May 2009
Taylor had spent a good portion of the last two weeks crying. Her mother had been killed while walking down the street by some drunk driver. She never felt a thing; the impact had severed her spinal cord between the second and third cervical vertebrae, making her death pretty much instantaneous.
The funeral had been a quiet, sullen affair, with her maternal grandmother and great-aunt coming to help sort through her mother's effects. Taylor tried to help, tried to get her life back together. But her pillar of strength, the center of the family, was gone.
And then the relatives were gone, leaving Taylor and her father, Danny, alone in the house. Fortunately, Zoe and Emma came over frequently, and Alan made sure Danny got some initial counseling for his grief.
Still, it left Taylor with a lot of time to herself.
She was currently going through some older boxes in the basement, looking for something of hers that had been moved down here at the end of winter. As she finally found it, she noticed that it was sitting on top of a small wooden box she didn't recognize. She took the book that she'd been looking for, set it off to the side, and then examined the wooden box.
It appeared to be old, with the corners of the box reinforced by iron brackets. A couple straps of iron ran around the box horizontally with another pair running vertically. A pair of solid hinges connected the lid to the base, and a lock and latch kept it closed. The key had been placed in a cloth bag that had been tied to the handle.
She pulled the key out of the bag and, with some difficulty, managed to open the box.
Within lay a ruby couched in the silk lining the box. It was larger than her fist, and appeared to glow with an inner light. She touched it…
No, child, you are not ready.
…And she pulled her hand away. What was that? She shook her head, unsure if she'd actually heard anything.
She closed the box, carefully balancing the book she'd been looking for on top of it. After cleaning up from her search, she picked the box up with some difficulty and took it upstairs to her room.
Oh, my, we can't have that.
Taylor found that the task became a little bit easier as she made her way up the basement stairs and then up the stairs to her room. She placed the box under her bed and began to look at the book she'd been searching for. Stuck between a couple of pages was a scrap of parchment that turned out to belong to her mother. It was written in a messy scribble so that while it was in her style of handwriting, she couldn't make heads or tails of it.
Taylor felt that it was important and that one day, it'd be needed.
* * *
January 3rd, 2011
Taylor had been shoved face-first into a locker filled with what could be generously called filth to the cackling laughter of Sophia, Emma, and Madison. She'd tried to resist Sophia's manhandling of her, which got her hit hard enough that she was sure one of her ribs was broken, and she was having a bit of difficulty breathing.
Taylor closed her eyes. Not in surrender, but in an effort to calm herself, to try and think of a way to get out of this mess.
Say the words, child.
[Negotiation]
[Counter Proposal]
[Agreement]
[Destination]
Taylor spoke. The words were not of a human language, but one far more ancient, never meant for a human mouth. Yet somehow she said them. She was suffused with a rose-red light, and power surged through her stick-thin form.
- - -
Out in the hallway, Sophia stumbled, and Emma stopped to help her.
"Sophia," Emma asked her disoriented cohort, "what happened?"
"Hebert's trigg…" She never got to finish the sentence as the locker they'd stuffed Hebert into
exploded.
Madison, who'd been watching the scene from across the halll, got flattened by the locker door as it shot across the hallway. After the door fell away from her, she slid down the wall. A few groans meant she was still alive, but not in a good way.
The tearing sound of metal preceded Taylor removing herself from the locker by the expedient method of ripping her way out with her bare hands. Her clothes were in tatters over her now greatly expanded form, barely preserving her modesty. She turned to look at Madison where she was whimpering in pain and fear before focusing her gaze on Sophia, who was struggling to get up, and Emma.
Taylor started moving and took a step forward.
Sophia got up and began groggily walking away, Emma following her.
Taylor's footfalls came faster as she built up a good head of steam.
Sophia took one look behind her and quailed in
fear. The look in Hebert's eyes was one that she'd never forget. She took off running.
- - -
Janice Blackwell was just coming into a hallway intersection when she noticed both Sophia Hess and Emma Barnes go running past. There was some commotion further back down the hallway the two had just left. She could also smell something foul.
She turned her head to follow the pair and didn't see the freight train bearing down on her from behind.
Taylor didn't even notice that she'd flattened the principal.
Blackwell's last thoughts before slipping into unconsciousness were that the stars were out early, and she hadn't realized that a set of train tracks had been run through Winslow since the students had arrived.
- - -
The first attempt to block Taylor's charge was at a set of doors. Slamming them shut and then barring them with an appropriated broom – never mind the cursing from the janitor – was only minimally successful in the fact it slowed her down for a fraction of a second before she smashed through the doors, steel frames, and impromptu bar as if it were all tissue paper.
The pair heard the noise behind them, and Sophia decided to cut her losses. Instead of turning at the next corner, she ghosted through the wall. Emma, not realizing what Sophia had planned, ran headlong into the wall. Even dazed, she still had the presence of mind to try and get out of Taylor's path of travel only to fall over as the other girl didn't bat an eye at the would-be-impeding wall and left a rather large hole in her wake.
She tried to get up and get away, but some debris had landed on her leg, fracturing the bones in her right shin. It wasn't a bad break, but for a girl who'd never known physical trauma, she acted as if her leg had been amputated.
* * *
Sophia was running out of options. Ghosting through walls didn't work; Hebert simply barrelled through them. Trying to lose her didn't work; her pursuer somehow re-oriented on her and continued her unstoppable, relentless pursuit. And she was getting faster every second.
She'd finally reached one of her caches of equipment and grabbed a mask and one of her I-definitely-shouldn't-have-this-let- alone-at-school crossbows with the bolts with broadheads on them. It was cocked and ready, so she slipped her mask and cowl on, had a bolt in hand…
And her preparations were interrupted by the prey crashing through the wall from the rear of the closet.
Ghosting through the cloud of debris, Sophia hit the floor running and headed down the hallway, Taylor in relentless pursuit.
- - -
When the building started to shake, most of the teachers had the presence of mind to start evacuating students, especially when the vice principal hit the alarm for "Get out of the building!" Since most of what was happening was in the upper floors, many of the students quickly made their way out of the building and to their assigned assembly areas in preselected locations around the school property. The rest were not far behind them.
Windows blowing out was evidence that the fight was moving around in the building, showering debris out into the parking lot. Then windows on the lowest level began blowing out, and that was soon followed by a parahuman in a black cowl, carrying a crossbow, phasing through the wall. She floated slowly to the ground, turned to face her more tangible pursuer, and let fly with a bolt that appeared to be made of shadow.
Her aim was true. However, Taylor didn't give a fuck about how good her opponent's aim was, and the shadowy bolt just stopped about where Taylor's skin began before falling away.
Sophia then realized that she was in a dangerous position, since she was now within arm's reach of her opponent. Or she may have realized she was in trouble when a hand twice the width of hers grabbed her head and lifted her from the ground. She tried to ghost her way out…
...And couldn't. Oh, she could turn into a living shadow. She just couldn't for some power/bullshit reason escape the hand.
"You know, it'd be really nice if you set her down," a new voice said.
- - -
Taylor looked at who'd spoken. Man dressed in a red costume, shock of reddish brown hair, a mask covering the lower half of his face. Assault. Probably one of the nicer heroes in the area. Popular with the teenagers, too.
"Why?" Taylor responded. "So she can run and shoot at me again?" She gave Sophia a little shake, causing the dangling girl to swear.
Sophia mumbled something from behind her mask, unintelligible because she was basically talking into Taylor's now rather sizable hand.
"Ah, Shadow Stalker," Assault snarked. "You may not be aware of this, but a video of you shoving a girl into a locker was dropped into the PRT's anonymous tip line. And of course, there's the fact that every trooper here saw you take a shot at a new trigger, and the crossbow bolts that are scattered on the ground are ones that shouldn't be in your possession.
"So, miss?" the red-clad hero continued, taking another step closer. "If you'll allow me, I'll restrain your captive so she can't run away, so you can let her go and we can talk about things like sensible people, OK?"
"Sure, fine, whatever," Taylor rumbled. She lowered Sophia down to where the hero could reach the girl's arms, and he applied first a bracelet and an anklet to her, and then zip cuffs.
"And that should do it," Assault smugly stated. "I can take her off your hands, if you'd like?"
Taylor simply dropped Sophia, who was caught by the hero and passed over to waiting PRT troopers.
"Now if you'll come with me, we'll get your statement about what happened."
"Fine," Taylor muttered.
* * *
Emily Piggot glowered at the other people sitting in Conference Room Two. Namely Assault (who cheerfully waved back at her), Sophia (currently wearing prisoner orange), Miss Militia (currently holding a Brute-rated taser aimed at Sophia), Agent Jan Davidson (who had a guard standing behind her), and Armsmaster.
"I've seen all the videos," she growled toward Sophia. "Even without the video of you, Miss Barnes, and Miss Clements shoving Miss Hebert into the locker, there is also the fact that the body cams of nine PRT troopers caught you in possession of equipment that violated the terms of your probation.
That alone gets you sent to Fort Leavenworth, and doesn't include anything else that you get charged with from the last couple of years. The rest of this morning's events do you no favors."
She turned to fix her glare on Agent Davidson. "You should have been reporting this to me the moment she—" Emily pointed at Sophia "—went off the rails. Not covering it up. What we find in your records and on your computer will determine what happens to you.
"As you have both asked that you have a lawyer present for any interviews, you are currently being held until we can find representation for you. Your choice of legal counsel, Sophia, has a severe conflict of interest in this matter and has been recused from the case by Judge Hamilton. Unless you tell us of another option, you'll have one assigned to you by tomorrow. Agent Davidson, yours will be present at your interviews this afternoon. You are both dismissed."
Once the two were removed from the room, she focused on Armsmaster. "How goes digging into Hess' PRT phone?"
"While she did remember to securely erase things on her phone," Armsmaster stated, "she had forgotten that they are also backed up daily to our secure storage here. Even a cursory examination of the message traffic between Hess, Barnes, and Clements corroborates Miss Hebert's accusations of grand theft, assault, harassment, and attempted homicide. A deeper and more thorough examination of the data will probably make that list even longer. We have also secured a warrant for her civilian phone, and are in the process of examining it."
"And Agent Davidson's computer?"
"There is sufficient evidence to prove that she has been covering up Wards' misdeeds for quite some time. Very minor things with Triumph, nothing that is still actionable, but with Hess, things got more severe. There also appears to be some evidence of misappropriated funds. Dragon and I will have more evidence by morning, and it should also be enough to secure a federal warrant for Principal Blackwell's arrest… Once she gets out of the hospital."
"Good. OK, Assault, your turn."
"Ah, yes. Our newly triggered parahuman is one Taylor Hebert, age fifteen. This morning, she was five foot eight inches and one hundred twenty pounds," Assault reported. "At roughly seven forty-five this morning, she was physically assaulted and pushed into her school locker by Hess, Barnes, and Clements, and then locked in. Two minutes after that, she triggered.
"Within five seconds, Clements had been flattened by the locker door flying off its hinges and striking her. Broken ribs and nose, sprained ankle. Hospitalized, but expected to fully recover. Miss Hebert proceeded to tear her way out of the locker and immediately focused on Hess and Barnes. They'd realized they were in deep and fled the scene as Hebert began advancing towards them." Assault took a moment to drink some coffee from the cup he had on the table before continuing.
"It was in the initial stages of the chase that Winslow principal Janice Blackwell was looking into what was going on when Hess and Barnes ran by. Since her attention was focused on the pair, she did not see Hebert at all and subsequently got run over. Miss Hebert later stated she didn't see Blackwell either and hadn't noticed she'd literally run over the woman. As Armsmaster said, hospitalized.
"Barnes was the next one down. Hess decided to cut her losses and phased through a wall instead of turning. Barnes slammed into the wall, stunning herself. Hebert followed Hess by going straight through the wall, said wall losing the resulting physics debate. A large chunk of debris broke Barnes' leg, a simple fracture, but it kept her in place until EMTs retrieved her. The chase continued through several more rooms and floors of the building before culminating in Hess using a hunting crossbow, broadhead bolts, and her power on Miss Hebert to no effect, which was caught on camera. The building is being checked for stability and repair estimates. I got the impression the inspectors are unhappy with something more than the damage, but couldn't find out what."
Emily nodded. "For now, Hess is under arrest, bail denied due to violation of her probation and the fact she's a flight risk. Agent Davidson is suspended pending the result of our investigation. What about Miss Hebert?"
Assault leaned back in his chair. "She is currently sitting down in Medical, getting an examination. Her trigger event took her from five eight and a hundred and twenty pounds to six ten and three hundred twenty pounds, most of it apparently muscle. Based on observations, she's a brute / breaker, maybe some thinker tossed in, because she was able to follow Hess through walls and floors despite multiple turns. I'd probably rate her slightly higher than Glory Girl."
"Really?" asked Director Piggot. "Why?"
"While Glory has punched through walls, they usually slow her down quite a bit," Assault explained. "Miss Hebert just kept right on going, not breaking her stride at all.
"As to her personal situation, once we took Stalker off her hands and took her statement, she wanted us to call her father so she could get a ride home," Assault continued. "When her father – Danny Hebert,
de facto head of the DWA – arrived, we all found out that she could no longer fit in his car. After providing transportation to her house, she couldn't fit in the door. That, and she broke a step on their doorstep. So I offered the use of one of our apartments over in the annex."
"Good," Emily said. "Bad enough that one of our own caused this mess. If Legal doesn't already know, warn 'em that a shitstorm is incoming."
* * *
Jan. 10th, 2011
It was lunchtime at Arcadia High School. The current gossip of the week had to do with the wrecking of Winslow, an alleged educational institution that mainly functioned as a gang recruiting location and close-quarters combat training area when something kicked off inside the building.
One media wag joked that Brockton Bay now had its own brand of "Winslow" Swiss cheese. Another compared the results to Squealer (a local vehicle tinker villain) touring the building. Several mentioned the place was long overdue for "a good airing-out" but were surprised it had been done so literally.
"Wow," Victoria Dallon stated as she read the current news while the cell repeaters were on for the lunch break. "All that damage to the building, but only four injured."
"Well, the cape who triggered did her best to try and not harm people getting out of the building, despite someone's attempt to kill her," Carlos added. "I'm glad Shadow Stalker got caught on camera so we don't have to deal with her attitude anymore."
"Ah, Stalker, we'll hardly miss you," Dennis intoned.
"Grimderp girl has become gone-derp girl," quipped Dean.
"Nice one."
"I wonder what happened to the new trigger?" Chris asked.
The question, of course, was rhetorical to all but two of them. As the Protectorate's East-Northeast's Wards, they knew exactly what had happened to the new trigger. She was currently staying in the PRT building's residential annex because she was too big to get into her own house.
The cafeteria suddenly fell silent as one of the double doors was pretty much filled by a new arrival. Her head almost reached the top of the doorframe; she was nearly seven feet tall. Her arms were each the size of a grown woman's leg, and her legs were like small tree trunks. There were clear indications of muscle, but not excessively so. She was wearing clothes that fit her frame well and were acceptable for the school's dress code. (People familiar with the situation believed there had to be thinkers involved, a rush order with Parian's workshop, or both.)
She had her long, brunette hair pulled back into a ponytail which fell in gentle waves to her mid-back. Her green eyes watched from behind a pair of round glasses as everyone looked at her. Crowd and amazon regarded each other for a moment, before the girl in the door sighed and began moving carefully towards the lunch line.
"That's her, right?" Vicky asked.
"Yes, it is," Dean answered. "Be nice, Vicky. She's had a really bad week and is still coming to grips with both her trigger and the amount of destruction she caused. Please?"
"Yeah, I get it," Vicky said. "Worst day ever, and then in one hour does more damage than I've ever done."
"To buildings, anyway," snarked Amy. "People are a different matter." She'd been watching the girl who had no difficulty navigating the crowded cafeteria. People, even members of the football team, parted around her like the Red Sea did for Moses, and she calmly made her way through the serving line and to a table that had enough space for her to sit at. Which happened to be the table all the Wards (and two of New Wave) were sitting at.
"Hi, I'm Taylor," she said quietly. "Is this space taken?"
