Taylor's Summer Camp has an unexpected interruption. The metaphorical fallout from this changes everything.
This story is based on We Just Write'sGoing Nuclear one-shot. I didn't come up with their idea, I'm just taking their nuclear football and running as best as I can with it. I hope you enjoy.
This is a work of fanfiction. Characters depicted herein are the intellectual properties of their owners. No copyright infringement is intended.
Edit: This story is rated R for language. If you've seen Deadpool & Wolverine though, It's not that bad and I'll try to not be too gratuitous with the profanity, but Danny was both ex-Navy and a longshoreman and Annette had a Master's in English Lit. They taught their daughter well.
June 26th, 2009
34 Hamilton St. Albany, NY
"You sure you have everything, Tay? You don't have to go you know. We could spend the summer together?"
"You and Uncle Alan and Aunt Zoe have already done so much for me since... Mom, Ems. I need to get out of the city. Clear my head. You should've come with me. There's gonna be canoeing, rock climbing, we'll get to go through a cave, All kinds of cool things. With a name like 'Watton and Venture Summer Camp', it HAS to be good."
"Tay, you know I'm not big on the outdoorsy stuff. You're the one always trying to catch fireflies in jars and picking up muddy frogs in the backyard and poking at crabs on the beach and all."
"Still gonna miss you, Ems." Taylor hugged her best friend.
"Same here you big dork." Emma hugged the taller girl back, then lightly punched Taylor in the arm. "Just don't do anything stupid and get yourself hurt or something, or I'll NEVER forgive you!"
Taylor turned to the older man walking up to her. "Uncle Alan, please take care of dad for me."
"Zoe and I will make sure Danny's in good hands. I know losing Annette was hard, but we'll all get through this. By the time you get back I'm sure we'll have his head on straight."
"Thanks."
They gave each other a brief hug, then Taylor watched them pull out of the bus terminal before heading over to where some of the other campers had already gathered. This would be a nice change. That huge hole in her heart was still there but it was waiting to be filled with new, good memories. Taylor was determined to make this the Best Summer Ever.
After getting some lunch, meeting with the camp counselors who were overseeing everyone as they arrived and introducing herself to some of the other teenagers she'd be having fun with for the next month...
As I saw the multi-winged horror descending upon me, I could only gape in horror.
No no no, I was supposed to be going to summer camp! Not brainwashed into a monster by the Simurgh! I mean, at least I was nowhere near home so dad was safe, but...
Then I 'heard' the Scream start in the back of my mind, and-
[Destination]
[Agreement]
[Trajectory]
[Agreement]
When I came to, I was lying on my back, the Simurgh examining me up close and personal. I acted on pure reflex, and everything went WHITE.
Meanwhile, the Simurgh was having a very bad day indeed. The new trigger still hadn't cleared up in her sight of the future, when suddenly an atom in her core split. A nanosecond later, the Simurgh's core went supercritical with more than enough total energy to blow up Earth several times over. Fortunately for everyone else, the dimensional clusterfuck inside the Endbringer core bled off the vast majority of the energy across the local multiverse, leaving "only" 100 Megatons of TNT for Earth Bet.
(Alexandria)
I had no idea what the Simurgh wanted with Albany New York, but there was absolutely no way I would let her just get away with it. Together with the rest of the Triumvirate and an initial Protectorate force, we'd managed to get here only a minute after the Endbringer in question. For some reason the monster was hovering around the downtown area, seeming to be intently inspecting something.
Then there was an extremely bright flash, followed almost immediately by a nuclear fireball just under nine kilometers in radius. I survived, of course. Eidolon also made it through, though he definitely seemed worse for wear. As for Legend, he'd apparently dodged out of the way, then come back once the firestorm died down a bit.
The rest of our team wasn't so lucky, and I could make out a couple of carbon silhouettes, reminiscent of Hiroshima. On the positive side, the Scream had stopped.
Legend spoke up; "Alexandria, I need to get Eidolon to a healer, I think he's got radiation poisoning. Would you investigate ground zero?"
I nodded.
"Certainly."
It was only now that I fully processed that I was completely nude. While I was invulnerable enough to survive the blast, my suit wasn't. And come to think of it, neither was my prosthetic eyeball. Worrying about that could wait, I had to find out what had happened.
I spent the flight over psyching myself up for all sorts of things, but I have to say that what I found wasn't something I'd even considered before I arrived. Namely, a very dead simurgh, and a teenage girl staring blankly into space, in much the same blasted-nude state of undress as myself.
...Oh dear, this is probably a fresh trigger. And one with an extremely destructive power to boot.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
The teenager startled and looked my way, her gaze briefly flicking to the air beneath my feet before answering.
"I'm Taylor... I was going to... I was on my way to summer camp when the Simurgh arrived. Are you a hero?"
As far as the public was concerned, yes.
"I'm Alexandria, though my suit doesn't seem to have survived the explosion. I'll give you a lift out of here, and get you some clothes that haven't been vaporized."
"...Ok."
So I picked up Taylor in a bridal carry, and started flying to Legend's location. As she took in the literally blasted landscape, I could faintly hear her mutter,
"Did I do that?"
I answered,
"Probably. I'd need to know more about your particular powers to say for sure, though."
That answer caused the teenager to shrink into herself. I really needed to get her to a therapist, and soon.
Rebecca Costa-Brown was rarely a happy person. The destruction of Albany had sent every regional director into full scale panic mode and thus, as Chief Director of the PRT, they had come running to her like chickens with their heads cut off for answers.
Of which she still had precious few a day after Albany was turned into a shallow Trinitite-lined lake.
She DESPISED not knowing things.
Legend thankfully had managed to assure the public that there was no danger of radiation or fallout beyond the immediately affected area, and the President had made a statement from the Oval Office that while the loss of life was horrific, it was a kinder fate than the possibility of life in a Containment Zone.
In her mind though, that there would apparently BE no more Simurgh Zones made their deaths a bargain.
Her intercom spoke: <Madam Director, Doctor Wells is here.>
"Send her in." An older woman, Ruby Wells was one of Doctor Mother's colleagues. Not fully vetted of course, but Aminata couldn't handle everything Cauldron did by herself.
"Doctor, what is the survivor's condition?"
"Mostly still in shock and denial, but surprisingly coherent and understanding about our reasons to keep her in isolation. She has asked about her father and friends though."
"What do we know?"
"We've put a priority on finding out anything we can. Taylor Anne Hebert from Brockton Bay, New Hampshire, 14th birthday was last week. Mother Annette Rose Hebert née Sinise. English professor at the local community college. Died in a car accident four months ago. Father Daniel Francis Hebert. Was Hiring Manager for Local Laborer's Union 976 in Brockton Bay for the past decade."
"Was?"
"Brockton Bay Police found him dead in his home last night with the television running. Self-inflicted gunshot wound. Apparently he'd seen the news and assumed the worst."
"Continue."
"Police spoke with a Zoe Barnes. Her husband Alan and daughter Emma were driving Taylor to Albany to attend a summer camp, They dropped her off about an hour before the Simurgh's approach. The remains of their car were found near the initial cordon being set up on I-90 at the New York-Massachusetts border."
"Is Miss Hebert aware of any of this?"
"Not yet. We're waiting for Dr. Yamada to perform an initial psychological assessment. I can imagine Miss Hebert will take the revelation... poorly."
"What about her powers?"
"We're not entirely certain."
"Obviously she has them. How else could she have survived?"
"True, but..." Dr. Wells pulled out a sheet of film. The skull shown was completely white, with her hair surprisingly also showing up. "We've put Miss Hebert through every standard method of medical imaging known. X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, CT and PET scans... completely useless. In fact, Miss Hebert commented that the tracer compound for the PET scan 'tasted good'.
"I assume that it's not supposed to."
"Not unless you enjoy eating Tums or Pepto Bismol."
"What other tests have you done?"
"We've started the standard Brute series of tests. No indication of enhanced strength thus far, but obviously her durability is... at least on par with Alexandria's. The industrial cutting laser 'tickled a little bit'. We've also noticed she's not needed to use the facilities."
"Drug tolerance? Can we sedate or incapacitate her that way if needed?"
"The radioisotope marker we gave her for the PET scan also contained a potent sedative. Enough to tranquilize an elephant for hours. No effect. We've laced her meals with emetics and purgatives as well. Nothing. She seems to be eating and sleeping normally, but I believe she's just doing it from habit and not biological necessity. Airborne agents were also ineffective. I'm honestly not sure if she even needs to BREATHE anymore except to speak.
A photo came out of the folder then, surveillance footage from her room, showing Taylor standing and facing the wall like she was...
"What is she doing?"
"As far as we tell, sunbathing."
"That room has no windows."
"And is 30 meters underground. Nevertheless, she is facing in the direction of the sun and basking in it like a cat."
"For what reason? How can she even tell where it is?"
"Based on what we do know... one of the doctors suggested that she's somehow sensing and blocking neutrinos."
Jessica managed to keep her expression neutral. Even though Taylor was apparently no stronger than a typical 14-year-old girl, she was still indestructible by all accounts. Getting beaten to death by a distraught young woman would NOT be quick. "No, Taylor. You're very much alive."
"But WHY? My dad is dead, he killed himself because he thought I was dead. Emma and Uncle Alan are dead. All those people are dead... WHY AM I STILL ALIVE? WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS KIND OF FUCKING PUNISHMENT?!?" Taylor shouted before grabbing her knees and curling up on the bed. "i can't even kill myself..." she mumbled.
"Taylor?"
"I haven't needed to use the toilet since I got here. This morning the doctors wanted to see how long I could hold my breath. After three minutes they started looking nervous. After ten I went over to the sink and tried to drown myself. I'm sure you know about that."
"Yes, Taylor. That's one of the reasons I wanted to speak with you right away."
"I've read the Silmarillion. Dracula. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Issac Laquedem. I think I'm immortal. I'm going to outlive everyone. I'm going to watch everything I will ever possibly come to know and love wither and die. I'm going to be stuck like Claudia as a gawky teenager forever."
"Taylor... honestly I don't know how to react to that."
"I'm pretty sure the only person who might know what it's like is Alexandria. Have you ever met her?"
"In passing." Her occasional sessions with Legend showed him as a surprisingly well-adjusted parahuman compared to the many other members of the Protectorate she'd met with over the years. But, Jessica remembered hat she'd never met with herprofessionally. Nor Eidolon for that matter. Surely the other two members of the Triumverate had some issues. She idly made a note on her pad to see which of her colleagues might be providing them with therapy. Just the horrors they witnessed during Endbringer fights meant they should have been seeing someone, right? Jessica came back from her musing, "Why do you ask Taylor?"
"I'm... not sure if I should talk about it."
"Taylor, I'm here FOR YOU to talk to."
"Well..." Taylor seemed to blush a little bit. "It's embarrassing."
"I can assure you I've heard it all. Doctor-Patient confidentiality applies here and the PRT and Protectorate have vetted me for Top Secret Clearance."
"I guess you know Alexandria was the one who found me and she's always been one of my favorite Heroes. She's ALEXANDRIA after all."
"Go on."
"Um... I survived... she survived... our clothes... didn't."
"Okay. A wardrobe malfunction might be something Glenn wouldn't want to see winding up on PHO, but..."
"She doesn't look much older than me."
"What?"
"Alexandria's been around for nearly thirty years but if anyone saw her out of costume they'd probably think she's a senior in high school or something."
Hmm... perhaps she should arrange a meeting with Alexandria for Taylor's sake.
"Hmm?" Jessica turned and saw the green light on the intercom panel flashing. "Oh. Someone must want to speak with me. It's not like they can barge in and interrupt a therapy session. This should just take a moment." Jessica got up from her chair and wobbled a bit. Odd. She dismissed the brief sense of vertigo and pushed the talk button. "Yes, what is it?"
*Doctor Elliot would like to speak with you.*
That wasn't good, Elliot was code for 'Evacuate IMMEDIATELY' "Can't it wait? I am with a patient right now."
*You know Doctor Elliot.*
"<sigh> Fine. Taylor, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this session short. I'm sorry about that. It's very unprofessional of me."
"It's ok... I think I'm done talking for right now anyway."
"Is there something I can have sent in here for you. Books, DVDs, maybe a GameLad or something to help pass the time?"
"Something... mindless I think? I've got a lot to process right now. I think it might be good for me if just turn my brain off for a bit."
"I'll see what I can do."
With that she opened the airlock door and waited for it to cycle. When she stepped out into the hallway, though, the normal guard at the end wasn't waiting for her, but two people in full hazmat gear instead.
"Doctor you need to strip RIGHT NOW. Drop everything where you're standing. Especially anything with metal. Phone, jewelry, all of it. Then we'll get you into Medical. We've already sent out a priority request. A rush order from Cask is supposed to be here within a few hours."
THAT had gotten Jessica moving very quickly, not even bothering with the buttons on her blouse as she tore it off. "What's happened?"
"Hopefully you didn't just take a lethal dose of gamma radiation." one of the medics replied as Jessica went over to them.
T +51:22:00
"She's radioactive?" Jessica asked Doctor Wells. She'd just finished the second large bottle of Tinker beer and was feeling quite lightheaded at the moment. "How did we not find thish out before?"
"Miss Hebert doesn't appear to be radioactive herself, but that pulse apparently came from her room somehow and there's nothing else on site that could have caused it. Her Brute rating would allow her to ignore it, or perhaps her body normally shields her surroundings from it.
Jessica made a very loud and long belch. "Fuck, the Angel of Deshpair is killed and we wind up with Beshemoth 2.0 inshtead." She sat up from the hospital bed. "Help me up... I need...<burp> I need to take a pissh."
"Rapid fluid transfer is one of the best immediate treatments for radiation poisoning. Cask is pretty good at this sort of thing. You're going to be fine."
"Ri... right." Jessica mumbled as she managed to seat herself on the toilet. "God, thish fucking shucks. I haven't <burp> been on a bender like thish shince I graduated."
"It's not over yet, there's another two bottles for you to get through before I can allow you pass out."
"Fuuuuugggg...." Jessica groaned before the sound of flushing came from the bathroom. "Jeshush Chrisht it'sh fucking glowing!"
Taylor has [Queen Administrator] in this fic, but the expression is control over quark-gluon interactions, arguably some of the smallest of things, on herself and inorganic materials she's in contact with/proximity to. (It's a 5 meter range, but Taylor won't figure that out for a while, if ever. Ziz just had a VERY bad day.) For all practical purposes Taylor is indestructible, more so than what [Stasis] grants for Alexandria.
Taylor's essentially a baryonic reactor, breaking down anything she breathes or ingests at the atomic level and she's able to detect and survive purely on ambient radiation.
She's not age-locked yet, Taylor will grow to physical maturity but right now she doesn't know that. QA wants to gather [DATA] with [Best Host] for a VERY long time.
People with dimensional shenanigans powers such as Flechette and March WILL affect her as would something sufficiently energetic. A nuke going off in her face HURTS, but she'd make it though anything short of a supernova. Taylor can heal/reconstruct herself reasonably rapidly rom injury, but containment breaches are gonna be bad for anyone in the vicinity and it won't save her if the Siberian decides to pull a Superman Kills The Joker.
Intense cold is the only thing that will really bother her. Getting her down to Bose-Einstein condensate temperatures though... is a VERY UNGOOD THING. Much worse than initiating fission in the degenerate matter core of an Endbringer.
Ok. This is interesting and going interesting places. Watched.
Though I'd like to know how the rest of the world is going to react to the walking reactor core in their midst. Also how are the PRT going to handle keeping a very intelligent teenager contained since I doubt they want her just wandering around. Not when she has random radiation spikes when her emotions get the better of her. Killing off entire cities because she had a bad day is bad for everyone.
Watched and Liked. Not normally a fan of Danny and all of the Barnes Dying at the start in most fics but this is not too bad. And I can understand the plot point reason for it. In most fic's it is just because the writer does not feel like properly fleshing out the character's in the story, or they are just lazy (far too many of those imho). Anyway looking forward to more 👍
Also how are the PRT going to handle keeping a very intelligent teenager contained since I doubt they want her just wandering around. Not when she has random radiation spikes when her emotions get the better of her. Killing off entire cities because she had a bad day is bad for everyone.
The PRT? They can't, not really, and they know it as they already went through all of their usual options and she's immune to everything so far.
Cauldron on other hand could just let her practice or stay on another world. Maybe Becky even ends up making a friend.* Weld, Dragon, GU, maybe Legend or snort Alabaster are the only ones coming to mind that could be around for the long run. And none of them are an option for the flying brick.
*And/Or ends up grooming T, since, you know, Cauldron.
You'll note from the story header that I said the "fallout from this changes everything". This is one of the big changes. Bear in mind that the Triumvirate and the first responders that were flying in with them were expecting a 'normal' Simurgh fight. None of them were prepared to suddenly be inside the thermal pulse radius of a Tsar Bomba. Alex could tank it. Legend's Breaker state could dodge it. Eidolon however takes a few seconds to swap powers. The fact he wasn't instantly converted into a rapidly expanding cloud of highly ionized gas says a lot.
Rebecca sighed heavily as she put her helmet down on the conference table. She, like almost every other cape in the country, had officially been working nonstop on the disaster zone that was Albany. That, combined with her having to perform the duties of Rebecca Costa-Brown, Chief Director of the PRT, in the aftermath of a National Crisis on par with the sinking of Kyushu or Newfoundland had meant she'd not had more than an hour's worth of power naps over the past two days. Strangely enough, Scion had NOT shown up yet. He might have taken his sweet time about arriving at the scene of a major cataclysm in the past, but he had eventually gotten around to it.
More importantly, one of Scion's first acts had been rendering the entire world's then current nuclear arsenal inert. The various powers that be had rebuilt a small strategic stockpile afterward but if anything would've gotten his immediate attention, THIS should've been it.
Instead he'd been floating around Indonesia since a minor volcanic eruption there two weeks back.
Three of the other five members of the secret cabal known as Cauldron looked at her as Rebecca noted the continued absence of the other two. Doctor Mother had been working her magic trying to keep David alive. There hadn't been time for him to switch to a better defensive power and he'd suffered full body third and fourth degree radiation burns. Aminata had already given him two booster vial injections to try and improve his regeneration, but according to her he'd been using all three of his power slots to heal himself. Physically the external burns were gone, but he was struggling to stay ahead of repeated organ failures.
Ten minutes ago, after Aminata had pleaded with David that he should use one of Clark's old cryopods to help stabilize him, at least until a proper healer was available to help him. He'd refused and told Doctor Mother that this was HIS greatest fight. He needed to win, to triumph over impossible odds. To prove to everyone he was worthy of the great power and responsibility he'd been given.
Rebecca had flat out told the prideful idiot that if he hadn't improved by the time she got back from this meeting she'd stuff him the icebox herself, then personally collect Bonesaw to fix him up.
"All right, anyone have any new information for me on this utter clusterfuck? Paul, what've I missed?"
Legend began talking "Chevalier, Myrrdin and Armsmaster are commanding the Protectorate response as well as coordinating with any independent heroes, rogues and villains. Accord has offered his services for logistical oversight, along with his Ambassadors for rescue and recovery efforts. Same with Kaiser and the Empire 88. Butcher XII showed up a few hours ago with the Teeth saying 'they'd be happy to help patrol the place.'"
Rebecca blinked in astonishment, then facepalmed. "Let me guess: The area's post-apocalyptic enough that they think they'd fit right in."
Paul nodded. "They're keeping to the Truce so far. And we need every hand we can get. Even theirs."
Behind her hand Rebecca grumbled. "Next we'll have the fucking Slaughterhouse Nine show up there. Just what we need."
Number Man then spoke up. "I know Jacob. There's no joy for him in terrorizing a bombed out wasteland. The Fallen however, will show up."
"Of course Kurt, because that's where their Goddess died."
"I don't think they'll be finding any 'Relics' though. We've recovered over 95% of the Simurgh's remains. Based on the reconstruction, the missing portion is her right shoulder. From the fragmentation pattern, it seems to be the source point of the explosion." the former S9 member continued.
"The Simurgh blew herself up?" Paul exclaimed.
"Or it was possibly due to some unknown aspect of Miss Hebert's power. Have we given her an alias yet?"
"Dr. Wells is using 'Lina' for some reason right now on the official documents. Not that any of those will ever see the light of day if I have anything to say about it."
"That won't work." the other woman at the table finally replied.
"Contessa? You're able to Path her now?"
"No. She's still a blind spot. But the models I have been able to run are... disturbing."
"How?" Rebecca asked with a glower.
Contessa subtly glanced toward Legend, knowing that only Alexandria would catch the movement. They both were aware of some methods Cauldron did that Paul was not privy to. "It's unclear, but several Paths I attempted ended abruptly for no obvious reason. Given the possible destructive potential of her power, I recommend an excess of caution and discretion in dealing with her."
"A Christine situation then?" Kurt commented. They all were aware of Christine Mathers, a young woman with a toddler who had somehow Triggered as one of the most powerful human Masters ever encountered. Their plan to indenture them into Cauldron had backfired horribly somehow and the Fallen had become one of the PRT's biggest headaches in the southern half of the US.
The meeting was interrupted by the sound of alarms going off. Everyone jumped from their seats, but the alarms were just as quickly silenced.
Seconds later, a portal opened in the room as a breeze wafted in, followed by Doctor Mother.
"What's going on? Why is the Custodian with you? Why aren't you with Eidolon?" Alexandria demanded.
"David's dead." was the simple reply.
Kurt, Paul and Rebeca sat back down with shocked looks, Contessa simply nodded sagely, then cocked her head as though listening for something. "I must go, the Path has changed. Door." Immediately stepping through the glowing gateway that appeared before her.
"What happened?" Rebecca uttered in an icy voice.
"David finally passed out from exhaustion. Custodian and I were about to put him in the cryopod when Glaistig Uaine just appeared in front of us."
"WHAT?!"
"She said: 'I come to Claim him. The High Priest no longer Commands his Flock, and one day the Queen shall Unify us in her Grandeur.' then she teleported out with him. Ten seconds, if that."
Alexandria turned to the table seething, before smashing it in half with one blow.
Yup, David died of his injuries. They were in fact worthy opponents. Cauldron will publicly play him up as a martyr who died killing the Simurgh. July 4th will become Eidolon Day. It's one of the best plans to ever come out of the Kettle.
As for the cryptic commentary: The Faerie Queen has subverted the other Endbringers, shut them down for the moment and hinted at Taylor eventually pulling some Grand Unified Theory bullshit in the future. Not that anyone in story (even Ciara) knows about THAT.
Taylor's unique physiology makes her immune to certain Powers. Thinker shards, for example, tend to go a bit wibbly when looking at her.
There could be another reason she Claimed him now: He might get it in his head to "spar" with Taylor to reach a new height. Just IMAGINE the fallout from THAT little scenario!!
Can't he just pull up a power that'll allow him to shunt the damage elsewhere? Like Scapegoat's power? Hell, he can just pull a Breaker, Changer or Brute power to overcome the problem. Instantaneously killing him or putting him into a coma would've been more realistic.
Can't he just pull up a power that'll allow him to shunt the damage elsewhere? Like Scapegoat's power? Hell, he can just pull a Breaker, Changer or Brute power to overcome the problem. Instantaneously killing him or putting him into a coma would've been more realistic.
Eidolon wasn't dead dead when GU showed up. He'd just fallen unconscious and DM and the Custodian were about to put him in the cooler.
DM assumed that GU straight up killed him and yoinked the body. That is what she said she came there for.
Note, without David being awake and actively cycling his powers (and he was burning through them fast for a reason) he'd die in minutes at most. He was that fucked up.
The reason being that having an Endbringer Core that your Shard is connected to blown all to Hell is the equivalent of getting stabbed through a few major organs. Even if Panacea was there (she hasn't triggered yet BTW) to heal his body, his Power would've bled to death within a week.
Loving this fic so far. Always interesting to watch Taylor suffer in new ways.
Plus its gotta suck for Taylor that even in the "best" case scenario where she agrees to only use her powers to kill off endbringers, she's still likely racking up thousands of casualties. She's essentially the hero nobody wants to show up, because when she does it's probably game over for everyone around her.
Ah, suddenly makes more sense as to why Contessa was having trouble pathing someone who's fully observable and has a Shard power. She somehow became interesting to Glaistin Uaine. Otherwise could easy have it be set up to have Siberian speed blitz the living nuke if they wanted her gone or simply send someone to talk to her if they wanted her under control. She can very much use Causality. Alternatively Contessa had her power Nerfed.
Yup. Taylor's power does come with a lot of collateral damage right now. Maybe she and Vicky can exchange notes? (Vicky DID publicly Trigger back in April here.) New Wave is waffling a bit for her, Crystal and Eric to help out with the disaster though. On the one hand good PR exposure. On the other, exposing their kids to a nuclear wasteland.
Temperature isn't an issue for Taylor unless someone drops several hundred gallons of liquid nitrogen on her. Her suit will provide casual protection to others though. (The story image is Marvel's Hazmat)
That one shot was a great idea and deserved more. I'm glad that the idea found a good home with you. Well, really looking forward to seeing what you'll do with this.
J: A thought: if the other Endbringers have gone dormant with Eidolon's death, people could easily come to the (wrong, but logical) conclusion that Ziz was the Endbringers' leader.
J: A thought: if the other Endbringers have gone dormant with Eidolon's death, people could easily come to the (wrong, but logical) conclusion that Ziz was the Endbringers' leader.
Of course. PRT standard policy is "Don't let the Thinker SCREAM Talk." They won't start thinking that right away though. When nothing happens in October everyone will go: "Okay, one is dead, so they've gone back to an attack every six months." January is when the theories will start flying.
Taylor lay on the bedshelf in her room, the ceiling light strips turned down, her eyes closed but twitching beneath the lids, her breathing slow and slightly irregular, the beating of her heart a steady rhythm. Anyone observing her would probably assume she'd gotten bored of the portable video game that had been brought to her and gone to sleep.
All fake.
Taylor hadn't told anyone about any of this. She'd been alert and aware from the moment she'd come to in the glassy crater that was once a city, Alexandria hovering above her. After two-and-a-half days she wasn't tired at all. Or hungry, thirsty, uncomfortably hot or cold or anything. She'd pretended to be in shock when she'd first arrived here, and the scientists had accepted that. Why not? She'd just survived something truly horrendous without a scratch. Obviously the poor girl was going to be practically catatonic over what happened.
But Taylor wasn't. She was fully aware of what happened. The Simurgh had descended from on high and begun her attack. The SCREAM had started in the back of her mind and the last thing she had thought before passing out was that Dad and Emma and Uncle Alan weren't there to share her fate.
And then she woke up to see HER. RIGHT THERE. Floating over her and staring like she was some interesting bug.
No words in any language could truly describe the raw PANIC Taylor felt at that moment, followed by the pure searing WHITE. Taylor knew she'd destroyed the city. She wasn't quite sure how, but in that moment of absolute terror she'd instinctively done something that killed all those people. And most worryingly, upon reminiscing, she hadn't really been all that upset by it.
When her mother had died, Taylor had cried herself to sleep for a week in Emma's arms. But when Dr. Yamada told her that her Dad had committed suicide and Emma and Uncle Alan had died in the explosion she'd not felt anything close to the same level of pure heart wrenching and soul shattering grief.
Her emotions were THERE, just... blunted. Like she was watching herself as a character in a movie.
And Taylor thought maybe that's what she was now. A bystander in her own body. Or something that looked like her body.
She was pretty sure she REALLY needed to talk about this with someone. Who could she tell though? "Hi Doctor, I think I died and I'm a ghost piloting a robot or something that looks like me. Any suggestions?"
The doctors must have checked on her medical records as soon as she'd told them her name and where she was from. They'd not noticed that she didn't need her glasses to see clearly.
It wasn't like she needed her EYES to 'see' anymore.
Taylor looked at the bright spot glowing through the floor and inwardly chuckled. She was pretty sure that was the Sun. She could remember it moving in a circle around her along almost exactly same path more than twice now. She'd been able to focus on it regardless of the time, without needing to really turn her head at it, so whatever she was doing she could see it. Even through the planet.
And it felt warm... like a sunbeam. Taylor gave a little smirk as though she were having a good dream.
The other difference was that she could remember a LOT of things very well now.
Taylor was sure she could recite The Hobbit verbatim from when her mom read it to her years ago. Or remember that while she'd probably not seen everyone in this facility, wherever it was, none of them had ever mentioned a 'Doctor Elliot' before.
Which probably meant something had occurred that made Doctor Yamada leave in a hurry.
It had happened just after she'd gotten really upset for the first time since she was here.
Taylor hoped she hadn't hurt her somehow. Doctor Yamada seemed nice.
But then again, these people from the PRT... weren't being entirely truthful with her now, were they?
Her Mom and Dad had told Taylor more than once that while police were supposed to be trusted... she shouldn't really say anything to them unless one of them or another adult she knew was present.
Uncle Alan or Aunt Zoe, Kurt or Lacey from the Union. That old guy, Erwin, that would take all of them out on fishing trips on the Fourth of July. Mom had said he was like Ernest Hemingway, what with the locked tackle box that Emma, Anne and she had been told to never, EVER mess with without permission because it had some VERY dangerous things inside that young girls like them shouldn't play around with.
Taylor finally pretended to stir in her sleep. She sat up and blinked before shuffling over to the privacy area or latrine or whatever they called the little toilet/sink/shower cubby in the room. She drew a cup of water and drank it, then went over to the intercom by the door.
"Hello? is anyone there?" Silence.
"Um... Hello? Is this thing on? I'm guessing it's late... or early maybe? Anybody else awake?" No answer.
Taylor pushed the button a third time. "I want to talk to Doctor Yamada. Is everything all right?"
Still nothing from the other end. What was going on?
Taylor knocked on the door to her room. Not a cell. "Is somebody out there?"
Taylor pounded harder. "Hey, Lemme out of here, you assholes!" They wouldn't just abandon her down here, right?
Taylor began beating on the door wildly. It didn't hurt. A part of her idly thought that she should be beating her knuckles raw against this metal piece of shit.
A bigger part of her mind told her that something like this COULD NOT hurt her.
<bang>
THAT IF THEY WOULDN'T LET HER OUT...
<BANG>
SHE'D MAKE HER WAY OUT. <BANG>
ONE WAY...
<BANG> OR ANOTHER! <BOOM>
There was a burst of light that knocked Taylor on her ass. She shook her head and looked up. A hole a bit larger than her fist had been blown through the middle of the hatch, the edges glowing with heat. The lighting in the room turned bright red and alarms began sounding.
Taylor stood up and shook her hand. "Wooo! Taylor, you rule. Huh, and STILL nobody's shown up. Looks like I'm gonna have to Kool-Aid Man my way out of here. I'd better not have pretended to sleep through a zombie apocalypse or something."
A Wild Erwin Appears! Everyone loves Erwin! (Don't let the ceiling lizards hear otherwise, they're EVERYWHERE.)
Taylor's mind is running on <Shard.exe>. As a result, she's got perfect recall like RCB. She's also immune to Masters. Sucks to be you Heartbreaker, Valefor, Mama Mathers, Jack Slash...
Dr. Wells went with Jessica to the Boston PRT so she could recover. She was planning to come back in the morning. The idiot she left in charge however, decided they could clear the facility, siting lingering radiation issues, without disturbing Taylor. That little cowardly abuse of authority, thought: 'She's sleeping, she won't even know we left.'. That combined with a lot of people running on caffeine pills, energy drinks and cigarettes, scuttlebutt starting up about Eidolon's death, no immediate evidence that Taylor could get out on her own AND this all happening at around 2 AM just makes this another clusterfuck.
