daimahou
Hear... Feel... Think...
- Location
- 「 」
I love you?
By the end of this
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Firebird, a Worm AU/Xover?
- Thread starter chibipoe
- Start date
By the end of this
I think it reflects poorly on me that my first thought on all these girls meeting taylor is HAREM ENDING
Welp, I am really hoping that Taylor's new friends are actually part of the X-team.
I don't expect this to be the case, but I wish it all the same. It would mean that Prof. X (or others) has been covering up the existence of mutants for longer than Cauldron's been active. Which, in turn, would (I hope) lead to a Thirty Xanatos Pileup.
NNNNNNNNO! The LAST THING you need is anyone else from the X-men showing up. I'm rather tired of them now.
Wolverine is a emo asshat, everyone are whiny bitches, just Taylor freaking the hell out of Cauldron and the planet when the phoenix force reveals itself to Taylor.
More X-men kids are just the wards under other names. They are less intelligent than the wards.
I could just read all day long on the reactions of the people of BB at the avatar of the Phoenix Force doing nothing more than manifesting itself in the skies of BB.
If I saw something like that, I'd walk out of the city using my walker.
I say it would be a surprise, but I made a mistake and clicked on a anime cosplay link; the things I saw there scarred me for the rest of my life.
If only I had seen mere pictures...I say it would be a surprise, but I made a mistake and clicked on a anime cosplay link; the things I saw there scarred me for the rest of my life.
"Sir, you do not have the figure to pull off a Sailor Moon cosplay."
I find this incredibly funny.
Coincidentally, my life partners were looking over my shoulder whilst I was reading this thread and they read aloud 'cos-play'.
So yay, thank you for makin my life interesting again.
In the Chinese sense of the word.
- Location
- Hull, UK
Why do I get the feeling we've just met the Earth Bet versions of Psylocke and Black Widow
- Location
- Internet
More like Unwritten Guidelines. Everyone respects them as long as they are convenient to them. The PRT for example will shit all over the rules if they feel they need to or that they are hindering them.
It's more the revealing one's public persona that is against the rules at large. Everyone isn't hunting for Taylor to expose her, they are hunting for the person who made a massive fuck-off huge bird of freaking fire fly through the Brockton Bay night sky because to all possibilities, that Parahuman is going to be very powerful. Powerful enough that people are worried about their status quo.
You have to remember, Brockton Bay wasn't initially the chaotic mess we saw it as during the story proper. Prior to Taylor showing up in Canon, there was a balance. No one did anything big because everyone else was looking for someone to do something big they could jump on. So everyone stuck to fairly small time stuff and handling their own turf. Actual turf expansions rarely happened.
The Firebird has shook the boat. People don't like people shaking the boat. But they do like people who can shake the boat in such a way that other people fall down other then them.
She doesn't have a cape identity yet. The gangs could be hoping to identify and recruit her before she makes her public debut. The Unwritten Rules might not attach until Taylor first puts on a mask and does something in costume in public. Trying to determine the secret identity of Phoenix or Marvel Girl or whatever Taylor picks for her capename would be a violation, but there's nothing that says they can't recruit a parahuman who has yet to pick a side, or even a name.
- Location
- Crackship Space!
Let me guess;
Lung has a sudden and newfound love of Dance and desires greatly to one day take the stage and dance the dance of the red shoes?
Oni Lee discovers that the cure for his mental degradation is alcohol... lots of it. Rebrands himself Duff Man and becomes the hero of fraternities world wide?
Kaiser finally has the operation to remove the stick from his ass and realizes that hes been a Nazi for thirty years. Hes really supposed to be a hippie?
Coil finds out that his 'power' is really just cocaine. Lots of cocaine?
chibipoe
May I tell you of the glory that is Catradora?
- Location
- Astoria, Oregon
In no particular order:
No.
He actually decided to become the guy who voices the "We Salute You' Budweiser commercials. And sings the background chorus.
LSD, actually.
And I have nothing I can honestly say to that.
Hey, Snowflame was awesome!
Finbar
Generic Minion #314
- Location
- Sydney
Actually...
Now I have a mental picture of Kaiser and Lung, after they both (through their agents....her new friends) meeting up to discuss the situation.
Resolution? Clearly the only thing they could agree on, was that they have a common enemy.
Lung looks after the Asians
Kaiser protects the Whites
Sophia is Black and was 'clearly' the Ringleader of the campaign against Taylor.
So the ABB and E88 must team up! To drive all Black people from their city.
And the Hispanics, just in case.
Leaving the Protectorate going WTF?
Now I have a mental picture of Kaiser and Lung, after they both (through their agents....her new friends) meeting up to discuss the situation.
Resolution? Clearly the only thing they could agree on, was that they have a common enemy.
Lung looks after the Asians
Kaiser protects the Whites
Sophia is Black and was 'clearly' the Ringleader of the campaign against Taylor.
So the ABB and E88 must team up! To drive all Black people from their city.
And the Hispanics, just in case.
Leaving the Protectorate going WTF?
- Location
- Existance
I think it was mentioned in canon or just from WoG that working out secret identities would be trivial if people put any sort of effort into it, and that it's only the unwritten rules that stop capes from going after people unmasked.
So if they work out any sort of compromise, it might just be that their best way to get Taylor on side is to kick the PRT out of town completely, to get rid of Sophia.
Slumber Interlude: Sophia & Madison
chibipoe
May I tell you of the glory that is Catradora?
- Location
- Astoria, Oregon
There was something wrong.
The thought came to her once again as she sat in one of the classes she shared with Hebert, watching as she exchanged words with a pair of new girls. Chatted with them amicably, comfortably.
It was wrong. Not just the difficulty finding opportunities for putting her in her place, but the entire environment. Students were talking to her, she was making friends, being more outgoing. Nothing like the wilting little flower that shied away from any social contact for fear of being burned. Or like a puppy that cringed whenever someone was near, thinking it would be kicked.
Emma had been suspended and the others given detention. She had avoided that by not being present, but had heard all about how the mouse had snapped at her from Emma. There were the moments where she had tried to remind Hebert of her place, only for the girl to avoid it by the narrowest of margins and then give her this look. Like she had seen it coming and the only reason she didn't retaliate was that she was bored.
It was wrong. And with Emma absent and the other girls quaking in fear thanks to detentions with that new teacher, who was military or something, she was sure. He tried hiding it with clothes, but the way he moved… it screamed do not cross to her, so she did her best to avoid him, which was harder than she thought. He seemed to be everywhere and she had narrowly avoided him catching trying to push Hebert around several times already.
No, there was something definitely wrong, she thought as she watched Taylor carrying on talking, eyeing the way she moved. Self-assured, confident. A complete reversal from the way she had been before. Was it because of the locker? She bit her lip, considering that possibility. Had the pathetic little mouse grown a spine because of that? Or something else?
Her mind flashed back to that incident, thinking of the panic that had filled her when she saw the PRT vans arriving at the school. Of the questioning all the students had gotten and the observation she knew was on her. Hebert had ratted, she was certain at first, but as days passed and no action was taken against her, she became unsure.
Taylor's attitude change came in the wake of that, as she was more outspoken and intolerant of their actions, of the teachers. Then that teacher arrived and it had only gotten worse. It was almost like she had become another person.
What if she had triggered and gained powers? The very idea made her want to snort. As if that worthless girl could ever do that. No. Something or someone was reinforcing her, giving her the idea that she was something more than a spineless victim. Sophia crushed her juice box and tossed it in the trash, stalking out of the cafeteria. Whatever the cause, she wasn't stupid. Something had changed and she needed more information before she took any sort of action.
Emma was still out and she hadn't heard from her since the weekend. Her dad had been planning to meet with the teacher, but she hadn't heard how that had gone yet.
I'll go by her place after school and see how she's doing, Sophia thought. They could work out a plan to deal with Taylor then. Whatever spine the mouse thought she was developing, they would break it. She glanced around, noting the students sporting Empire colors that gave her dirty looks.
Whatever they did would likely need to be soon. The way the gangs were carrying on wasn't something that the authorities would overlook for long and if there was more official attention, they wouldn't be able to do anything. She ignored the gang members and kept walking, heading down to a stairwell that saw little use. It was one of the places she liked to ambush Hebert at, since it went all the way to the roof and the mouse used to like hiding there for lunches..
Now, though, it served quite well for what she needed; a storage space. Looking upward, she
couldn't hear anyone in the stairwell so she ducked under the lower stairs, nudging aside the cover to an air duct. The dim light was a hindrance for a moment as she felt around, then her hand closed on the familiar shape of her crossbow.
Smuggling it in had been fairly easy, just showing up early under the pretense of track practice and she had been able to get it inside. After that, a quick trip through the school and she had been able to stash this here, along with some other things in case she ran into any trouble with the Empire. Slipping it into her backpack, with some books around it to conceal its shape, she left the stairwell, feeling substantially more secure than before.
Other than some glares, she didn't have any issues with the gang members through the rest of the day. She made a few attempts to rough Taylor up when there was no one around, but they ended the same way everything she had tried recently did, with Hebert looking bored and stepping out of the way flawlessly, like she had seen it coming.
The thought crossed her mind, again, that perhaps she had, that she had gained powers. But it was crushed just as ruthlessly. It couldn't be that. But why did the thought keep coming back? Sophia frowned as she left Winslow, angling off toward the bus stop that would take her near Emma's. The thought hit her as she waited, the realization of at least part of what was setting off her nerves with the change in Taylor's behavior and how she was evading everything Sophia tried.
Abnormal. That was what it was. Taylor hadn't even looked at her until after she had avoided being shoved or hit. Sophia had enough experience moving silently that she knew the other girl hadn't even known she was there. And she still avoided with uncanny ease. Sophia let a growl escape as she thought of how Hebert had looked at her.
Her fingers drummed on her knee as she thought about that. How dare that stupid little mouse look at her like that, like she thought she was better? She kicked the back of the empty seat in front of her, wishing she had someone to hit.
No. She had to be calm about this. Whatever the mouse was up to, this was probably part of it. Sophia took a deep breath, considering the last instance, trying to corner her in the stairs and how she had taken a step to the right just before her hand would have struck, leaving her grasping at air.
Like she had known it was coming. She wondered again whether Taylor had gotten some sort of powers as she reached up and tapped the signal for getting the driver to stop. She didn't think so, but Emma had known her longer. Maybe she could help her figure this out. Was this how she had acted before? The first time Sophia had met her had been outside Emma's house and there was no sign of the person she was seeing now that she recalled.
The walk the rest of the way to Emma's house passed unnoticed and she found herself knocking when the door was locked. Odd, but maybe Mr. Barnes was pissed over Emma being suspended. A moment passed, then another and she heard the door being unlatched and Mr. Barnes was there, looking exhausted and, for a moment, she thought, angry. But it was so fast that she wasn't sure
"Hi, Mr. Barnes," she said, waving a hand in greeting. "Can I come in? I wanted to talk to Emma about some stuff."
He didn't say anything for a long moment before taking a deep breath. "I'm afraid Emma isn't feeling well at the moment, Sophia. She came down with yesterday and has spent most of today asleep. I don't know if it's contagious, but I trust you don't want to catch anything. You've got a track meet this weekend, don't you?"
She nodded slowly, frowning a bit. "I do. Well, let her know I came by and to call me when she's feeling better, okay?"
"I'll let her know," Mr. Barnes said, nodding before he closed the door. Sophia stood there for a moment and then grimaced, walking away. All the way out here for nothing. She kicked a rock along the sidewalk and glanced up toward Emma's window. The curtains were drawn and it was dark, showing no signs of her friend.
"Sick, is she?" Sophia said aloud, shoving her hands into her pockets and fishing out her personal phone. She tapped out a message and sent it off, waiting for a response as she kept walking. By the time she reached the bus stop and settled on the bench to wait, she was still waiting and she was about to put the phone away in disgust when it buzzed in her hand
She blinked in surprise, before she flipped it open again.
-Dad unhappy, got low-down from Singer, banned from everything, grounded.
Sophia stared at the message. Banned? Because of that teacher? What the hell did Singer say to her dad?
-What did he say?
-Had copy of everything said to Hebert, plus some other stuff. Didn't see all. g2g.
Shutting the screen off, Sophia climbed onto the bus as it arrived, seething. The teacher. Writing down everything they said? Because stupid Hebert hadn't had the sense to accept her place?
Her eyes narrowed and she almost swore. That was it. Hebert must have whined to him, convinced him to intercede with some sob story. Then he'd cracked down on Emma and fed the same line of nonsense to Mr. Barnes.
Her knuckles whitened from the pressure as she gripped the side of her chair. Hebert. It kept coming back to Hebert.
Detention, Madison Clements, thought, sucked.
Why did I ever think it was a good idea to hang out with those two? She finished the last of her homework assignments for the day. At least the detention hour was good for that, because otherwise she would be bored out of her mind.
The entire association with those two was supposed to be a good thing. Emma was popular, a model and Sophia the star of the track team. A bit rough around the edges, but Emma was smoothing those away. Associating with them let her steal some of the shine from the two of them without eclipsing them.
But the longer she had associated with them, the more she had wondered about this. Sure, she got the benefits of popularity, but the more she had gone along, the less satisfied she was with the whole arrangement.
Not that either of them noticed. If there was one thing she was good at it, it was presenting the face she wanted people to see. All Emma and Sophia saw was the girl all too willing to help them in their campaign of terror against Taylor Hebert.
And what a waste of time that was. It was like the two of them thought of nothing else but making her life miserable. What was even the point? She didn't know what the girl had done to offend them so, but it helped distance Madison Clements from other things, so she went along with it.
All minor, stupid things that looked more impressive than they really were. But they kept Taylor distracted by their sheer pettiness that she was often blindsided by the more severe actions of Emma and Sophia.
Now, however, Emma's efforts to torment Taylor had backfired. The new teacher had thrown everything on its head and with Sophia brooding, Madison had opportunity to simply observe how things had changed. The gangs were out in force, making a show of… something. Maybe related to that incident the day of the locker stunt.
That incident perplexed her. The most likely candidate for a parahuman awakening would have been Taylor, but other than an attitude change, she hadn't shown any sort of abilities that Madison had noticed. Her change of attitude wasn't the only thing. Her appearance too. She was wearing nice clothes, and looking comfortable in them.
It was odd. She wasn't carrying herself the way she had before. Most of the awkward, not comfortable in her own skin state she had carried before. Taylor Hebert moved like someone comfortable with her own body. Mostly.
Madison didn't think anyone else had noticed and she certainly wasn't going to tell them if they hadn't, but there were moments that she seemed awkward, as if she was expecting her reach to be different. It was just moments here or there. Reaching for a pen and fumbling it as if her fingers weren't the right proportions.
It was something Madison was familiar with, which made her wonder about Taylor Hebert. Whatever the case, Taylor's sudden shift in attitude had affected the dynamics among the school, when coupled with the Professor's crackdown. Taylor was already several steps beyond the school pariah, with new students socializing with her and displaying no fear of anyone.
Emma, Madison realized, was going to have a rude surprise when she returned from her suspension.
"Are you finished, Ms. Clements?" Professor Singer's voice rang out and she blinked, realizing that the other students sharing detention were gone.
"Yes, sir," she said, gathering her papers. "Everything is done and I have my homework finished."
"Good," he said. "You may go then. I'm sure your parents are waiting for you." Madison nodded, but didn't say anything as she left, merely glancing toward the Professor as he raised an arm and began cleaning off the board behind him. After a second, she shook her head and left.
Her parents were not, as Professor Singer thought, waiting for her. They were never waiting for her. Business and choice kept them away and other than a monthly stipend, she only heard from them if they were going to be in town and they needed her for dinner or a party. Otherwise, she was left to take care of herself with the money they sent.
Her phone buzzed as she walked out and she slipped it out of her jacket, eyeing the number displayed before sighing. A moment of concentration and she pushed answer.
"Yes?"
"You're late for patrol."
"I was held up. Couldn't be helped. I'll be on my way shortly."
"I'll meet you when you arrive." The line went dead and she rolled her eyes, making a beeline for her car. She had turned sixteen early in the year and was rewarded with a car from her parents. She loosened the knot of her scarf and tossed it into the passenger seat after she was in the driver's seat. The parking lot was mostly empty and so no one noticed or paid any attention as she leaned the seat back, pulling a blanket from the back over herself in case anyone did happen by.
A bit of effort and she tucked the clothes she had been wearing into a bag, switching into something more comfortable for what she was about to do. She preemptively flipped down the mirror, staring at her reflection as it changed.
It was automatic as she leaned down, gripping the lever to push the seat back so it would accommodate the extra space she was going to need. Habit drove her to tilt the steering wheel as well, her grip changing as she no longer had to worry about her fingernails getting in the way. One hand reached up to adjust the rear view mirror, meeting the reflection that was there, of a teenage male with a vaguely asian cast to his features where before there had been a petite blonde teenage girl.
Starting the car, he backed out and drove off, still pondering the school situation. If his reading was right, things were going to change and the new rising star didn't like Madison at all. But that was all right. Madison was used to becoming exactly what she needed to be to fit in. She had a lot of practice with that.
He parked his car on a floor in the parking complex that faced out toward the bay and finished changing into her uniform, knowing she was probably going to get reprimanded for being late, despite the reasons why. An amused smirk appeared on his face as he thought about that. The smirk quickly faded as she found her boss waiting for her on the transport over to the rig.
She snapped to attention, offering a salute as a gesture of respect. "Browbeat reporting for duty, ma'am!"
---
The thought came to her once again as she sat in one of the classes she shared with Hebert, watching as she exchanged words with a pair of new girls. Chatted with them amicably, comfortably.
It was wrong. Not just the difficulty finding opportunities for putting her in her place, but the entire environment. Students were talking to her, she was making friends, being more outgoing. Nothing like the wilting little flower that shied away from any social contact for fear of being burned. Or like a puppy that cringed whenever someone was near, thinking it would be kicked.
Emma had been suspended and the others given detention. She had avoided that by not being present, but had heard all about how the mouse had snapped at her from Emma. There were the moments where she had tried to remind Hebert of her place, only for the girl to avoid it by the narrowest of margins and then give her this look. Like she had seen it coming and the only reason she didn't retaliate was that she was bored.
It was wrong. And with Emma absent and the other girls quaking in fear thanks to detentions with that new teacher, who was military or something, she was sure. He tried hiding it with clothes, but the way he moved… it screamed do not cross to her, so she did her best to avoid him, which was harder than she thought. He seemed to be everywhere and she had narrowly avoided him catching trying to push Hebert around several times already.
No, there was something definitely wrong, she thought as she watched Taylor carrying on talking, eyeing the way she moved. Self-assured, confident. A complete reversal from the way she had been before. Was it because of the locker? She bit her lip, considering that possibility. Had the pathetic little mouse grown a spine because of that? Or something else?
Her mind flashed back to that incident, thinking of the panic that had filled her when she saw the PRT vans arriving at the school. Of the questioning all the students had gotten and the observation she knew was on her. Hebert had ratted, she was certain at first, but as days passed and no action was taken against her, she became unsure.
Taylor's attitude change came in the wake of that, as she was more outspoken and intolerant of their actions, of the teachers. Then that teacher arrived and it had only gotten worse. It was almost like she had become another person.
What if she had triggered and gained powers? The very idea made her want to snort. As if that worthless girl could ever do that. No. Something or someone was reinforcing her, giving her the idea that she was something more than a spineless victim. Sophia crushed her juice box and tossed it in the trash, stalking out of the cafeteria. Whatever the cause, she wasn't stupid. Something had changed and she needed more information before she took any sort of action.
Emma was still out and she hadn't heard from her since the weekend. Her dad had been planning to meet with the teacher, but she hadn't heard how that had gone yet.
I'll go by her place after school and see how she's doing, Sophia thought. They could work out a plan to deal with Taylor then. Whatever spine the mouse thought she was developing, they would break it. She glanced around, noting the students sporting Empire colors that gave her dirty looks.
Whatever they did would likely need to be soon. The way the gangs were carrying on wasn't something that the authorities would overlook for long and if there was more official attention, they wouldn't be able to do anything. She ignored the gang members and kept walking, heading down to a stairwell that saw little use. It was one of the places she liked to ambush Hebert at, since it went all the way to the roof and the mouse used to like hiding there for lunches..
Now, though, it served quite well for what she needed; a storage space. Looking upward, she
couldn't hear anyone in the stairwell so she ducked under the lower stairs, nudging aside the cover to an air duct. The dim light was a hindrance for a moment as she felt around, then her hand closed on the familiar shape of her crossbow.
Smuggling it in had been fairly easy, just showing up early under the pretense of track practice and she had been able to get it inside. After that, a quick trip through the school and she had been able to stash this here, along with some other things in case she ran into any trouble with the Empire. Slipping it into her backpack, with some books around it to conceal its shape, she left the stairwell, feeling substantially more secure than before.
Other than some glares, she didn't have any issues with the gang members through the rest of the day. She made a few attempts to rough Taylor up when there was no one around, but they ended the same way everything she had tried recently did, with Hebert looking bored and stepping out of the way flawlessly, like she had seen it coming.
The thought crossed her mind, again, that perhaps she had, that she had gained powers. But it was crushed just as ruthlessly. It couldn't be that. But why did the thought keep coming back? Sophia frowned as she left Winslow, angling off toward the bus stop that would take her near Emma's. The thought hit her as she waited, the realization of at least part of what was setting off her nerves with the change in Taylor's behavior and how she was evading everything Sophia tried.
Abnormal. That was what it was. Taylor hadn't even looked at her until after she had avoided being shoved or hit. Sophia had enough experience moving silently that she knew the other girl hadn't even known she was there. And she still avoided with uncanny ease. Sophia let a growl escape as she thought of how Hebert had looked at her.
Her fingers drummed on her knee as she thought about that. How dare that stupid little mouse look at her like that, like she thought she was better? She kicked the back of the empty seat in front of her, wishing she had someone to hit.
No. She had to be calm about this. Whatever the mouse was up to, this was probably part of it. Sophia took a deep breath, considering the last instance, trying to corner her in the stairs and how she had taken a step to the right just before her hand would have struck, leaving her grasping at air.
Like she had known it was coming. She wondered again whether Taylor had gotten some sort of powers as she reached up and tapped the signal for getting the driver to stop. She didn't think so, but Emma had known her longer. Maybe she could help her figure this out. Was this how she had acted before? The first time Sophia had met her had been outside Emma's house and there was no sign of the person she was seeing now that she recalled.
The walk the rest of the way to Emma's house passed unnoticed and she found herself knocking when the door was locked. Odd, but maybe Mr. Barnes was pissed over Emma being suspended. A moment passed, then another and she heard the door being unlatched and Mr. Barnes was there, looking exhausted and, for a moment, she thought, angry. But it was so fast that she wasn't sure
"Hi, Mr. Barnes," she said, waving a hand in greeting. "Can I come in? I wanted to talk to Emma about some stuff."
He didn't say anything for a long moment before taking a deep breath. "I'm afraid Emma isn't feeling well at the moment, Sophia. She came down with yesterday and has spent most of today asleep. I don't know if it's contagious, but I trust you don't want to catch anything. You've got a track meet this weekend, don't you?"
She nodded slowly, frowning a bit. "I do. Well, let her know I came by and to call me when she's feeling better, okay?"
"I'll let her know," Mr. Barnes said, nodding before he closed the door. Sophia stood there for a moment and then grimaced, walking away. All the way out here for nothing. She kicked a rock along the sidewalk and glanced up toward Emma's window. The curtains were drawn and it was dark, showing no signs of her friend.
"Sick, is she?" Sophia said aloud, shoving her hands into her pockets and fishing out her personal phone. She tapped out a message and sent it off, waiting for a response as she kept walking. By the time she reached the bus stop and settled on the bench to wait, she was still waiting and she was about to put the phone away in disgust when it buzzed in her hand
She blinked in surprise, before she flipped it open again.
-Dad unhappy, got low-down from Singer, banned from everything, grounded.
Sophia stared at the message. Banned? Because of that teacher? What the hell did Singer say to her dad?
-What did he say?
-Had copy of everything said to Hebert, plus some other stuff. Didn't see all. g2g.
Shutting the screen off, Sophia climbed onto the bus as it arrived, seething. The teacher. Writing down everything they said? Because stupid Hebert hadn't had the sense to accept her place?
Her eyes narrowed and she almost swore. That was it. Hebert must have whined to him, convinced him to intercede with some sob story. Then he'd cracked down on Emma and fed the same line of nonsense to Mr. Barnes.
Her knuckles whitened from the pressure as she gripped the side of her chair. Hebert. It kept coming back to Hebert.
~~~~~~~~
Detention, Madison Clements, thought, sucked.
Why did I ever think it was a good idea to hang out with those two? She finished the last of her homework assignments for the day. At least the detention hour was good for that, because otherwise she would be bored out of her mind.
The entire association with those two was supposed to be a good thing. Emma was popular, a model and Sophia the star of the track team. A bit rough around the edges, but Emma was smoothing those away. Associating with them let her steal some of the shine from the two of them without eclipsing them.
But the longer she had associated with them, the more she had wondered about this. Sure, she got the benefits of popularity, but the more she had gone along, the less satisfied she was with the whole arrangement.
Not that either of them noticed. If there was one thing she was good at it, it was presenting the face she wanted people to see. All Emma and Sophia saw was the girl all too willing to help them in their campaign of terror against Taylor Hebert.
And what a waste of time that was. It was like the two of them thought of nothing else but making her life miserable. What was even the point? She didn't know what the girl had done to offend them so, but it helped distance Madison Clements from other things, so she went along with it.
All minor, stupid things that looked more impressive than they really were. But they kept Taylor distracted by their sheer pettiness that she was often blindsided by the more severe actions of Emma and Sophia.
Now, however, Emma's efforts to torment Taylor had backfired. The new teacher had thrown everything on its head and with Sophia brooding, Madison had opportunity to simply observe how things had changed. The gangs were out in force, making a show of… something. Maybe related to that incident the day of the locker stunt.
That incident perplexed her. The most likely candidate for a parahuman awakening would have been Taylor, but other than an attitude change, she hadn't shown any sort of abilities that Madison had noticed. Her change of attitude wasn't the only thing. Her appearance too. She was wearing nice clothes, and looking comfortable in them.
It was odd. She wasn't carrying herself the way she had before. Most of the awkward, not comfortable in her own skin state she had carried before. Taylor Hebert moved like someone comfortable with her own body. Mostly.
Madison didn't think anyone else had noticed and she certainly wasn't going to tell them if they hadn't, but there were moments that she seemed awkward, as if she was expecting her reach to be different. It was just moments here or there. Reaching for a pen and fumbling it as if her fingers weren't the right proportions.
It was something Madison was familiar with, which made her wonder about Taylor Hebert. Whatever the case, Taylor's sudden shift in attitude had affected the dynamics among the school, when coupled with the Professor's crackdown. Taylor was already several steps beyond the school pariah, with new students socializing with her and displaying no fear of anyone.
Emma, Madison realized, was going to have a rude surprise when she returned from her suspension.
"Are you finished, Ms. Clements?" Professor Singer's voice rang out and she blinked, realizing that the other students sharing detention were gone.
"Yes, sir," she said, gathering her papers. "Everything is done and I have my homework finished."
"Good," he said. "You may go then. I'm sure your parents are waiting for you." Madison nodded, but didn't say anything as she left, merely glancing toward the Professor as he raised an arm and began cleaning off the board behind him. After a second, she shook her head and left.
Her parents were not, as Professor Singer thought, waiting for her. They were never waiting for her. Business and choice kept them away and other than a monthly stipend, she only heard from them if they were going to be in town and they needed her for dinner or a party. Otherwise, she was left to take care of herself with the money they sent.
Her phone buzzed as she walked out and she slipped it out of her jacket, eyeing the number displayed before sighing. A moment of concentration and she pushed answer.
"Yes?"
"You're late for patrol."
"I was held up. Couldn't be helped. I'll be on my way shortly."
"I'll meet you when you arrive." The line went dead and she rolled her eyes, making a beeline for her car. She had turned sixteen early in the year and was rewarded with a car from her parents. She loosened the knot of her scarf and tossed it into the passenger seat after she was in the driver's seat. The parking lot was mostly empty and so no one noticed or paid any attention as she leaned the seat back, pulling a blanket from the back over herself in case anyone did happen by.
A bit of effort and she tucked the clothes she had been wearing into a bag, switching into something more comfortable for what she was about to do. She preemptively flipped down the mirror, staring at her reflection as it changed.
It was automatic as she leaned down, gripping the lever to push the seat back so it would accommodate the extra space she was going to need. Habit drove her to tilt the steering wheel as well, her grip changing as she no longer had to worry about her fingernails getting in the way. One hand reached up to adjust the rear view mirror, meeting the reflection that was there, of a teenage male with a vaguely asian cast to his features where before there had been a petite blonde teenage girl.
Starting the car, he backed out and drove off, still pondering the school situation. If his reading was right, things were going to change and the new rising star didn't like Madison at all. But that was all right. Madison was used to becoming exactly what she needed to be to fit in. She had a lot of practice with that.
He parked his car on a floor in the parking complex that faced out toward the bay and finished changing into her uniform, knowing she was probably going to get reprimanded for being late, despite the reasons why. An amused smirk appeared on his face as he thought about that. The smirk quickly faded as she found her boss waiting for her on the transport over to the rig.
She snapped to attention, offering a salute as a gesture of respect. "Browbeat reporting for duty, ma'am!"
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VolantRedX
Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!
Awesome.
So, while seeing Sophia refuse to believe Taylor got precog abilities from the locker is amusing....
All of my wat @ Madison being Browbeat.
All of my wat @ Madison being Browbeat.
Blackkyuubi6
Excalibur was first.
. . . . Well that's new.