In which Taylor gains the power to become a Daedric Elemental at will. Though, becoming an elemental manifestation of a spirit older than time can raise some interesting issues.
It should be mentioned that this story is designed to be read on the OLD default SV colour theme. I take no responsibility for a decrease in quality if viewed with other themes.
Go to the bottom left corner of the page to find the theme button.
EDIT: In light of (maybenotsorecent) theme changes, I use FlexStars. This story is designed to be read from abotu 2.1 onwards with FlexStars. The earlier chapters seem to work just fine with FlexStars so.... yeah.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
There has been a shit-ton of music linked in this thread. IF YOU WANT TO LINK A YOUTUBE VIDEO, PLEASE, PUT IT IN SPOILERS. The lag is getting horrendous.
I looked into the mirror and suppressed the urge- the fire inside me- oh those bitches! I would burn the flesh from their bones and make them beg me for MERCY- ARGH! I just wanted to scream and shout and let it all out!!!
The Trio, ever-present, explicitly for my torture, oh I really had to get this under control now before I did something I might regret.
Deep breaths, deep, calming, breaths… in… and out… in… and out.
Minutes later, when I open my eyes, I can still see the partial heat-haze emanating off my shoulders in the mirror. It's hot enough the rising heat toys with the ends of my hairs, tauntingly, just waiting for me to IGNITE the embers.
This… was going to take a while.
I briefly debated a flare to clean off the juice and soda they're poured all over me but that wouldn't solve anything. It'd just make it worse and stoke the fires and escalate until my life was beyond salvageable.
Okay, yeah, so I had a few anger issues.
After nearly ten minutes of brooding I finally felt calm enough to leave and maybe encounter someone without having a meltdown. I grabbed my bag, gritted my teeth at the ruined Art Project, and pulled the door open as hard I could so I could just get fuck out of there.
I was stopped by the flash of a camera.
"Look," I ground out when I could finally see the three bitches, "Either get out my way, or get hurt."
The air heated up perceptibly as I glared at them, murderin my eyes.
Sophia snorted and shoved me in the shoulder. "You'll learn your place soon enough, Hebert," she sneered. I snapped and grabbed her wrist, squeezing with all my quite formidable strength, growling at her like a demon. The three stepped back, Sophia even tried to get out of my grip, but I just put a little more effortinto it, and heard something in her wrist creak dangerously. A slight hiss filled the air as I struggled to rein in the FIRE burning inside me.
I flung Sophia away from me before smiling dangerously. "Be careful what you wish for, girls," I said sweetly, before flicking my hair and stomping past them, the embers sated… for now.
-.-.-
Oh dear god what have I done? I…
I ran to the bathroom and dry-heaved over the toilet, disgusted with myself and with them. I stripped down to nothing, and curled up in the corner, trying not to sob. I… had crossed the line.
If they managed to figure out I'd triggered in the locker, I could get done for Assault with Parahuman Abilities. Back when I first figured out my powers came with serious emotional issues, specifically confrontational ones, I researched all I could to keep myself from doing something stupid and get into trouble without realising it.
Maybe it was just a waste of time. I'd gone and succumbed to the urges anyway.
Fuck… there was only so much I could do to suppress my RAGE before it sparked up and started clouding my vision and thoughts again. Playing those violent slash-em-ups like God of War sated me… a little bit… to my horror I once found a mouse in the yard, and took it inside and burned it to death, boiling it inside it's skin, cooking it alive, continuing until it was nothing more than ashes in my palm.
My flaming, obsidian palm.
Looking at myself in the mirror, now, floating a few feet in the air, my body is made of fire almost too harsh to look at. It raged away… I, raged away, inside a cage of caked obsidian skin, or… something. I think one of the creepier parts of this form, Flame, was the lack of a face… or possibly the semi-demonic horns that grew upwards from my jaw, but I'm pretty sure it was the lack of an upper face that did it for me. There was just a little set of horns where my brow would be.
What face I did have was just a nose and mouth, feminine, but set in stone in a stern expression. Which brought the rest of me into perspective; I was hot. And not just in the physical sense, either. I had curves, a bust worth a second look, and… wait, was I intentionally trying to turn lesbian for myself? I ran my three-clawed hands down my sides, marvelling at the metal-like 'armour' that made up my new skin.
Yeah. I was hot.
As much as I had the urges to burn something, just… being like this calmed me down. Internally I grinned as I did a backflip on the spot. I didn't dare risk going out to see if I could actually fly, but hovering like this was awesome.
All good things must come to an end, and it is with great reluctance that I quell the fires and return to boring old Taylor, with my flat chest, slightly-too-wide mouth, big eyes, and not a single feminine feature to see aside from my hair.
The idle crackling of fire intensifies for a moment as it burns me. The raging inferno starts at the tips of my toes and rushes all the way up my body to the tips of my hair, leaving only the faintest traces of ash in the air. I shiver a little. After being a living furnace, standing naked in the bathroom suddenly feels so very very cold.
Now, why did I stand in the bathroom naked to appreciate the view of my fiery Breaker state? I… returned to human form clean and content. The juice and soda that would have ruined my hair and possibly caused breakouts on my skin? Gone. Unblemished. I never had to worry about being called anything like pizza-face again.
I suppose I could probably have a shower and put my stuff in the wash before Dad gets home.
-.-.-
I waited, frustrated, for Dad to go to sleep. Dinner was nice, conversation was very little, as usual. But I was getting more and more stressed far quicker than I should have been… five minutes ago I seriously contemplated attacking my father and knocking him out so I could go out and be a hero.
Then again, my plan for being a hero was basically go out and burn any gang members I came across. I doubt it'd be much of a fight, which was what I was looking for. Maybe… Lung? He was a pyrokinetic who escalated in any battle he joined.
It took another hour of painful waiting before Dad was finally asleep. I got up and stretched, grabbed a fresh bag (I had several cheap ones just waiting for the next 'prank' that got pulled on me), and climbed out the window as quietly as I could.
Now, I had a spare set of clothes in my bag, and I wore a set that was old, tatty, and I wouldn't mind burning if I had to flarein a hurry. I made my way down the docks eagerly. I just felt so jumpy. I… I could be better than them. I could take what they'd done to me and turn it all around and be a hero!
It was no secret that Wards went to Arcadia. If I could just… get into a fight, maybe win and get the attention of someone like Armsmaster or Miss Militia, I could get into the Wards and out of Winslow.
I saw a light flickering up ahead. Three guys in bright red and green, huddled around a lighter with cigarettes. Oh, good, ABB meant Lung and Oni Lee. One was an escalating Rage Dragon, and the other teleported with clones that turned to ash.
I ducked into an alley and dumped my bag in a safe-ish looking spot, neatly hidden away, before climbing up the ladder to the rooftops. The gravel crunched underfoot as I made my way over to get a closer look, pulling off layers as I went. By the time everyone had congregated I was down to a singlet and short-shorts, feeling the chill of the night raising goosebumps on my skin.
I watched as silently as I could, barely suppressing a flinch as a door slammed open, and a large, heavily muscled man covered in dragon tattoos walked out, a scaled metal mask over his face.
Lung.
I let the mad grin wash over my face as I struggled to pay attention to what he was ordering his minions to do. I had to… I had to keep the fires down…
"... the children? Just shoot. You see one on the ground you pop the little bitch in the head twice more to be sure."
Oh.
Well, that was as much of an invitation as I was ever going to get.
I floated off the roof, rising as a wave of fire burned my flesh away in half a moment, before flaring up and letting waves of heat wash over me. I'd never tried to talk when I was on FIRE, but I wasn't going to be using English here.
Leaning forward, tilting a little to my side, I gracefully flew off the roof at a walking pace, calmly raising my hand, palm-out, at the gangers before unleashingall my suppressed sadistic RAGE on them.
Men screamed and burned as I put forth an inferno, using my arms as flamethrowers. Their clothes caught fire and they ran around trying to put themselves out and failing miserably. I felt the urge to cackle with mad laughter riseas I stopped for a moment, breathing in the scene with a fresh view.
Gangers burning. The fire spreading to the dry wood of the abandoned buildings along the Docks. I raised my hands dramatically before clenching my fists and I felt the walls of fire spark to life, blocking all the exits. I wasn't locked in here with you… you were locked in here with ME.
-.-.-
Tattletale spotted the fiery display in the distance and groaned. Well that's just great. Someone's getting Lung to ramp up before we get there.
-.-.-
I admit, I laughed when Lung came at me. I didn't have to move very fast to dodge him, and I nimbly floated out of his reach before twisting around and flinging a bolt of magma into his face. He screamed in rage and his muscles bulged beneath his scales as he tried to charge at me again.
Heh. Heh heh. AHAHAHAHAH! BURN, LUNG, BURN!!!
I wrapped myself in a coat of fire, the corners of my obsidian lips tilting just a teensy bit upwards at the edges as I sent Lung sprawling with a wave, a tsunami of heat and flames.
"AH KI' OU!" Lung bellowed, smashing his fist into the ground as he got up and prepared to charge at me again.
I smirked and did a quaint little backflip on the spot, letting him know just how much I considered this fight to be a game. I raised one hand to him, palm down, my body language making it clear that I saw this brute as beneath me.
I 'stood' here, regal, my form giving no indication that I was of the peasant rabble. I was QUEEN OF THE INFERNO.
Lung roared in defiance and lunged at me, only to trip and be intercepted by a massive lizard-lion thing that caught on his face. A cloud of darkness bellowed out from somewhere above and engulfed the pair as two more dogs entered the fray.
Ah, such a pity. They would just have to all burn together.
"Well hell-o hottie!" some absolute prick yelled out from above, grinding on my nerves. Yes, I did like my new form. But no, I did not appreciate perverts.
My head swivelled up to face the newcomers. Two males, two females. One leather-bound warrior, some fair reject, a butch woman, and some blonde in purple spandex. I smiled. More villains for me to burn?
The blonde backed up a little. "Grue, we've got Protectorate incoming. We might need to sit this one out."
Leather-boy nodded. "Bitch, time to go."
And that was the last I bothered noticing about them before returning my attention to Lung. I don't know what Leather-boy's darkness had done to him, but he was unconscious in a ruined wall. The flickering light of all my glorious fires continue to illuminate the scene as I wait, curious. What was protocol for dealing with villains once you'd defeated them? Surely it wasn't to just leave them be and continue as you were?
But then again, I could always visit Empire Eighty-Eight… the night was still young…
-.-.-
Taylor is being emotionally influenced by her power much more heavily than most capes would be. Like, Rachel levels of manipulation.
This will continue to be a major part of the fic, though I dunno if I should keep it as allcaps for red. I'd like some feedback on it if you can spare a moment. I'm debating de-capping it and leaving it as is.
Decapped Rageflame.
Reworked a couple of sentences.
Moar colour.
AND THAT IS ATRONACH TAYLOR! Told you guys I had plans for her
Now, I had a spare set of clothes in my bag, and I wore a set that was old, tatty, and I wouldn't mind burning if I had to FLAREin a hurry. I made my way down the docks eagerly. I just just so [I]jumpy[/I]. I… I could be better than them. I could take what they'd done to me and turn it all around and be a hero!
If you want it colorful, you should have the entire thing in yellow(low flame)with normal text to signify bursts of sanity, andorange, red,blueor whiteto signify levels of power manipulation.
Now there goes the neighborhood and some of the surrounding area.
Great first chapter.
Also, decapping would be good as the red text adequately expresses the flaming rage.
I love how much the power is screwing with her head, and I'm okay with the colors.
As long as you keep them to what you have right now and don't add anymore.
Don't need no purple showing up.
.....Will we see a Burnscar/Taylor ship?
That is the S9 member who jumps between flames right?
Can...can she wind up inside Taylor?
index gave me hope... but 1.2 is nowhere to be found );
Batman quote felt a little clunky (though to be honest it was a little clunky in the movie). change you to they? Or not, if she knew she was quoting Batman in this AU.
Please ditch the all caps, otherwise the color was fine for the most part.
I don't think her attitude will be very PR friendly, so I look forward to seeing where you're going to go with this. Mind giving us a rundown of what her powers do? Obviously she has a breaker state where she can levitate and is all fiery. She has major pyrokinesis as well, and seems to have some Brute in her based off of the school incident. Anything I missed?
Could you not list chapters in the index that haven't been written? I mean, I sort of get it; you want us to know that there's more to come. But that's pretty heavily implied with any fic that isn't labeled a one-shot. I thought you had written four whole parts when I first saw the index.
I'm just gonna leave this right here:
Let 'em burn Taylor, let 'em all burn!
Also, give me more man...
Edit: After some more youtubing I realized that there are 7 different Let it burn (or whatever) songs that fit this, so funny.
Sooo we have yet another taylor with yet another power change waiting three months only to go into yet another Lung fight that ends in yet another altpower punking even when the combintation should by all right be less effective than in canon and lead to a chain of serial escalation that should incinerate most of the docks due to Bitch Dogs not being able to knock out an unpoisoned lung. And we have really unsublte and mental issues attached to pyokinesis at that.
A Pyrokinesis that should have more likely already outed her in her trigger unless there were shenanigans serious shenanigans that match the change.
And Atronach killed people and has no fucks cause gangsters.
Sooo we have yet another taylor with yet another power change waiting three months only to go into yet another Lung fight that ends in yet another altpower punking even when the combintation should by all right be less effective than in canon and lead to a chain of serial escalation that should incinerate most of the docks due to Bitch Dogs not being able to knock out an unpoisoned lung. And we have really unsublte and mental issues attached to pyokinesis at that.
A Pyrokinesis that should have more likely already outed her in her trigger unless there were shenanigans serious shenanigans that match the change.
And Atronach killed people and has no fucks cause gangsters.
Well, to be fair, the Lung fight is Taylor biting off more than she can chew to test her limits (or, yknow, die heroically). Atronach!Taylor has been spending most of the last three months trying to deal with her anger issues before she goes out as a hero so this exact thing doesn't happen.
Assuming she even triggered in the locker, the actual trigger even didn't happen until way after school hours but before the night janitor got her out, so unless she managed to go all-out Breaker-state right off the bat and burn down Winslow entirely, her trigger might never have been realised even though she's quite clearly a pyrokinetic.
I'll agree a lot needs to be sorted and fleshing out the backstory is something I plan to do over the next few chapters at some point.
I'm not really sure what you're getting at in your post, though. It feels like a complaint, but it reads more like a statement of events?
I think he was complaining that many fanfics follow this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheStationsOfTheCanon
Sometimes without a reason that makes sense. I sometimes complain about this as well and because I ask myself "couldn't she have taken a different turn that night and ran into a merchant raping someone? a different night? 2 hours before? an hour later?" there are just so many options for Taylor to just 'miss' the fight with Lung because quite frankly Lung vs the Undersiders is definitely not the only thing that happens in a 3 month period from the Locker and there are plenty of opportunities to do otherwise.
Sometimes it is more justified then others, for example tinker Taylor and the Taylor doesn't really join the Undersiders fakeout that A Cloudy Path did, but at other times she is just a regular blaster or regular anything without any real need to prepare and it is annoying that she JUST happens to follow canon timeline.
I usually give the author a few chapters to "justify it" (so I haven't complained like that guy) with some sort of explanation but even if you won't explain this to my satisfaction I'll keep reading because I so support Letting 'em Burn and psychoes are always fun.
My only complaint about this chapter is as Taylor is basically a primordial entity of fire, Lung should have been barbecue long before the Undersiders even decided to join the fight. Though Taylor was probably playing with him. Then there is the Undersiders rushing towards the fire anyway instead of just plain running away.
And not just in the physical sense, either. I had curves, a bust worth a second look, and… wait, was I intentionally trying to turn lesbian for myself? I ran my three-clawed hands down my sides, marvelling at the metal-like 'armour' that made up my new skin.
