powers?" You closed your eyes again and fully linked with Aletheia to broadcast the message. <<I'm scared what they would think if they knew
about mine. If anyone ever found out. How many telepaths do you know?>> Your voice shaking, loaded with fear and the desperate determination to pull through. It was out now. You were looking up at him. Watch
ing him shut his eyes and hold his head in his arms.
There was only one well known telepath
in the world. Only one other person with powers like yours
, and nobody liked thinking about her. After all. The PRT and Protectorate had already reacted badly to
your dad's powers. You now knew someone had joked that the only way it could be creepier was if he could plu
ck the thoughts straight from their heads.
Your dad had laughed and reassured them. But you… he felt guilty now, of course he did. Guilty and darkly amused. Of course it would come back to haunt him. Of course his daughter would find herself with powers somewhat like his. Li
fe would never ever be easy for the
m two of you, would it? That would have been too much to ask for.
"I don't mind. I'm scared what everyone will think. I never want them, the PRT
, or anyone to know, but it's not so bad. I don't have to guess anymore. And… I didn't tell you, because they wouldn't let me use it. My masks, maybe one of them, but they would keep watching me. I don't know what they would do about it, but if I were in the wards, I don't think they would let me use my powers. Not really. And you're a Hero. You're with the Protectorate and that's good but..."
"But Dad, I'm not sure I can
..."
(This sentence is not a complete thought. That's fine, because people rarely speak in complete sentences, but Taylor would either finish the though and explain what she is not sure she can do, or she would sort of trail off before explaining. Hence the ellipses.)
Your dad was looking at you. Thinking back. Considering. "I read the
Wards
' contracts and stipulations and they can dictate how you use your powers. Everything and… they
wouldn't let Emma join." His eyes fl
ew wide open.
(Eyes do not flow, but they can move so quickly that we describe them as flying open)
"Okay. You're a telepath or your mask is a telepath? It's okay." He took
a deep breath.
, You knew it wasn't okay at all, but
your dad was holding on, doing his best to try and find some kind of solution. You had almost never seen this side of him, but right this moment, you knew why he was so well respected in the Dockworker's union. Why he was such a good negotiator. "I don't think I'm understanding you right now. We can get through this and we will find a solution, but I need you to start from the beginning, so I can understand what's going on."
You swallowed. Took
a napkin and wiped your tears from your face. "When… on the day Emma got attacked, I… I was feeling lonely. And
she didn't c
all me back. You weren't talking to me. And it was like nobody cared at all and something just broke… and I was holding Aletheia. That's the Mask with the tentacles. She can feel people around her,
and hear what they're thinking
and when she gets close enough
. At first just when she was touching them and later…. I don't know what happens but I know they grow the more they use their powers. When she grew she could find out more about people
when they're within a few feet. She can move things without touching them. Turn invisible. Send thoughts or feelings to people. She was helping me earlier. To send that to you."
"And she can sense electronics now too. And some sort of disruption ability I don't understand. But… they're not the only ones. I'm sort of gathering energy too and whenever that's full… I can make a new mask. So… I made Terpsichore."
Your dad was watching you over steepled fingers. More concentrated than you could ever remember seeing him, nodding slowly along. You knew he was trying to just impress the facts onto his mind.
Withholding judgement. "And she can make sounds and illusions and shapeshift. Um. That's why she was a cat earlier. And she can drain people's energy if she touches them and has some sort of super agility." You took another steadying breath. "But I'm calling them masks, because, well
, the bodies grow out of the masks and if I put them to sleep, I can put them on and..." you put one hand onto Aletheia, slowly putting her to sleep, letting the hands
, tendrils
, and tail recede until there was only the smooth deep blue, purple and a little pink and blue surface. You turned her around to show it to
your dad.
Then
you lifted her to your face, closed
your eyes and let the change wash over you, your senses expand
ing. Your hair growing into tendrils,
and your cloak of eight tentacles form
ing around your shoulders. Watching
your dad with three eyes. The way the extra colours made him so much stranger, more vibrant. The way his mind felt so very familiar
, even now trying to grasp what you were telling him. You lifted the cutlery and set it back down. Floated up with your chair and went invisible for a few seconds before floating back down and disconnecting yourself and Aletheia, letting her wake back up to come to rest on top of your head again. Weightless, but comforting nonetheless.
"It works with anyone. Emma can wear Aletheia or Terpsichore and she'll fuse with them too. But some people work better with some masks than with others. I can make them disconnect if I want to and I have to decide to put them to sleep but… I don't think they would ever let her join anyway. I don't know what they would do if they found out I could give
people powers. So… I was so scared. It feels incredible but I just don't know what they would do. I promised myself I would tell you before I went out, before we went out but then we heard him. And there was just so much pain. He was so scared. And…"
"We couldn't just do nothing. Maybe we should have. We got hurt and we messed up, but we couldn't just let him die. And… I'm not sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I couldn't just not
do anything
, and I can't just not use my masks. They
... they make me feel safe. They make Emma feel safe. I don't want to go back to
the way things were before."
(Ok, real quick I need to stop you here. Taylor is doing a horrible job explaining about the Sven incident. In fact, she is being so vague that there is no way in the world Danny can understand what she is talking about here. I know he was at the scene, but nothing she has said up to this point makes it clear that Sven is the 'he' they rescued. Danny ought to be utterly confused here.
I strongly recommend either 1. shuffling this explanation around a bit so that she mentions Cricket sooner, or 2. have Danny not figure out what the hell she's talking about (until cricket comes up later) if you want her explanation to stay vague as all get out.)
"I'm sorry we made
you so much work
for you." you gave him a watery smile. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you
about my powers. So I made Mom's lasagna. And salad."
Your dad sighed. Forced his eyes shut.
You knew he was remembering the blood that had been found on the scene and the bullets. His hands clenched together. "Taylor…." He would be doing the very same thing wouldn't he? But you had no backup. No safety net. And you had already been shot at. And shot, although you hadn't told him yet. But if you went to the wards…
"Yeah. I… I fused with Aletheia. Emma was fused with Terpsichore. I made us invisible. She was blinding cricket and broke her eardrums. I overloaded their brains. And Cricket's. I… it's not as bad as it sounds! We did tests! When we're wearing the masks..." you stood and lifted your shirt to show not the place you had been shot in the chest, but at least where you had been grazed. The skin was still red and tender. It would probably stay that way for a while, but if wasn't a hole. "It's okay. We're fine. We just… we couldn't do nothing!"
"And you didn't think of just calling the PRT?"
"Well… we did. But… they would have killed him
, if they knew anyone was coming..." Your nails were digging into your palms. "I'm sorry. But I'm not. I'm sorry we had to, but..." there were tears
all over your face again.
"But you would do it again." His hands were fists now too. You could feel the way he was desperately trying to stay calm. The anger, the pain tearing him apart. "Because you couldn't just stand there." Because he couldn't either and neither could Annette. "And you got shot." He took a deep breath but you already knew it would be pointless.
"Dammit Taylor! You couldn't have thought of anything else? You couldn't have told anyone?
"You. You and your friend you just rushed in, you got shot and you think that's okay?"
"Yes! No! I don't know! It's not okay. We messed up, it shouldn't have been like that, but I couldn't think of anything! Emma couldn't think of anything. I'm telling you because I though
t... I thought you should know, before it happens again. I know it's bad. I know it hurt and we shouldn't but I couldn't just walk away! You couldn't stand there! I… I just need to get better! We need to get better!
"I promised Emma and I promised myself
, that we were going to get real costumes. We're going to get body armour and we'll be more careful. We'll get more training. It's messed up. I know it's messed up."
"But you don't regret it.
Your dad repeated. "You got shot! And you don't regret it because that's not who we raised you
to be. Dammit Taylor couldn't you have waited a
(remove space please)t least a few months
? They warned me you could trigger. They warned me you could get powers." His hands were shaking he pressed them onto his face. "But did you have to get them so soon?"
But n
either one of you could fix that now.
"You don't want to go to the wards but you go out and you get shot! What do you expect me to do? Just let you go out and get shot again? Taylor. I don't want to lose you. I can't." He was shaking
. His hands were wet but you could barely see him or anything else. You were shaking and crying just as much as he was.
(Why are his hands wet? Did you mean his eyes?)
"I can't lose you too.
"
"I can't."
"But that's why.
" You interrupted his rambling. "That's why we need to get better costumes. Why we need to get my Masks to grow stronger and why we need to train. Dad. Emma got attacked whether she was a cape or not. The wards fight anyway. They get killed too. We're going to get better. We're going to get stronger and we need your help, because you know so much more about this than we do. But if I join the wards, Emma won't have anything. She won't be safe. I won't be able to use most of my powers. And I'll be dressed in something stupid. Does it look like
Vista is wearing body armour to you?"
"Aletheia can help. She's getting stronger. We already know what people are thinking, we can react to something
at the same time they're planning it. At least this way we'll know
(er...know what? This is unclear.). And we'll get better. Cricket was just… a bad match up. Without her sonar, they would never
have been able to find me. Just…..
"
"Please. I was so scared you would take this away from me. I didn't want to tell you, Emma doesn't think I should but… you told me. And I want to be a family again. So…
"
"I know it's messed up.
"
"I just don't know what else to do. We'll be careful. We'll have phones and we're getting body armour. We're going to do everything we can to do this right but..." you couldn't just not do it. And you didn't want to lie to Dad, he didn't want to be lied to. You didn't want to lose him again.
And he knew he may very well lose you if he tried to force you now.
His hands were still clenched. You could see
, and feel his pain threatening to overpower everything else. Trying to think. "Okay..." He still wasn't convinced. "We'll try this. You're going to get an armoured costume, write down everything you think those masks can do. You're not running into fights
that you're not sure you can win and you're calling for backup at the first sign of something going wrong. We're getting you burner phones. And if you get hurt, if you end up in the hospital, we're going to the Wards. I don't want to lose you. I'm sorry for what I did, but if I have to choose between you being safe and you being happy with me…."
You swallowed, but you couldn't even really disagree.
Aletheia made you understand
his fears too well for that.
"Okay."
You smiled despite your tears. "Okay." Despite everything, you supposed that was as good as you could hope for.
"Thanks, Dad."
Your dad smiled back at you, although you knew full well he still wasn't happy. Just
... as happy as he would ever get with this situation.
You still felt lighter than you had in so long.
Your dad knew. Emma was okay. You and
your dad were talking. You had your Dad back. You had your Masks and didn't even have to hide them any more. It wasn't perfect. But it was better than you had felt ever since Mom died. It was something.
Enough to make you wipe your tears and invite
your dad to sit down and have food before the lasagna burned or all of your efforts with the salad went to waste. Even if you could have fallen asleep then and there
, your Dad could not and he at least deserved a nice dinner for what you had dropped on him and how much work you had inadvertently created for him. At least now he knew what was going on. Even if he couldn't or rather wouldn't tell anyone. Work would get just a bit harder, but neither of you would have traded it for the alternative.
So you had lasagna at one in the morning. You introduced
your dad to Aletheia and Terpsichore, properly this time around and he promised to do his absolute best to help you with your body armour problem. You were absolutely certain he meant it too.
When you got up
the next morning, you were discussing plans over breakfast. Holding off on the sewing until
your dad could get more information on costumes and potential materials and staying home as much as you could until you got that point sorted.
Your dad would also have more questions once he got home,
he had to consider how to make sure the PRT didn't guess what exactly your or Emma's powers were if he could
, and somebody had to make sure the internet connection got set up properly. A new Notebook was only so useful without internet access, especially for research purposes.
Which lead to you and Emma finding yourself in your new apartment, with Terpsichore not on Emma's face on your request. Mainly because you were worried about Emma's reaction. She said it was just that feeling of power. Feeling weak without the mask. You were worried she might somehow become addicted to it, but maybe it had something to do with you being able to access some of Aletheia's abilities anyway, even if they weren't as powerful as they would have been while fused with her. You still needed to decide on what to call yourself. Seeing as Emma seemed to have made her choice already. Aletheia who was currently away testing your range's limits and trying to gather information.
You were going to go out
on for some extra self-defence lessons later on, but for now you were petting Alet
heia and
while Emma was going through magazines she had brought
over in addition to your own collection
. You were researching the Empire. Cricket first of all, then her group and her
allies.
She had been with them for three years now. Her group also contained Hookwolf and Stormtiger, they seemed to be forming some sort of cell. Or at least turned up together often enough to make P
HO think so. Dogfighting, drugs
... they were more or less enforcers
and doing the dirty work as far as you could tell. Fenja and Menja were Kaiser's bodyguards, Purity seemed to be either alone or with Kaiser. They had Krieg, who worked with Alabaster and Crusader. There was Victor, who could steal people's skills on touch
, (you made notes on him to make sure you would never engage him in close combat
) and for three months now also Othala and connections to something called Gesellschaft. You didn't actually know what that was and PHO and the internet could only tell you so much, but what you did find
, wasn't good.
It was a German villain organization of some kind. Active mainly in Europe, usually through intermediaries. All you could find was that they had a lot of capes
... and were rumoured to be manufacturing them somehow. All of the ones
that had been captured seemed to have been subjected to something that almost or entirely broke them. Nobody quite knew how many capes they had, only that i
t had to be more than the empire. And that the empire was able to borrow some
of theirs from them. Even with Ratatoskr dead, they had more capes than the
Protectorate and
the Wards combined. They would be even only after Challenger transferred
in. Who you knew nothing about and
your Dad didn't know anything about either.
She was a new trigger apparently. Strong, a trump that gained abilities from people and enhanced theirs in turn as she did so, but apparently reckless.
Your Dad said you had to be to volunteer to go to Brockton Bay if you didn't already live here, but you were still grateful. The city needed more Heroes. Actual heroes, not people like Shadow Stalker. You kept trawling through PHO, looking over the speculation threads and any videos or reports you could find, until it was time for training again.
Suffice to say, that after training you were desperately wishing you had some kind of actual healing ability outside of your masked forms. Anything would do. Was it useful? Of course it was. You didn't regret going to training for a
single second, especially seeing what it was doing for Emma, despite the bruises and the muscles you knew would be hurting tomorrow
, no matter how much stretching you did. You were understanding more and more too, even if you knew you would both take months to become properly proficient. Years to become actually good, unless you found some way to speed up skill acquisition.
Emma had gone home to have a bath, she still didn't feel particularly safe, but flying back home to land in your new garden at highway speeds was something you never wanted to give up again. Soaring over the city, feeling the life below,
with clear air around you had an appeal you could never fully describe. Not to mention that unlocking doors by means of telekinesis was incredibly
practical useful. Technically you would never need any non electronic keys again, as long as you had Aletheia, but it would be somewhat suspicious if anyone ever spotted you doing
it that to your front door. The chance
s ofbeing observed invisibly opening a glass door were very low and you
r room had its curtains drawn. Perfect for going visible.
You had just enough time to prepare dinner before
your Dad came back.
The first question
your Dad had after dinner was
, whether your masks would work for Parahumans apart from you as well. You were a little hesitant to put the currently a little exhausted Aletheia to sleep again, but you think all in all, she would be a better fit for him than Terpsichore. Especially considering the kind of powers he had. You were wondering how Aletehia's version of sensing electronics would interact with his so, nervous as you were, you slid the now sleeping mask over the table to him.
You watched
your Dad eye her dark underside with trepidation and touch the strange material inside.
He dip
ped his fingers into it and push
ed his arm far further inside than what should have been possible only to withdraw with incredulity
visible on his face. Gently
he touch
ed the swirling midnight blue, violet, blue and red. Trying and failing to scoop some of it out of position, before he finally looked back at you.
"It won't hurt. It might just feel a bit weird. Emma… didn't like it, but I think
... I hope it'
ll be okay for you. At least between the two Masks I have."
Your dad closed his eyes. He was taking deep breaths, before suddenly plunging his face into the Mask. You saw the change wash over him. The midnight blue tendrils sprout, blue
-green web between them
, from
, the back of his
smooth head
smooth, the tendrils around the mask going back further. T
he cape of tentacles form
ed around his shoulders. His limbs
becoming grew longer, more turquoise. A nearly black cape, retaining none of the violet
, and three eyes now turquoise with hints of deeper blue and a little green. He looked sort of like an alien
with his eyes wide open. You tried to reach out but you could no longer reach Aletheia's sense.
Your dad would be hearing your thoughts now. He was looking around, floating, limbs trailing behind him as if they had been completely forgotten, until only your sense of where Aletheia was at any given point in time could tell you where he was any more. He'd gone completely invisible.
"Dad?"
You didn't hear anything. Slowly
you brought your
arms closer to you
r and grasped them with your hands. It was… odd. Of course you remembered
, that
your dad couldn't talk now a second later. Terpsichore might have her sound manipulation ability, but you knew Aletheia's forms had no mouth. You couldn't speak while wearing her either, not even if you wanted to. Nor were you able to breath or fe
el any need to, now that you thought about it, which was very weird in its own way.
<<Taylor?>>
<<Taylor, can you hear me?>>
Of course
you she could hear him. He should be able to hear
you her think just fine.
You just hoped it wasn't too overwhelming for him. To
You it was fine but if
your dad reacted anything like Emma…
(I think that paragraph was supposed to be from Danny's point of view? ...It's a little jarring. Fun in concept, but I would advise against sudden and inexplicable shifts in perspective.)
<<It's… My range, it's twice as large as it used to be. I can hear you think and feel everything around me. I'm sure these eyes can see more wavelengths than mine. It's a lot to take in, but it isn't bad
, so much as strange. I'm not sure for how long I could do this, but it's surprisingly comfortable.>> He paused. <<I can see
, why Emma wouldn't want to give it up again. You're already feeling half deaf and blind. I hope I'm not intruding too much. It's very difficult not to.>>
Which you knew was true. You couldn't actually blame him although you were a little uncomfortable with it. This was your Dad after all. But you had been reading his mind and worse, so you refused to complain.
Of course,
your dad knew
how uncomfortable you felt anyway. <<Taylor, how do I take this back off?>>
<<Are you standing on the ground again?>> You pictured the way you were doing it. Willing the transformation to recede and separating yourself from Aletheia.
A moment later,
your dad was standing next to you again, taking a deep breath and holding Aletheia in his hands. You wasted no time waking her back up. Watching her give
your dad a gentle hug and petting his arm before returning to her spot on your head. And feeling her. How… full she was. "I think Aletheia is going to grow again soon. So… it makes your power better?"
Your dad nodded. "It's… It more or less doubled my
range. This is incredible." H
e paused. "I can see how people would kill for that sort of thing, especially since it seems to improve Parahuman abilities. At least if they're compatible." You could feel his desire and how it was squashed soon after. "You should keep her. If that's what you can see
, or rather perceive, I wouldn't ask you to borrow her. Not even if I could get away with it without having to answer some serious questions. I can see why she makes you feel safe." He sank down onto the couch. "And why you've become a security nightmare."
Your dad smiled.
He took off his glasses and started cleaning them, eyes still set on you. "I've asked my
colleagues about their costumes. There are some tinkertech options as well as the more normal bullet-resistant vests and fabrics. Unfortunately they're not exactly cheap and my salary won't cover them right
now. The vigilante rules will give you some leeway when it comes to taking money from gangs, but taking too much from any one of them is going to have consequences from somebody. Even if they won't be able to find you, people are going to get hurt." He returned his glasses to his face.
Your dad, fully awake
, could be surprisingly intimidating. Even if he did smile a moment later.
"Did you think about what you wanted to get?"
You paused. "Not exactly. Emma wants something knife proof and bulletproof for her torso and she's been looking at those old Earth
Aleph Wonderwoman comics. So she's set on some metal bracers
, if she can get fast enough. We can't have anything she could get tangled in, so no long dresses or capes
, and she'll need her hands free to drain people
, which means we can't have full gloves. And she says she needs boots. I really want a bulletproof torso as well, but I don't mind something a bit bulkier. I'm going to be flying, not running
, in costume and, well Aletheia already looks strange so something that would go with that. I still need to figure out how to sew though and I don't need to be knife proof the way Emma needs to be."
Dad was nodding slowly. You could feel his relief at the idea, that you weren't even thinking about wearing whatever New Wave used. It might be fine
for them, almost all of them had forcefields of some type, but he had been terrified you might consider them some kind of rolemodel for what you were doing.
Well, maybe you did. But you had no Mask that would give you any real brute powers and Aletheia did not like getting too close to anyone she disliked anyway. Although her way of overloading people's brains was definitely effective. And you
definitely really didn't want to get shot again.
After that
, your conversation devolved into talking about special fabrics, armour plating and non-newtonian fluids, which went a little over your head and made you promise yourself to look up information on the topic as soon as you could. Knowing
, how the Protectorate and
the Wards costumes were made and what was considered appropriate protection for who
, was definitely good to know.
You also discovered something else. While you had been content with Aletehia's invisibility and Choire's shapeshifting,
your dad had been to an official Power Testing session. Several in fact. So he had been the first to ask
, whether you could somehow turn your powers off entirely or whether they would just always have to be present. You had always just assumed your Masks would always be with you, it felt right that way, but with some prodding, you tried something else. If they were far away from you, you couldn't manage it at first, but if you were touching them, you could apparently transform your masks into tattoos. Which… wasn't exactly an off state in the way
your dad had imagined it, they were still there and you could still feel them they were just inactive instead of awake or asleep as you liked to call it in your mind. It made you wonder whether you could run out of skin to put them on, seeing as their size seemed to be set, although you could move them around. And how many Masks you would be able to create. Unless you found a way to put them away entirely too.
Either way, Aletheia's power was growing. You could feel her inching closer to that point of overflow day by day, maybe even hour by hour. Two, maybe three more days to go in your estimation. You were pushing her powers and how far away from you she could be as far as they would go. You were training with Emma and Terpsichore, trying to get her martial arts abilities and your own tentacle based combat to be less awkward. Masked, the fatigue didn't affect you as much. You could train invisibly in your living room. And train visibly
, without the masks a bit as well. Using any break you had for research.
Emma on tailoring, you on sewing techniques, different fabrics and yes, tailoring as well. Really, Emma was looking into the design aspects, you were being somewhat more practical. She had far better fashion sense not to mention knew more people to ask than you ever did and you doubted she would be happy to wear anything you designed. Capes and the associated costumes were more than popular enough for one more fashion enthusiast and model showing interest to be anything but suspicious.
Which was good, because you could never have done all of this research alone. You were drowning in information on materials already.
Your dad and Emma would figure out acquisition, but because you would be the one putting everything together – and you were the one who was practising how to sew telekinetically since it seemed to be pushing Aletheia's skills too – you were definitely busy. Your morning runs were half torture, half relaxation and clearing your mind before getting to your day's work.
Who would have thought
, running was such a good way to get time to think?
You seemed to have some of your best ideas while on these daily runs. Or nearly daily. Whenever your muscles hurt too much from the self-defence training, you and Emma more or less unanimously decided to skip it. Even if the pain gave you some tangible sense of at least something happening. You could tell yourself it was your muscles being built up. Your actual physical conditioning was improving too. You could feel small differences. You weren't as out of breath any more. It was difficult. Had you and Emma learn how to disguise bruises with make up, but you were doing something. Something was happening. Just like Emma's training with Terpsichore and also at least a little with Aletheia was making a difference. She wasn't quite as uncomfortable any more. She was learning how to use her self-defence training, what little she had
, while masked. Just like you were starting to figure out how to use those tentacles.
Then, a day and a half later, around noon you could finally feel Aletehia's energy overflow…
You immediately pushed your notebook away and grabbed Emma's shoulder, trying to withdraw her back to the apartment as fast as you could.
"It's happening. Aletheia's growing again."
"I'm trying to get her back here in time but I'm not sure she can make it in time..."
"You're sure? Is it like when Choire just grew all of a sudden?" You could only nod. You tried to delay the change, push the thought that it was a bad time, that someone might notice toward her as much as you could. It still felt like something was pushing. Ready to burst, ready to do something, but for the few minutes you needed, it worked. Aletheia arrived, rushing through the door, tendrils coiling in apparent discomfort.
As soon as she was safely inside your room, with the curtains drawn and the door shut, she changed.
Her mask bulged at the edges, spitting out nine small egg shapes, her tendrils moved to the side, for a bulge behind her forehead to form and push outward into a tentacle longer even than the ones before. The white egg shaped mask fragments coming to rest one over each tendril, the larger the flattened egg, the larger its tentacle. Her collar pushed outward into yet more tendrils, connected by webbing, much like what you had fused to her, dark and only a dark purplish violet on the insides. Her tentacles stretching until she was the size of a large dog.
But that was nothing against what you felt from her. She had flickered, as if something were rearranging itself. Her senses expanding
and stretching further out, until she reached the same range you had while you were wearing her, her tentacles stretching to their full length only to recoil back, hovering in the centre of the room, as if trying to cope with her new sensations. And there was something else. Something else still forming, in much the same way as she had gained her telekinesis less than a week ago, although this time, it at least wasn't quite as sudden. More as if something had finally stopped forming.
She waved her tendrils around, but you were still too distracted with her new abilities, he
r new very familiar abilities
, to care much.
(That's either a 'the' or a 'her', and I'm not sure which because honestly the whole second half of the sentence makes no sense to me.)
Emma was blinking up at her, visible at your request. A request you had gotten a sort of confirmation for in return. Where Aletheia had otherwise only had feelings and preferences, you were starting to perceive a few actual thoughts
, considerations
, and calculations. Relatively simple as they were. You didn't know how else to describe it. She seemed to be trying to predict people's actions, with very little sense of approval or disapproval. The only feeling of the sort she had was for you. The sense that she recoiled at the thought o
f and got anxious about
: putting you in danger. She seemed to feel better
after coiling her tendrils around you. And
with you touching her in return.
"You're so winning the weirdest pet competition." Emma was still staring, but you and Aletheia could see and feel how funny she thought it was. "Most people would just get a dog." You grinned right back at her.
"Dogs don't have superpowers."
"Maybe you're just not getting the right kind of Dog." She
was lifted Terpsichore up and wrapp
ed her arms around her.
"I'm pretty sure that's not a dog."
"But she's cute! Look at her!" Emma squeezed Choire tighter to her chest.
She was grinning just as much as you were.
"Still not a dog." Your hand was stroking
of Aletheia's Mask. "Besides, she's definitely got the cute eyes and you'll never find a better hugger." Made all the funnier by the way she definitely liked wrapping
her tentacles around you. Eyes narrowing in what you knew was pleasure.
Even if Emma still didn't seem to believe you. "You're hopeless." She snickered.
"You just have no taste." Now you were both laughing.
"So does the new size come with any new powers too?"
You looked over to her again. New powers? Maybe, but you knew with absolute certainty that the old ones weren't the same any more. You kept petting her for maybe half a minute longer, but she seemed just as eager as you to try fusing again. To see what you could do now, because you had a very good idea
, that you wouldn't be quite the same any more.
Looking at the Mask with its new floating segments in your hands and pressing her to your face.
Your new tendrils extended. Your hair
grew longer and thicker, your cape gaining another tentacle, your back sprouting two more,
and your limbs still elongating and growing even thinner, although you were sure you were still just as strong as before. Longer tentacles around your shoulders. More powerful while the ones springing directly from your mask seemed to have gotten thicker in a section around the edge. Creating visible bulges before thinning completely.
More importantly though, your senses extended impossibly far. You could feel almost your entire block just by standing there, the people and the animals. So many of them just there and if you would only focus on them, you were sure you could alter their thoughts. All of them together? No. But a single one or a few? Definitely. You couldn't fly faster, but you could lift more now, lift things more easily and feel them further out while the precision all around you increased to something you would have needed a microscope for in any other circumstance. And it was still all so easy. So natural, devoid of any sort of resistance. You could make things invisible, you could turn half your furniture invisible at a thought and Emma too. Your sense for electronics was expanding, programs starting to open themselves up to you. It was…. not-overwhelming in a way you were hard pressed to properly describe. Your colour range hadn't expanded any, but by this point, seeing had become just one of your senses in many ways inferior to the ones not limited to a single direction, even if you couldn't exactly feel light.
Floating there in your room, pulling your legs up into a cross legged sitting position and wrapping your tentacles around yourself, you spent minutes just feeling.
Absent-mindedly sending reassuring thoughts toward Emma or rather broadcasting your own feeling of… tranquillity. Although admittedly some of the thoughts you were now hearing were a little disconcerting, being fused
with Aletheia seemed to give you distance. And it wasn't as if anything truly abhorrent was going on in your immediate perceptive radius. Nothing that storming in would solve.
So you floated. Floated until Emma poked you and grew ever more concerned to the point o
f having to remove your mask to reassure her. It felt as if you had been soaring high above everything, still getting used to your senses, but now, confined to m
ere human limitations, everything just seemed to small. So limited. You had to take a moment to adjust.
Emma just snorted. "Are you okay?"
You had to hurry to nod.
"And you were bugging me about liking Choire too much… did you see yourself?"
Maybe you were blushing now. "Sorry. I... it's just incredible. I can feel so much more. I was still trying to come to terms with it but when you go back..."
"You feel small. Weak."
You shook your head. "Blind, a bit deaf and like some of my limbs went missing. It's… yeah. I don't know."
"I wish we could just wear them all the time."
"No. We can't. We just have to get used to it I think. Yes, we're more powerful, but what I'm trying to say is, even if it's just the power and not something else. We should be able to be just ourselves as well. Can't get addicted, even if it feels good. At least not until I've asked Dad about it."
Emma winced. "But is it really like a drug if it's just giving you powers?" She paused.
You shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know, but we should probably look it up just in case."
Which got you a slow nod in return and had Aletheia coiling up next to you, while you called up PHO again. Powers were weird. Very, very weird and you were starting to really understand why some of the people in the PRT might be terrified of them. But you had them and you would just have to figure out how to use them properly. Which meant seeing whether anyone might have written about anything like your problem before.
And then sitting around being uncomfortable, because they had and your feeling wasn't quite wrong. Powers could be addictive. You would have to be careful. Even if you weren't sure exactly how much of yours was a so called master effect, if anything
, and how much was just you not wanting to feel weak if you didn't have to. So you both
tried. Recorded the ways you felt different. The slight increase in emotions Emma felt while wearing Choire, while you seemed to become more cautious, a little more calculating while fused with Aletheia. You would have to remember that. And question your own emotions, although at least you couldn't see or feel any withdrawal symptoms.
Suffice to say it left both of you in a slightly somb
er mood, when you went to your next self-defence session. And made you think about whether being more or less permanently mentally connected to Aletheia was really a good thing. About how your powers were changing you. While Emma might be able to channel this fear into better performance, you were distracted. You would probably have to train more with Emma later and put in more effort the next few times.
Talking to
your dad wasn't exactly reassuring either. Definitely not in the way you had wished it would be. He knew
, that mental effects were a possibility and told you to keep a journal. Some people couldn't help those effects or causing some in others, such as Glory Girl, but they were not well received and the Protectorate was advising extreme caution in dealing with such effects. Advising you take breaks to come back to yourself and investigate your feelings as well as trying to compensate as best as you could was the only advice he could give you.
You weren't sure
if he was reassured or disturbed by Aletheia's growth, but you were guessing it had to be somewhere in between.
On another note, your runs didn't just help you find time to think….
Well maybe it wasn't that coincidental. You were varying your route consciously now after all to cover the most area you possibly could as well as to find new obstacles to get around, so you supposed you had just found a way to multitask while running, but Aletheia's new powers were making scouting so much easier, as well as making you aware of some interesting things. Brockton Bay had been home to many gangs and capes over the years. Many independents and even more others and with its crumbling Economy, there were even more abandoned buildings around. You just had to find the right one. The correct combination of accessibility, secrecy, space, closeness to home, at least the possibility of getting some amenities and not getting too wet or cold and of course security.
That cut down the number of possibilities significantly. It wasn't as if you found absolutely nowhere you might be able to use, of course, but through all of your runs, you still didn't find that many places. Maybe you would have kept looking if Aletheia hadn't grown, but as it was, you had combed through the entire surrounding area of your new apartment and most of the probably usable area between Emma's place and your own, so it all came down to those choices.
[ ] A generous attic closer to Emma's house in a house with six families living inside of it and no obvious means of entry but one small window on the roof you would both be able to open. Not perhaps as large or as secret as you would have liked, but the only access was through the abandoned house next to it, too drafty for anyone to squat in. It at least would be relatively warm, even in winter and wasn't in a terrible area. Just a run down one. Okay, it wasn't the most glorious of bases but because somebody seemed to have made sure the access to it from below was shut and whoever actually owned the building really didn't seem to care, you thought you would be fine.
[ ] An old supervillain Lair you were reasonably sure had been left by some independents and definitely wasn't included in any city plans. You could easily get a new lock and open the old one, the access was through a manhole cover looking just like one of all of those other manhole covers apart from the little
fact that it wasn't over any sewer line or
anything similar. Okay, it might get a little cold until you figured out how to heat it and you would have to get a generator for it, but at least there were some power outlets and it had been abandoned without anyone as much as touching it for what looked like years. It also had a door, small tunnel and then hidden door leading to a storm drain in case anyone should block the above ground access point. Water was still being diverted from the city.
[ ] An old warehouse, property of the city of Brockton Bay, with nice chains locking it shout very few windows to be broken and absolutely nothing of interest inside. The lock would be no hindrance for your telekinetic abilities, it was still hooked up in terms of water and after a little messing with some equipment you could probably turn the electricity back on too. It wasn't heated either, but was spacious. The only problem would be anyone seeing you coming and going and of course the City against all odds taking an interest again. It was also a little further from home than you would have liked, but still decently well accessible at least.
Any of those would probably do well enough
, and without any money
, they were definitely the best you could come up with. At leas
t that way no one could ask why two teenagers were renting a building.
[ ] Even if you might just be able to ask Dad to help you rent a place instead. Then you would just need to come up with the money or convince your Dad to part with a portion of his salary and if need be have a reason for his employer ready, as to what he was doing there. You knew enough, to be aware the PRT was paranoid and not as trusting of Dad as you would have liked.
In either case, your Base or Lair was coming along about as well as you could hope for at the moment.
You had more things to worry about. Honestly your schedule was absolutely packed. You were still training, trying to get to grips with Aletheia's new abilities, working on your costume and costume ideas and then there was more research. Of course there was.
Asking
your dad for everything made you feel a bit too guilty, so you were parked in fro
nt of your Notebook again, while Emma was busy drawing up costumes, discussing with you
, and trying again. Shadow
Stalker couldn't be the only independent in the entire city, right?
As it turned out, no, she was not. Although she was one of the more prominent ones, getting even more violent in recent weeks.
(Oops.) She still went after criminals with her
crossbow, she could still phase through nearly anything and you still didn't want to meet her again. You really, really hoped she wasn't going to end up a
t Winslow too. Somehow you didn't think she would feel any more friendly toward you after she had had time to cool off. If she was capable of such a thing. You may not remember everything, but you still knew she could hold a grudge.
Unfortunately, the next independent 'Vigilante' wasn't much better if at all. Pyroclast was the local pyrokinetic
, or magmakinetic, you weren't entirely sure. The PRT thought it had something to do with superheating his environment or shooting blasts of superheated air, to the point where it started to glow. In any case he was only slightly less violent than
Shadow
Stalker, but had a body count attached. Yes, it might be accidental, but he was still callous enough not to care too much about the lives of any gang members he came across or
, arguably worse
, had very little control over his powers but went out anyway. Clad in red boots, leg armour,
and chest armour
both all of the ballistics resistant variety a
s well as a flame motorcycle helmet that was probably armoured as well and orange gloves over black material, as well as a long red scarf, he was at least distinctive.
At least there seemed to be one Independent you could actually call a Hero, even if no one knew very much about her. Mockingbird seemed to have sound and reflection related powers of some kind and a mover ability. She could definitely confuse gang members by putting up duplicates of them
, and she seemed to be able to do something to spaces and knew how to produce loud sounds. There were blurry images of a black, white and grey costume with a full face bird mask and a short cape mimicking wings. She obviously didn't like being seen and never appeared to stick around, but whoever she was, she was definitely very good at some form of parkour and at least one martial art. She hadn't been around for long.
On the villainous side, there were of course Uber and Leet. Well. To you, they seemed less villainous than Shadow Stalker and more like clowns who occasionally stole something, but really just seemed to love making a spectacle. An extremely powerful Tinker as far as you could tell, since he had no set theme and some kind of thinker who seemed to be unnaturally good at whatever he was doing. The PRT had them labelled as Villains, but you were having a hard time taking them seriously and their youtube channel was admittedly quite funny.
Faultline's crew were based in the Palanquin and obvious mercenaries. They didn't appear to do much of anything inside the city, but elsewhere, their jobs had you label them cautiously as Villains or at least people who didn't care. At least they seemed to to be keeping whatever they did professional and with relatively little collateral damage. You briefly wondered, whether they might be willing to pay you if you offered to do less objectionable work for them
or whether you and Emma could somehow find a legal way to make money with your powers.
Oddly enough you found few independent villains, apart from a few rumours. Then again, you supposed that quota was already filled with vigilantes and if you wanted to and didn't have any scruples, you could always join a gang, whereas said gangs apparently had no compunctions taking any independent villains moving in on their territory or work down. And they had no one to spring them from
jail. The last one had been caught two months ago and this time didn't escape again.
Which left… rogues? There were a few more mercenaries who had been seen inside the city but those appeared to be operating from elsewhere and had just been hired for specific jobs. Really, seeing how few living and free independents there were was somewhat sobering. You were very lucky
, that with your new masks, you could more or less create your own team, that you had Emma and that Aletheia and Terpsichore both worked very well when it came to keeping you hidden.
And of course that neither mask could be classified as weak, even if you didn't think they compared to any of the really heavy hitters yet, they were versatile.
In any case it left you with a rather sobering overview o
f your options. As well as a determination to do better.
When you,
your dad and Emma sat around the table together after dinner, you
hat least had some good costume
ideas. Emma couldn't catch herself in anything. In the end, it still came down to a few things:
Until she got even faster, anything too long or too flowing would only get in the way and trip her up, which she couldn't afford. She would also prefer something relatively lightweight, but in the end
, would have to deal with at least some extra weight for security's sake. With either Kevlar and a chest plate and protective
, somewhat overlapping metal plates in her skirt as well as the padding necessary for as much impact distribution and bullet resistance as possible, she would be a little bulkier than she would like and a bit heavier, but not too much. Some bullet resistant leg armour and of course knee high boots and the
bracers she still insisted on ever since she had read those Wonder Woman comics as well as a sleeveless dress going to about her mid thighs. You weren't completely set on the dress colour yet, but blue was being discussed to contrast with her hair, or to fully embrace the warm colour scheme, wear a golden dress over black or very dark red, with just red and gold boots, a red belt and red a
nd gold bracers to match her boots. A short cape was still under debate as well.
Your costume less so. You wanted to go with just bullet resistant fabrics, the best you could get in your budget
, and you would have a chest piece with one section in the f
ront and back hanging down to a little under your knees
, first going almost straight then widening slightly before coming to a point, plus side panels, also coming to points
, and completing your torso armour. Armoured pants and pointed boots. Well probably shoes you covered with bullet resistant materials, then vambraces, larger than your upper arm coverings to make you seem even more alien. Over all that
: a high collared gorget and semi pauldron combination, going straight out and coming to a p
oint in the front, back and standing straight out in a point over your shoulders. Still made in fabric, if stiff fabric
, and designed to let your cape of tentacles flow out underneath all of it, while still protecting your neck and giving it some definition. You had the advantage of not needing to move much and being ab
le to move your clothes by telekinesis if need be as well as being able to use your tentacles instead of fingers, although you kept your fingertips exposed anyway. Just in case. Emma obviously had to have her hands exposed, which was the only reason
, she hadn't opted for gloves.
(Always a good problem to have really)
