Taylor looked at the box on her bed and wondered where things had gone so wrong. She hadn't expected to survive the fight with Scion, when Contessa had shot her she had expected to never wake up again. Her Passenger had been of a different opinion.
"This outfit is ridiculous," she muttered. Fuzzy flew over to nestle in the crook of her neck, despite her serious exterior the fire moth was the most affectionate of her new friends.
Upon waking up in Brockton General, all the way back in January 2011, a PRT representative had shown up with her dad. They explained that she had triggered in the locker. How did they know? Aside from the fairly obvious power she'd gotten, the parahumans in this dimension apparently got a free makeover when they triggered. She looked like she had been airbrushed, an idealized version of herself with no imperfections and a few extra sizes in the right places.
The representative had explained that her new status as a Parahuman gave her a free transfer to Arcadia High, with a full scholarship. She'd been confused at the time but her dad had already signed the papers. She had since then discovered that Arcadia wasn't a simple high school like in her memories, it was an Elite Parahuman Academy. A school for young parahumans to learn the ropes of heroism. She didn't have any intentions of joining the Protectorate, or the Wards for that matter, but a free scholarship was nothing to sneeze at.
Which brought things back to the box. It contained her school uniform, or what passed for a school uniform in this bizarro world. Why did an American school use Japanese uniforms was beyond her. Still, in the end she managed to get something that didn't put her at risk of flashing her underwear to everyone at the slightest breeze. She had replaced the thigh high socks with black tights and some shorts. The rest of the uniform had been more straightforward, a long sleeved white blouse with a red bow and a black and gold blazer. She had opted to keep her hair free, she preferred it that way and it allowed her to keep some bugs on her at all times.
Her Passenger, who had started to talk to her a few days ago, had apparently upgraded her power significantly. She still had her bug control but the death of Scion had enabled it to expand its capabilities to a whole new level. Her most obvious power, the one the PRT knew about, were three insect-like projections. Each had its own power in addition to being extremely durable, fast, and strong. The revelation that they were essentially tiny Endbringers had both awed and terrified her.
These two were the least powerful of her new abilities. In reality, her power was the illegitimate offspring of both Eidolon and the Fairy Queen. She could summon random, or not so random, powers for herself and copy the powers of other Parahumans. There were complicated rules and limits to how it worked, her Passenger had explained everything to her, but she was probably in the top ten capes worldwide even despite that.
During the explanation, Queen Administrator had also revealed that those powers were supposed to be used to form a new collective. A final safety measure in case an Entity was beaten. Thankfully, her partner had no intention of following up on that.
Taylor shook herself from her introspection and checked her uniform again. Today was her first day and she had no intention of making waves. The incredibly skewed gender ratio, another strange thing about this world, should work in her favor. She would be just another girl among the hundred of others attending Arcadia.
"Taylor," her dad shouted, "don't miss your bus!"
"Yes dad," she shouted back. She picked up her, mostly empty, bag and gave a quick mental command to her three minions to follow her. They all had their own unique personality, while she could control them like her bugs, they were also able to follow more abstract commands.
Fuzzy, a serious looking moth with wings the color of fire, took her place hovering near her hair where she liked to hide sometimes. Spiny jumped on her backpack, he was a serious looking ant-like creature with a red carapace who liked to cling to her. Taylor had named him for the little horn on his forehead. Finally, Fluffy climbed up her arm and took residence in her blazer pocket. He looked like a spider with yellow fur and blue accents. His personality was friendly, he constantly wanted scratches on top of his head and abdomen. Besides that, he spent a lot of time under windows like a cat.
Hopefully, being an obvious parahuman would deter any troublemakers on the way. Unless they were terminally stupid. It was Brockton Bay, she was not about to discount the possibility.
"Here's your lunch kiddo," she took the lunch box from her father's hands. Their relationship had greatly improved in the week since her Trigger. It had been enough of a shock to pull him out of his funk. She felt a little guilty about enjoying it, she didn't know if her dad had survived the final battle, but she owed it to herself to be a better daughter this time around.
"Thanks dad," she dashed out of the front door and made her way to the bus stop.
"Class, there is a new student today," the teacher motioned Taylor to the front of the class, "tell us a bit about yourself."
She hated this. She hated it with a passion. She had lived through the literal apocalypse but a class full of superpowered teenagers was somehow more terrifying. It told a lot about her that she was more comfortable confronting villains than her own peers.
"Hello, I'm Taylor Hebert," the hungry gazes from the entire class made her uncomfortable, "my power is to control three semi independent projections." She had her flier do a figure eight in the air while Fuzzy climbed her arm and perched on her shoulder, he then waved his little legs in greetings. Spiny simply peeked from behind her hair from his spot on her bag.
This was apparently enough to break the ice. "What can they do?" "They're so cute!" "Who's your favorite singer?" "How does it feel?" "Can I pet it?" The flood of questions washed over her.
"Alright class," the teacher interrupted, "not everyone at the same time. I'm sure Taylor will answer your questions during break." The flood of questions stopped but the looks from her classmates told her it was only a short reprieve.
"You can go sit next to Dennis," the redhead at the back of the class waved to her and exaggeratedly motioned to the empty desk next to him.
As she walked between the desks, she examined the powers of her classmates. A girl with short brown hair had a Tinker power focused on modular design, she was pretty certain this was Kid Win's local counterpart. Dennis had a temporal stasis Striker ability, Clockblocker then. A blonde girl had a very distinctive touch based telekinesis power, Rune.
She copied the few powers she found useful, namely [Modular Design] and [Temporal Stasis], and sat down next to Dennis. The boy was smiling at her with a friendly smile. She pulled out her English textbook, one of her projections climbed in her lap and she instinctively started to pet it.
"Alright class," the teacher said, "open your textbooks to page two hundred and …"
Taylor survived the flood of questions during break, her brave minions distracted enough of her classmates with their cuteness to give her some breathing room and managed to navigate the small talk unscathed until the lesson resumed. She paid a minimum of attention to the class, and instead spread her attention to the rest of the school through her swarm. After a full lesson, she had mapped most of the school by simply spreading the existing bug population.
On her way to her next class, she had to swing by her locker. Even after several years, Taylor still did not feel comfortable in small spaces, thankfully her new locker was too small for anyone to fit in. Unfortunately, the company there left to be desired.
"Only a worm like you would get such a lame power," the voice of Sophia Hess grated her ears. Spiny bristled at the girl's appearance.
"Sophia," she spat with enough venom to poison the city's entire water supply, "what are you doing here? Besides being a nuisance that is." The girl had two hangers on at her side, a Tinker with sandy brown hair and a Blaster who gave her game away by fidgeting with her fingers constantly.
"You're a fucking looser Hebert," the black girl stepped in her face, "if you hadn't triggered in that locker, nobody would have given a shit."
"Well, if you care so little Hess why are you here," she asked, "are you angry Emma got in trouble for pulling that stunt?" That had hit a nerve, Sophia was all but ready to punch her. Taylor didn't want to tip her hand but if push came to shove, she still had her Wards training.
"What's going on here," a voice cut through the tension in the air. Sophia practically jumped back when she heard it.
At the nearest intersection stood another dark skinned girl. She had short cropped hair and wore a purple armband, from what she had read in the student handbook only members of the student council wore those.
"Nothing," said minion number one. Her response was met by a skeptical look from the student council member. Sophia gave Taylor a murderous look but stepped back.
"Nothing anymore," said Taylor. Sophia and her minions retreated behind the newcomer, their head held high in contempt. The new girl walked towards her with a welcoming smile.
"You must be Taylor Hebert," said the girl, "the new transfer student."
"Yes," she confirmed with an hesitant nod.
"Allow me to welcome you to Arcadia High. I'm Tammi Calvert, the student council president." She took the offered hand and shook it. Her smile was wooden and behind the school, several thousand bugs started to freak out.
She felt herself emerge from unconsciousness for the third time. She was still inside the dumpster but the near total darkness she had been in was no more. She could see the confines of her prison. The mounds of used feminine waste products mixed with rotten meat. The smell was stronger than ever to her new senses. This time, however, her body felt different. Stronger, larger, the previously large space now felt nearly claustrophobic.
Taylor stretched her limbs and pushed against the locked lid of the dumpster, the metal groaned in protest. Hope bloomed and she redoubled her efforts. She pushed against the lid with the strength of all her legs, her body pressed against it. Metal of the lid tore open under the assault and the top of the dumpster flew open. Blinded by the sunlight, Taylor clumsily escaped her former prison and blindly stumbled about for a few moments. She steadied herself against a nearby wall as her vision returned.
After a moment, the adrenaline had finally come down. Taylor took a deep breath and took a good look at herself. She had known from the moment she'd woken up that something had changed, her own body had told her so. She took a good look at herself, as best as she could without a mirror. She instantly recognized her new form, she had seen it on her computer while playing Fantasy Fortress. Her favorite playable race had been the Arachne, half-human half-spider hybrid, and she looked like one.
Her legs, which were covered in smooth black chitin, continued down at the front while the back of her body attached to the thorax of her spider half, right where the head would be. She had eight spindly legs that held her up through no apparent effort despite her massive size. The second change were her arms, more specifically the second pair she had sprouted below her existing one. They were stuck under her hoodie as it lacked a second pair of sleeves.
A laugh escaped Taylor. She had powers, honest to god superpowers. Maybe not the most friendly powers in the world but powers nonetheless. After a year and a half of torment, she finally had an escape. A way to get away from Emma, Sophia, and their clique. She would have no secret identity to speak of, not with how she looked. She had to join a team, it was a sad fact that independent heroes in the Bay did not last long and her father would be an obvious target. With a team, most villains would think twice before going after a hero's family. Hopefully.
New Wave, the hero team with no secret identities was her first idea. They were a family-only team, their movement had never taken off, but hopefully they would accept her. If not, there were always the Wards. She was hesitant to join a government led team, her track record with authority was spotty at best but she'd put her father's safety above her feat of teenage drama and bad bureaucrats.
Her first step was to get away from the school and go home. She was certain that if Emma caught her like this, she'd call the PRT and make her out to be the villain. From where she was, she could jump the fence behind the gymnasium and make her way home by taking to the rooftops and side alleys.
On the way home, Taylor discovered another aspect to her power. Arachne employed several races of lesser arachnids to do their bidding. She could command spiders, see through their eyes, feel through their webs, and even smell what they smelled. She took great advantage of this, her minions would scout ahead for her and saved her from getting caught several times. People, even with the advent of flying capes, did not look up.
When the architecture changed from the flat topped apartments and shops to the houses from the suburbs, she made her way through empty streets and backyards. When she finally made it home, Taylor was suddenly confronted with her first problem. She did not fit through doors. Her abdomen was too wide for the frame. She managed to get in by twisting sideways, grateful for her ability to walk on ceilings.
She climbed her way to the bathroom, stairs weren't designed with her size in mind, and maneuvered herself inside. She was glad that her parents had spent extra on a larger bathroom when they bought the house as it accommodated her bulk without feeling claustrophobic.
She removed her dirty clothes, amazed that no-one had spotted her by scent alone. Her pants had not survived the transformation and her underwear had fared little better. It had been capable of protecting her modesty but not much more. Next she threw her stained hoodie and shirt, she would burn them in the backyard later. There was no getting rid of that stench. Her bra had survived the ordeal and went into the laundry basket.
Taylor had never been one to preen in front of a mirror. She had never considered herself pretty and Emma had done her best to destroy her self-worth for a long time. Her transformation had changed that. She flexed all four of her arms and smiled as saw the muscles underneath her skin. She had lost her anorexic frog look and traded it for an athlete's build. Her bust had gained a bit of volume as well, enough that a stranger wouldn't be able to mistake her for a boy anymore.
Her skin had cleaned up as well, the few pimples she had been keeping at bay with moisturizer were gone. Her mouth was still a bit wide, and filled with sharp teeth. She wondered if she had a venomous bite. In addition to extra arms, she had gained four new eyes as well. Positioned above her regular ones, these ones were a solid purple color and reminded her of the pictures she had seen of insect eyes. Her irises had changed to match as well.
Taylor brought a hand to her face and confirmed that she was missing her glasses. It was a shame as she had really liked them. She could always buy non-prescription glasses to replace them if she wanted.
The hot shower felt like a blessing. She let the water run and washed her hair and human body with more soap than usual. Every nook and cranny was washed clean. Next, she washed the rest of her body. Taylor did not know what kind of body-wash a spider used so she simply splashed the rest of her body with water until it looked clean. The water slid off her carapace easily and took whatever grime was there with it. She'd need help for a more thorough cleanup. She laughed at the idea of Glory Girl washing her with a sponge like a bad parody of a car wash.
She dried herself as best as she could and went to her room. She'd need to modify the door. She did not want to contort herself to enter her bedroom every day. A quick look at her bedside clock told her that her dad wouldn't be home for several more hours. Her regular closet lacked anything that could handle her new arm configuration so she dug through the plastic tubs full of old clothes that Emma had convinced her to buy during one of their many shopping trips. In the fourth one, she found a sundress with a halter top that fit her.
Clean and clothed she made her way back to the kitchen to fix herself a meal, she had missed lunch and her stomach was all but ready to start a riot.
As the truck pulled to a stop, Danny was glad that the days he had to pull long hours were over. No longer did he have to wake up too early and come back too late to see his daughter more than during the occasional week-end. The income boost from his new position wasn't too shabby either. For the first time in years, they had been able to afford a proper Christmas without straining their finances.
Not everything was sunshine and roses however. Taylor was still avoiding talking about school any more than necessary. Her passion for fantasy computer games, inherited from him, was more than enough to fill any conversations. Still, he had been worried. It was his job as a parent after all. She hadn't talked about Emma in almost a year, changing the subject every time the girl had been brought up, and her grades had been slipping compared to middle school.
He had asked around the Union, several of their members had kids that went to Winslow. What he'd heard in return had perplexed him. It had been everything from "she's an attention seeking trouble maker" to "she's getting picked on by everyone." Something was definitely happening at that school and he had a bad feeling that it was the latter.
He'd always hoped that Taylor would come to him if she had problems. But he'd barely noticed she had been having troubles before he pulled himself out of his funk. What would have happened if he'd never done so.
"Taylor, I'm back," he announced.
"Welcome back dad," his daughter's voice came from the kitchen. From the sounds, she was preparing supper.
"What are you cooking for us?"
"Steaks and potatoes. Can you wait outside a little bit? I … need to tell you something."
Danny stopped before entering the kitchen. His thoughts started to run wild. Something had happened to Taylor. Had she gotten in a fight and been hurt? Worse?
"I'm listening sweetie." If she was finally opening up, he would gladly jump through some hoops.
"I… I've been bullied," she said with an uncertain tone, "ever since the start of high school."
"Emma didn't help you?" The clues were starting to fall in place and he did not like it.
"She's the one who's doing it," his daughter confirmed his suspicions. "Her, Sophia Hess, and a few other girls have been making my life … difficult. They stole my homework, pushed me in the hallways and sometimes down the stairs. I tried to tell the teachers but they got me in trouble with the Principal, said I was a liar. She told me that if I tried to get students in trouble with 'false accusations' she'd punish me."
Danny's fists tightened. That bitch would regret it. He would make sure she'd never be able to find a contractor ever again. He knew some people from the teacher's union, let's see her try to find anyone to teach when he was done.
"Today… I found a letter from Emma in my locker. It was her handwriting. It said she would explain why, why she'd been … torturing me. She gave me a time and place, behind the gym at lunch."
"It was a trap," he finished.
"Yeah… But I had to go. On the chance it wasn't …" Danny understood and cursed Emma. He'd need to have a few words with his old friend about his daughter's behavior. "When I got there. I don't want to talk about it …"
"I understand. You don't have to tell me."
"Thanks," the relief in her voice broke his heart. "As a result of their … trap, I got powers." What? His daughter had powers? It didn't change anything. He wouldn't love her less if she had. "I didn't want you to see me right away because … My powers, they've changed my body. You can come in now. It's just … I had to warn you."
"Honey," he said, "no matter how you've changed you'll always be my daughter. I'll love you no matter what." With all his resolve, he stepped into the kitchen.
Taylor had moved the diner table to the side and he understood why. Her body reminded him of a centaur, so long as one had forgotten that they were supposed to be half-horse and had instead gone for half-spider. She was wearing a short sundress that had no sleeves, understandable so as he doubted anyone had a shirt that could accommodate someone with two pairs of arms.
He stepped across the kitchen, took Taylor in his arms and held her tight.
Two large crystalline beings swirled in space, their form shifted like a giant tesseract. Sections folded and twisted into an incomprehensible space. From them thousands of glittering shards of light rained down upon a blue planet.
Complex messages flew between the two, shaking the fabric of the universe through their sheer violence. A plan was formed.
In the shadows, a third one slithered. Its much smaller form unseen by the two giants, concealed by specialized fragments. It let only a few of its shards fall towards earth, each had a special purpose. Once it was certain that its plans would come to fruition, the newcomer made itself known to the other two.
It offered one of them, the leader of the pair, an exchange of knowledge. It greedily accepted the proposition and they collided. Fragments were exchanged, among them a special weapon that would cripple its recipient. The Thinker, distracted, fell upon the planet below and was struck down.
A fragment of the Wanderer fell towards me, its form shifted several times as it travelled. The closer it came, the smaller it seemed to be until it was only the size of a beach ball. The swirling sphere of energy came to rest before me, its color and shape ever shifting. It spoke in its strange language, not words but concepts given form.
⠁⠎⠎⠊⠎⠞⠁⠝⠉⠑ (assistance)
⠉⠕⠝⠝⠑⠉⠞⠊⠕⠝ (connection)
I put the palm of my hand on the sphere's surface.
I jerked awake and nearly slammed my head against the metal ceiling of my cell. Night had fallen and an oppressive darkness had engulfed the small space. The only light was from the fluorescent lights on the ceiling of the warehouse that accentuated the shadows.
The strange dream still lingered in the back of my mind. It had felt too real, the usual unreal nature of dreams absent. What had it been then? The reassurance the friendly ball had sent was staving off another panic attack. Instead, I felt something new. In a place in my mind that hadn't existed before, were instincts and knowledge.
"A power?" I whispered. My power helpfully manifested itself by providing me with a list of designs. Robots, a dozen or so designs that had various functions. Small mechanical spiders that could turn invisible for infiltration, flying drones packed with sensors for reconnaissance, and combat drones that could fire lasers or plasma. There were also designs for modules to enhance them with various abilities, including a way to grant them powers. The breadth of options was overwhelming.
At first, my power didn't feel very useful. I didn't really have the ability to build anything inside the tiny cell I'd been shoved in. No tools or materials. It was more of a liability. The empire was going to send me and the other "undesirables" they had kidnapped to Gesellschaft as fodder for their "re-education" program.
I still remembered the first time I'd seen Night at a rally, Kaiser had been very enthusiastic about announcing the new arrival from their allies in Europe. I had looked them up on the internet later that day and the rumors of capes brainwashing and torture had chilled my blood. Night's empty look had turned a vague rumor to a certainty in my mind. I was more and more certain that I had been targeted on purpose, someone had found out about me and ratted me out to the Empire. It hadn't been a coincidence they had nabbed me when I had been in girl mode.
My power interrupted my brooding by informing me that I didn't need to build anything, I only had to design then I could materialize them instantly. That revelation made me blink. I wasn't a cape geek by any stretch of the imagination but it seemed very unusual. Tinkers were known for, well, tinkering things.
I decided to give it a try, it would be hard to make my situation worse. One of the designs had the ability to cut through metal and take down any guard patrolling. The small robot appeared through a blue portal that reminded me of how Protoss warped their units in.
The sleek black mechanical spider had a single red optics bulb that stared menacingly at me. The onboard VI was capable of following simple commands, or I could control it directly. I ordered it to cloak itself and open the door.
It sliced through the padlock with a precise swipe of its plasma blade. I quietly pushed the door open and moved the spider to an observation position. There were no guards in the room at the moment and it seemed the other cages were either empty or their occupants were asleep. I warped in four more Spiders and an Observer and had them fan out in the room.
The Observer could detect bio-signatures and confirmed there were half a dozen people captive here. Scattered about the building were several other people, two were patrolling the rooftop, four were patrolling the inside, and four more were together in a room. The last signature was in an isolated room at the back of the warehouse, it registered as unconscious and was likely a parahuman as they had the same extra features as my own signature.
I thought about leaving the warehouse but it felt wrong to leave the other captives here. The parahuman was possibly a captive as well and Night's empty gaze flashed in my mind. I could not leave them to this fate.
I left three Spiders in the cage room to free the others and made my way deeper into the building. I kept to the shadows and easily avoided the patrolling guards. The back room had two entrances, a large rolling door that would be too noisy to open, and a metal door secured with a keypad. Thankfully, there was a ventilation duct that led into the room and one of my Spiders easily made its way to the other side. From there, it was trivial to open the security box and bridge the contacts for the door's solenoid. The door unlocked with a small click.
The well oiled hinges made no noise as I entered. The room was lit by more fluorescent tubes. In the center were five coffin-like devices. Four were visibly open while the last one contained the parahuman I had been looking for. I dispelled my thoughts about being an Empire member, the coffins had to be some sort of containment for capes to prevent them from escaping.
The side of the device had a panel to control it. It currently showed that it was locked and displayed the vitals of the occupant. The window on top revealed a familiar face, Taylor Hebert, Winslow's resident punching bag and Empire recruitment tool. Her captors had shaved her previously long hair and she had a respirator mask on her face.
I would need a code to unlock it, or crack the device. I searched a nearby desk for clues, several computers were powered on but were locked as well. I searched my list of templates for something, my power enthusiastically shoved a design in my face. It was a large robot with a massive cybernetic brain at the center. A cyber warfare specialist. Combined with several smaller support drones with electronic interception capabilities they would be able to crack everything open in minutes.
I warped in the five machines, the large one looked like a Protoss Sentry two feet tall while the others were small insectile robots four inches or so across with a bulbous body. Under the guidance of the Sentry they started work on the coffin and the computers. Their ability to remotely interface with circuits was a godsend as they could directly read the contents of memory as well as edit it.
While the Sentry's VI worked its magic, I opened one of the crates along the back wall. It had three sets of Tinkertech gear, the compartment on the side had documents that indicated it was sold by the Elite as an "Infiltrator Package". The Empire had paid good money for them and they likely used them to capture capes, the rifles could stun their targets for several hours.
I pulled one of the suits out, the documents said that it was bulletproof. My dirty clothes weren't. The idea of robbing the Empire of some expensive equipment had some appeal as well. Who were they going to complain to? The cops?
The suit was a single piece and was padded on the torso, legs, and arms. The gloves felt like a second skin with no loss of dexterity. The rest of the armor was a bit harder to put on without help but I managed. The chest plate had a shield emitter and stealth field generator. It provided power to the suit's artificial muscles that enhanced the wearer's strength and speed. I picked up one of the Tinker rifles and blades and clipped them to the suit. The helmet was left on the desk.
(A/N: The actual suit does not contour the wearer's behind quite as much)
There were no mirrors in the room but I saw myself through my minion's eyes. It was entirely worth the hundreds of thousands of dollars the Empire had paid per unit. I felt like a proper cape and even struck a few poses. My Sentry interrupted with a message.
The coffin hissed as the lid unlocked. I rushed to its side and threw it open. In addition to the respirator, Taylor was restrained to the inside with some straps. I started to unbuckle them, starting with the neck. Considering her experience in January, waking up like that would be pretty terrifying. She woke up while I was freeing her right hand and, despite looking disoriented, punched me in the face pretty much immediately.
I recoiled and clutched my face in pain. Taylor wasted no time and started to unfasten the remaining restraints. It was pretty tough one handed, likely on purpose.
"Let me help," I had both hands up, "I'm not with the Empire. I got captured like you."
"Why do you look like them then," she looked at me with fury.
"Stole it," I answered and pointed at the crate, "they can turn invisible. Makes escaping a whole lot easier. I also freed you from this thing. Well, my minion did but … same thing really."
⠺⠁⠗⠝⠊⠝⠛⠮⠀⠕⠥⠞⠃⠕⠥⠝⠙⠀⠁⠇⠑⠗⠞⠀⠎⠊⠛⠝⠁⠇⠀⠃⠇⠕⠉⠅⠑⠙
(Warning! Outbound alert signal blocked)
I felt a wave of relief wash over me. The Sentry had done its job properly. And alerts would be blocked but if whoever was monitoring this tried to connect to the system, spoofing everything would become a lot harder.
"My bot is blocking the alerts the monitoring system is sending," I continued, "but if someone comes in to check on you, I can't do anything except block them and that will definitely make them suspicious."
Taylor seemed torn. That I hadn't immediately attacked her seemed to weigh in my favor. She nodded and I helped her remove the remaining restraints. She rubbed her wrists as she paced the room.
"What now," she asked.
"I'm calling the PRT, you get into a suit and grab a rifle. If we can take out the guards without alerting the Empire we can free the captives and wait for the cops. With some luck the Nazis only get wind their operation is busted when this place is swarming with Protectorate Heroes and PRT agents."
Taylor nodded and walked to the crate, I politely turned away to let her change. In the meantime, with the computers unlocked and drives unencrypted, the Sentry copied every file from the drives. There were a lot of details on the Empire's kidnappings and trades with Gesellschaft. Dossiers on the capes, shipping manifests, and more. Hopefully, it would help the Protectorate and PRT nail the bastards to the wall.
The desk had several brick phones in a cardboard box, burners probably. I picked up one that was charged and dialed the PRT emergency hotline.
"Parahumans Response Team what is your emergency," the operator asked. I put the phone on speaker mode so Taylor could listen.
"I got kidnapped this afternoon by a group of Empire Eighty-Eight members," I started explaining, "they brought me to this warehouse somewhere in the docks, I don't know the address. They put me in a cage with other people and told us we were being sent to Europe to serve the cause." I was breathing heavily at this point. My other hand was resting on the blade's hilt, nervously brushing the activation button. "I passed out and woke up with powers."
"Sir, please calm down," the operator tried to reassure me.
"Miss," my breath hitched, "please call me Miss."
"Yes, miss, We're triangulating your position but it doesn't give an exact position. If you can give us an exact address we can find you much faster. Do not put yourself in danger, we will find you."
"I… I'll try to find out. There's another cape with me. I got her out of some kind of sleeping coffin. Maybe she can help." I looked at Taylor, she was clasping the chest place of the armor on, but she shook her head.
"Thank you miss. You're doing very good, we have a unit en route and several heroes have been dispatched. Please stay on the line."
"I will." I took a deep breath and flew my cloaked Observer through a window opened by one of my Spiders. It flew along the road and looked for signs. Despite it's fast flight speed, it felt like an eternity. "There are more prisoners, I couldn't free them because of the guards. I saw eight of them in the warehouse and there are two on the roof."
"Thank you miss. I've notified the team of this."
"I've found a sign," I said, "it says 'Hill Street' the warehouse is three buildings away. It's number seven but I don't know if it's on this one or another." I continued searching.
"This is good," the operator chimed in, "did you use your power for this?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell me what it is," she gently asked.
"Yes. It's … I can summon these Tinkertech drones. I have a few designs and I think I can make more. I used one to cut open the lock of my cell and avoid the guards. Then I used another one to hack into the computers to free the other cape. I've also copied all their files so you can use them as evidence. I found the street name with a flying drone, it's cloaked right now but I can use it to lead you to the warehouse."
"That's very good. The team is entering the docks, they'll be to your location soon. Hold on tight. Do you know what the power of the parahuman with you is?"
"I don't know."
"I control bugs," Taylor chimed in. She had finished putting everything on save for the helmet. The rifle hung loose in her hands, I wondered if she had any experience with firearms.
"Was this the other parahuman," the operator asked.
"Yes, the phone is on speaker."
In the distance, through my Observer, I could hear the sirens of the PRT vehicles. The guards would hear them soon as well.
"We need to protect the prisoners," I said
"Yes," Taylor nodded, "the guards might start to take hostages."
"Miss," the operator spoke quickly, "I would advise against this."
"If we can take the two guards in the room by surprise, we can hold the position. There's plenty of cover and I can make shield drones to protect the prisoners while I free them."
We both put the helmet on.
"Sorry but we're doing this. Tell the team that we're the two capes with the black suits on."
"Be careful," the operator said.
"We will," I disabled speaker mode on the cellphone and placed it on the sentry.
Taylor and I engaged the cloak on our suits and set the rifles to stun mode. The invisibility wasn't perfect but in the relative darkness of the warehouse, it would hide us well enough.
The door to the coffin room had a small hallway that led to the other room. The hallway was also the back wall of the break room and the entrance and window faced the opposite way. It provided us enough cover to sneak out into the cages room. I had my five shield drones fly along the ceiling and meet with the five spiders that would handle the cages.
We hid behind two pillars and sighted our rifles. My drones descended at maximum speed from the ceiling and their shields sprang up between the prisoners and the guards. It took them a second to react and we struck.
Two shots, two hits.
The two Empire members crumpled to the ground and we moved to the next set of pillars. From there we could provide cover to the exit. By now, the rooftop guards had heard the sirens and warned their compatriots. The cloak, now useless, was dropped in favor of the kinetic shields.
"Stay behind the shields," I shouted, "we're getting you out of here and the PRT will be there in short order. To all Empire members, surrender peacefully."
They didn't surrender peacefully. One of the guards opened fire with their pistol and the battle was on. A bullet made Taylor's shield flash. She answered in kind and the gang member crumpled to the ground from another shot. Two of mine went wide and left marks on the walls. The evacuation was underway, even if some of the captives were reluctant to follow instructions.
Taylor managed two more perfect shots. She had to be using her power or she was secretly an expert marksman. I opted to provide cover fire to keep most of our opponents on their toes. After what felt like several minutes but were in reality no more than one, the PRT arrived and breached the warehouse doors.
"PRT, put your weapons down," they shouted as the black clad troopers entered with rifles and the iconic containment foam launchers. Behind them was Miss Militia with a grenade launcher in hand.
"Good job," the military cape shouted to us, "we'll take it from here, get everyone out." Taylor and I nodded and we disengaged.
"One of them doesn't want to come out, I'll drag them out. You get the rest out." She gave a sharp nod and ran towards the clumped prisoners. They were clutching their ears from the gunfire, thankfully the suit helmets had integrated hearing protection.
I stopped in front of the open cage and grabbed the occupant by the wrist, it was a boy a year or two younger than me. The strength enhancement of the suit allowed me to easily throw him into a fireman's carry and I ran towards the exit with my shield drone behind us.
Outside were more troopers milling about. Three of the PRT's black vans were parked in front of the building. Taylor and the former prisoners were near the one furthest from the warehouse. I set my dazed passenger down next to the rest of the group and sat down next to Taylor. My Sentry, which had trailed behind us, stopped near me and I patted the glowing blue cybernetic core with my glove. I flicked the safety of my rifle and set it down across my lap. Two agents, without their intimidating visored helmets, were attending to our group.
"Are you still here," I picked up the phone on the Sentry.
"Yes miss," the operator answered immediately, "I heard a lot of gunfire, are you alright?"
"Not a scratch. We got everyone out and the team you sent got there just in time."
"I'm glad to hear that," she sounded relieved, "the officer in charge of the operation had been informed. I will leave you in his capable hands."
"Thank you for the help."
"Just doing my job, miss."
The line went dead and I stashed the phone in one of the suit's pockets. The PRT troopers, with help from Miss Militia, managed to capture the remaining guards easily. I dismissed most of my drones, their jobs done. Only the Sentry and Observer were still there.
The fight had wound down and, with the adrenaline no longer coursing through my veins, I felt a wave of fatigue hit me. Never in my two lives had I imagined I would do these kinds of things. It felt good to be a hero. Today, Taylor and I had saved several people from a fate worse than death. I just hoped I wouldn't have to do it anytime soon.
For the next few minutes, while the PRT agents took care of the other former prisoners, I patrolled my Observer around. I let my mind swim in the flow of sensor data, my body almost forgotten as I took in the myriad of things it could sense. Cameras to view any part of the light spectrum and the strange ability to detect biosignatures.
After several minutes, Miss Militia approached us. It was probably creepy from her point of view when we both turned to look at her the moment she did so. The Observer gave me near omniscience inside of its radius and it looked like Taylor could do the same with her bugs. The VI inside the drone filtered out the smaller life form but a quick command showed that everyone present had several bugs stuck to their clothing.
"We have apprehended all the gang members on site," she said, "with what they were doing, they are looking at a very long time behind bars. Unfortunately, it's almost certain that the Empire knows about your identities. We found records of the names and addresses of everyone held in the warehouse."
I sighed, this was a planned hit then. I hadn't been as careful as I had thought. It's even possible that it was my own parents in the hopes the Empire could "fix" me. Taylor's shoulders dropped as well, we were both in a very bad situation. She was already on their list and it was only a matter of time until I was.
"I'd like both of you to come to the Rig back with me," continued the heroine, "we can protect you and your parents until you decide on what you want to do." It was a great plan, if you didn't need protection from your own family. Still, I much preferred a confrontation with my parents in the most secure location in town.
"Let's go," I pushed myself up, "I never got to visit the Protectorate HQ." I offered a hand to Taylor and pulled her up, mostly thanks to the strength assist of the suit. Miss Militia and the two troopers jumped with us in the van, the Sentry tucked itself next to me and the Observer came to hover over it. The military themed heroine took a seat in front of my drones and Taylor sat next to her. The two troopers were closest to the door.
The doors were closed and the van started. The inside was well lit and surprisingly spacious for a troop transport. After a short time, I unclasped my helmet and started to remove it. Miss Militia handed me a small domino mask with a smile which I surreptitiously put on. Despite its size, it did an excellent job at hiding the contours of my face. Taylor had done the same.
"Are those suits from the back room?"
"Yes," I answered with a smile, "they're pretty great. Kinetic shields, Stealth system, thermal and night vision, worth the one million price tag for sure."
"Troublesome," the Protectorate heroine said.
"They have a lot fewer now. Maybe the PRT can put them to better use."
The ride to the Rig took half an hour. Miss Militia talked with us the whole way. Asked some general questions about our respective powers without probing too deep, it felt like the cape version of small talk. She was interested that I needed to design the drones before warping them in, a hybrid Tinker-slash-Master was a rare combo. Taylor talked about her plans to build a costume out of spider silk which was, from her research, stronger than Kevlar. The entire conversation also doubled as a subtle Wards pitch.
"There's something you should know," I said, "my parents are Empire supporters. As far as I know they don't work for the gang but … let's just say they're very enthusiastic supporters. They attend rallies regularly and drag me there as well." Even with the scarf hiding her face, I saw her wince.
"Not to be insensitive but," the cape paused for an instant.
"Why was I there?" I finished her question. She nodded. "Not how I imagined it to go but well … I'm transgender," I said. "I've been exploring things in secret for a while after I … discovered it. When I was taken by the Empire I was out and about as a girl. I've been doing it for a few months now and I thought I was discreet enough but apparently not enough. I don't know who found out, or how, but someone did and they told the Empire. Maybe someone from school recognized me."
The cabin was silent after my little improvised coming out. I was silently crossing my fingers that it wouldn't blow up on me. Brockton Bay was one of the worst places in the country for Queer people. There were no openly homosexual couples, anymore. Support organizations were the regular target of arson of their offices or their organizers simply disappeared. The planned parenthood had stopped providing gender affirming care after the Empire torched their main building several times.
Miss Militia broke the silence. "I need to talk with some people," she looked determined, "There are provisions for Wards in your situation, they should apply to potential Wards as well. We'll hold off on contacting your guardians until we can hash this out with the Director and our legal department."
"Thanks," I said.
When we reached our destination, the PRT agents politely asked us to leave our weapons at the security desk. The troopers from the van then escorted us to the medical area. In the middle of the night, there was only a single doctor and a few nurses. No need to wake up the whole base if there was no emergency. A blonde nurse led me to one of the beds and I had to remove the suit to get my vitals taken.
She waved a light pen in front of my eyes. "No headaches or blurred vision," she asked.
"No, just feeling tired as hell."
"That's pretty normal, cape fights are always intense."
The nurse looked at the ugly bruises on my torso. The adrenaline of the escape had come down and I winced as she touched them.
"I need to check if you haven't broken any ribs," she said as I felt another spike of pain. She continued for a while, poking and prodding. "It looks all good. Just some big bruises."
"That's good," I said in relief.
"Aside from the bruises, you're in pretty good shape for someone just out of a cape fight. I've seen a lot worse. A week or two of rest and you'll be right as rain. No contact sports or similar physical activity until it's healed." I nodded.
"I'll go get you some sweats and a bag for your gear," she continued. The nurse left through the privacy curtain and I was left by myself. The Sentry and Observer had followed and parked themselves nearby. One of the guards periodically kept an eye on them. I laid on the bed and rested for a while. The nurse came back a few minutes later.
"I managed to find you a PT uniform," she dropped a pike of black clothes on the edge of the bed, "it should be about the right size. And a bag for your suit."
"Thanks," I smiled at her. She gave me some privacy to get dressed. Every movement hurt but I managed it. Next I packed the suit and armor pieces into the bag and dropped it on top of the Sentry.
After that, things calmed down and I managed to catch some sleep. When I woke up, the sun was already cresting the horizon. The clock on the wall told me it was early morning.
Taylor barely paid attention in class after her encounter with Coil, or his local equivalent she supposed. Tammi's power, [Twin Realities], matched Lisa's description of his power. She had copied it once the girl had turned her back. She had spent the rest of the morning tracking all of her movements around campus, the girl was a model student from what she saw.
In the end, she pushed the encounter to the back of her mind. If she caught wind of an organization like Coil's operating in the bay, she would step up her surveillance. Otherwise there was no evidence that Tammi Calvert was anything other than just another well positioned student.
Despite the fact that her dad had packed her lunch, she wanted to check out the cafeteria. The one at Winslow had barely qualified as such. She had often wondered if it had even passed a health inspection or if Blackwell had bribed the inspector. Arcadia was an impressive contrast. There were four cafeterias throughout the campus, each with a different menu. The long lunch break allowed students to catch their favorite meals and eat with their friends.
Taylor opted for the one closest to her last class. The room was on two floors with a mezzanine design with massive floor to ceiling windows. A small breeze pushed a pleasant smell towards her. In the end, she couldn't resist and picked up a tray. Her companions made their enthusiasm known. This cafeteria served some mustard chicken with mixed vegetables and rice. She picked up a salad and fruit bowl as well. There was a fridge with various brands of sodas but she opted for the water fountain, it was free and probably not contaminated unlike Winslow.
"Hey there," with the small amount of bugs in the cafeteria, Taylor had missed the floating blonde that had approached her from behind. As a result, she almost threw her tray covered with food in surprise.
"Sorry, sorry," the girl raised her hands, "didn't mean to startle you."
"It- It's okay," she said as she tried to get her fight or flight response to quiet down, "I was a bit distracted."
"Let's do this again," the floating girl continued, "Hey there, I'm Victoria Dallon, president of the Parahuman Studies club and member of the unofficial Arcadia welcoming committee." Taylor blinked in surprise. "I heard through the grapevine a new student had transferred and well …" This day keeps getting weirder, she thought.
Amy picked at her vegetables. Her sister had gone to find the new girl. From what she had understood, the girl had triggered due to a pretty nasty prank and Vicky wanted to make her feel welcome. She spotted her sister come out from behind a corner and her breath stopped.
Legs! Legs for days! Was the only thing her brain had been capable of producing. Accompanying her sister was a goddess in human form. A being of pure beauty and elegance that mortals could only hope to aspire to. She had wavy black hair that shined in the sunlight like strands of obsidian glass woven by an artisan. The bottle green eyes hidden behind circular glasses made Amy's heart skip a beat. And those legs, oh god those legs.
"Holy shit," she heard Lily whisper from her right. Maybe Vicky's idea had some merit after all.
Despite her attempts at evasion, Victoria dragged Taylor to her lunch table. The blonde made small talk on the way and Taylor simply listened to the flood of words. Vicky's table was on the eastern side of the cafeteria, next to the massive windows and had a good view of the small park outside. At said table were a dozen students, she spotted a slightly younger Lily as well as Panacea. Both girls were looking at her rather intently for some reason.
"I found her", Vicky declared triumphantly. "Everyone, this is Taylor." She gave a nod in greeting. "Looks like there's space near Amy. You don't mind sis?"
"It's fine," the brunette answered. Taylor noticed that she was blushing. What the hell was going on?
Everybody around the table quickly introduced themselves. Victoria was openly dating Diana Stansfield, Galant's local equivalent from her power. She did not remember any of the others besides Amy and Lily.
Once she was situated, Spiny climbed on the table and appropriated the salad bowl on her tray. Everyone at the table watched silently as her minion ate the leaves and splashed some dressing. Fluffy for his part folded himself in her lap for a small nap and hopefully some scritches.
"Do you control them," asked Amy.
"I can," she said, "but they do their own thing when I don't."
"Do they do anything," Lily asked.
"I haven't tried much," she lied, "I got my powers not too long ago and with the whole school change and everything I didn't really think about it."
"There's regular power testing as part of the hero course," said Lily between bites of her chicken.
"I didn't pick any hero courses this semester."
The whole table went silent at her declaration.
A/N: Work kicked my ass today so this snippet was produced while waiting for builds to finish while doing overtime. Not super happy with hot it came out. I'll probably clean it up later.
"But… But, everyone takes the hero course," Victoria said in disbelief.
"And I was planning on picking it next semester," Taylor lied, "I just wanted to get used to things. Winslow wasn't exactly the peak of academic excellence so I want to get my grades up before anything else." She intended to delay power testing for as long as possible, she knew she couldn't avoid it forever but she wanted some time to get a better feel of how things operated in this new bizarro reality.
"Oh yeah, that makes sense," the Brute said, "you need to keep your grades high enough to stay in the hero course anyway." There were murmurs of assent from the rest of the table.
"See sis," Amy interjected, "she knows what she's doing. Not everyone can be like you and juggle college on top of everything else." The healer's sister blushed at this declaration. Apparently Victoria Dallon was a nerd masquerading as a jock. Her prior interactions with the sisters hadn't been very positive, understandably, so she had never really known them aside from their powers.
The rest of lunch was quieter. The group made some small talk about everything and nothing, a few questions were sent Taylor's way but it was nothing compared to the flood she had been subjected to in class. Before parting ways, she copied [Shaper] from Amy, [Sting/Trajectory] from Lily, and [Radiance/Shunt] from Victoria.
The afternoon of classes was more of the same, she shared most of them with the people from her homeroom. Over time, Taylor noticed that Dennis seemed to get a lot of attention from a group of girls in their class. She supposed it made some amount of sense, he was one of the few boys on the entire campus. That was bound to make him the center of attention.
Taylor for her part had no intention of dating anyone anytime soon, even if she met Brian again. Their relationship had been, in retrospect, a disaster from start to finish. She wondered how they were doing, if they had survived the end. Her Passenger had confirmed that there was no returning home, the full explanation had been too complicated for her to truly grasp but the result was there. Even if she took Doormaker again the two realities were too far apart to cross between.
As the day of classes came to an end, Taylor took the bus back home. She would need to prioritize which powers to charge up first and which ones to create, she had many options but a limited amount of charges per day. She would convene with her Passenger, it could certainly help with that.
A/N: Taylor's first school day is over. Next up, some criminals are terminally stupid.
The WxW universe has two series.
The mainline series with Dennis and his totally-not-a-harem as main characters, they get into the typical Anime Shenanigans and get into troubles with the Villain Of The Week. They win with the power of friendship and cooperation. Taylor makes appearances every once in a while but she's basically a side character.
The spin-off series focuses on Taylor. She is the underground hero that fights the villains pulling strings from the shadows. The main cast is very small, around 3 to 4 characters. It focuses on their interactions with each others and maybe a slow burn romance.
(This does somewhat mirror Raildex in how it's generally structured.)
The bus stop closest to Taylor's house was in a somewhat shady neighborhood. Winter darkness had fallen and the poorly maintained street lights or building entrances provided only the occasional areas of light. In such an environment, it was no surprise that there were a few criminals on the prowl for targets.
The ones she had spotted, however, were behaving strangely. They had passed over several prime targets. One possibility was that they weren't actually criminals, just four men in gang colors loitering in a dark alley, or they were waiting for a specific target. On the other sidewalk, she saw a third man with the same colors with his phone out. She couldn't see what he was doing through her insects but when one of his compatriots received a message, she knew who the target was.
She continued as if she was unaware of what they were planning. When she stepped in front of the alley, one of the men tried to grab her. Years of hand to hand training kicked in and she avoided it and slipped through his grasp like flowing water. She grabbed his wrist and delivered a punch to his armpits that resulted in a sickening noise. She had dislocated his shoulder, a quick sweep with her feet sent the wailing gang member to the ground.
"So …" she drawled as she stepped around the pile of human trash, "which one of you geniuses thought it was a brilliant idea to target a cape?" The spotter had started to run towards them, maybe he hoped to catch her from behind? She readied Spiny to deliver a surprise.
"You think you're better than us?" was the eloquent response from the one furthest back as he pulled out a gun. "Skids will make you his bitch in no time." All the insects in the alleyway were stealthily moving into position. Small gnats and flies got into position on their clothes and weapons. There weren't much in the way of offensive options but her three minions could provide in that area.
"And why would I allow that?" her voice held an edge that promised extreme violence. Fuzzy had her power set to fire, not the best non-lethal option but she would deal. It would have to work as intimidation she hoped. Taylor made a small mental note to improve the time to switch between elements soon.
"It's three against one bitch," those were not exactly great odds she thought to herself, "get on your knees and we won't have to be rough." He smirked as wiggled his gun in her direction. She quickly dumped the last week of charges into her copy of Victoria's power, enough to bring it to two thirds power.
"I don't think so," the spotter was right behind her. She had Spiny shoot a blast of force in his face and buried her elbow in his gut. She slotted in [Radiance/Shunt] and a golden suit of translucent armor surrounded her. She grabbed her opponent's arm and threw him at one of the advancing thugs. Hopefully she hadn't overdone it. The two went down in a heap of flesh.
In the back of her mind, she felt the slider for her version of the blonde's aura and pushed it all the way up. The advancing thug faltered. She took advantage of his surprise and flew in front of him, he barely had time to react before she flicked him in the forehead. The man dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Finally, the gunman came to his senses. He tried to point the gun at her but she was inside his guard in a blur and plucked the gun from his surprised hands. She ejected the magazine from the gun and extracted the round from the chamber with swift and practiced movements. The gun clattered to the ground, useless, while she slipped the munitions in her blazer pocket.
"What a mess," she sighed. "I have some questions for you," she addressed the terrified thug, "and I expect satisfactory answers."
A/N: Fight Scene! The end of the fight was supposed to have a plot hook but I literally forgot. It will probably be edited later to include it. I have also modified the previous chapter to mention Taylor copying the power she uses in this section.
