Just a place for me to play with some of my idle musings.
The Ramblings Of A Mat Man: AKA The Obligatory Snippets Thread
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Dance Through The Danger
This seems to be an obligation for everyone who writes Worm Fanfic, so I figured hey might as well. This is mostly going to be a place for me to play with stories I'm not sure are worth giving their own thread, either because I'm not interested in them for more then a scene or two or they can't really go too far or I'm not sure if anyone besides me would be interested in the idea.
Family is an odd thing, for all the importance people place on it how much do most of us really know about our families. Sure we know at least a bit about our parents and maybe even our grandparents but past a certain point it ceases to matter. At least that's how it is for most of us, the heroine of our story one Taylor Hebert is going to discover that some family legacies are a little more important than others. Let's join her now.
"It's time to go little owl." Danny said in the odd almost robotic tone he'd been speaking in since the passing of his wife. Taylor shook her head slightly at that.
"Okay, but could I just have a minute alone? Please Dad." Taylor whispered. Danny just looked at her, taking in the dark circles under her blood shoot eyes and found he couldn't refuse her. She'd held up through all of this and he could hardly deny her a moment of solitude to break down, it's not like he'd not been doing the same every night since he'd gotten the news. He pulled her into an embrace.
"Of course, I'll just go get the car ready, you take as much time as you need." He murmured into her hair. Once he finally let go Emma immediately replaced him in the hug.
"I've gotta go, but you call if you need me okay, promise." She pulled back from the hug and stared into Taylor's eyes trying to make sure she realized how serious she was. Taylor gave her a small smile which Emma returned.
"I promise." Taylor stated. "I just, I just need some time with Mom." Emma gave her one last quick squeeze and started making her way over to her families car where her Dad was waiting impatiently. Finally Taylor was left alone and finally let the tears she'd been holding back all day fall. This moment, these feeling were for her and her mom alone. She stood there weeping for she didn't know how long before the tears finally subsided and she could say the words she needed to say.
"I really miss you mom." Taylor stood there wrestling with her vocabularies inability to express how she was feeling. "No that's not it, I need you, Dad needs you and you're not here and, and, that just really, really sucks." Knowing what she wanted to say but not knowing how to say it Taylor fell silent again. "God this is stupid, you're not even here I just, I love you mom, bye." So saying Taylor followed a random impulse and placed a kiss on the grave. At that moment a guest of wind swirled around here and Taylor could swear that she felt someone hugging her from behind and on the wind she swore could smell her mother's favorite perfume. Taylor stumbled back and gazed at the grave in wonder.
"That's weird... I need to get some sleep, I'm starting to imagine things." So saying she turned and half ran to her fathers side ready to be done with the day. Danny gave her a smile and started the car. As they were pulling out he remembered something Alan had mentioned to him before heading out.
"Taylor, Alan is going to be having a kind of get together at their place. Kind of a tribute to Mom, chance for everybody to just remember her and talk about her. I have to go but you can skip if you want to. What do you think?" Taylor sat in silence for a moment weighing her desire to just sleep and get away from all of this for a few hours against her desire to see Emma and maybe get another hug from her life long friend. Eventually sleep won out.
"I think I just want to go home and have a nap or something Dad." Taylor whispered leaning against her window and closing her eyes. Danny nodded and began heading in the direction of home.
"Of course, sweetheart."
Danny left Taylor at the house with another hug and instructions that if she needed anything at all to call him at the Barnes residence. Taylor nodded absently and then headed upstairs where she almost immediately fell asleep
"Where am I?" Taylor murmured.
"Well now, that's a simple question with a complicated answer Little Owl. But I'll do my best." A familiar voice laughed behind her. Not daring to believe her senses Taylor slowly turned and saw her standing there with the same loving eyes, the same kind smile, the same long curly hair that matched Taylor's own. It couldn't be her, but it was.
"Mom." Taylor half sobbed and ran over to her hugging her fiercely. "I had the worst dream, you were dead and Dad was sad and I was sad and we had a funeral and, and, and." Taylor looked up and gazed into her mothers compassionate face. "Oh, this is the dream isn't it." She stated feeling that brief moment of hope fly away.
"Sort of, I have a lot to tell you. Come with me" Annette took her daughter by the hand and led her away from the fountain leading her to a hall filled with statues of women. "This is hard to explain to start with you are dreaming but this place is real. This is the genie realm." Annette said slowly trying to find the right words to explain what she barely understood. Taylor stared at her with open skepticism.
"Genies, like wish granting never had a friend like me genies?" Taylor snarked at her mom feeling a touch of comfort from the familiar feeling moment in such an odd setting. Annette stared at her for a moment and then started laughing to the point of tears.
"Oh gosh, I didn't believe it either at first. Wish I'd come up with that myself." Annette got out through the last of her giggles and straightened up trying to look serious in the face of her daughters disbelief. "No real genies aren't like the stories you've heard growing up they were more like well more like heroes. Think more Miss Militia and less Robin Williams. A genie would be assigned a town to protect and would use their magic to face down any threats or dangers faced by the people who lived there." Finishing her opening spiel Annette stopped and awaited Taylor's response.
"Fine, assuming I buy any of this, what does it have to do with us?" Taylor asked.
"A long time ago the genies judged that humans had reached the point where they could be trusted to defend and guide themselves so they returned to the genie realm. The problem is they didn't foresee that parahumans would emerge and now the world is in danger again. The genies who are here can't go back to the human world, the spell that brought them back was a one way trip. But they have descendants out there and their magic can be awoken. They would just be half genies, not as powerful as the original ones but they might be able to do some good."
Taylor just stood there while she tried to process the story her mother had just told her and find some way to make it fit with her existing world view.
"And lemme guess, I'm one of their descendants right?" Taylor asked in a suspiciously innocent voice. Annette nodded slowly.
"Yes, that's right."
"So I'm going to get these super special powers and save the day and all that right?"
"I wouldn't put it that way but yes that's the basic plan." Taylor nodded to herself for a moment at the confirmation.
"Fine, so what phenomenal cosmic power will I be awakening?" Taylor said in an awed voice which would sound oddly insincere to the ears of anyone who happened to be listening. In the face of her formidable sarcasm, Annette still bravely soldiered on.
"I'm new to this too Taylor, but from what I understand you're still young so you won't have full access to your magic powers. At least at first it's just going to make you much stronger and faster. The more impressive stuff will come later, when you're ready." Annette explained.
"Yeah okay, this sounds like a terrible fantasy novel. You realize that right?"
Annette came up to Taylor and knelt in front of her, taking her daughters hands in hers she implored Taylor.
"I know this is a lot to take in Taylor. Trust me it threw me for a loop too, but just trust me okay."
Taylor ripped her hands away from Annette's stepped back shaking her head.
"No you're not my mom, you're just a figment of my imagination. You're gone and this is just a dream and I. WANT. TO. WAKE. UP!" Taylor cried out in as loud a voice as she could manage."
"Genie realm, I need to take a creative writing class or something. I thought I was more creative than that." Still despite her better judgement Taylor found herself wondering what if. To her own amazement she found herself grabbing her shoes and heading to the backyard. "Magic powers, yeah right." Finding herself outside she took a quick look around to make sure there was no one around to see what was sure to be a horribly embarrassing moment. She'd prove to herself that she didn't have any kind of powers and she could put this whole weird thing out of her mind. Taylor crouched low and jumped as high as she could. Next thing she knew she was standing on her roof. Taylor looked down at the ground in amazement.
"It was real, it was all real." She murmured in amazement. "It was all real!!" With that cry Taylor leaped back down to the ground and ran up to her bedroom. Hoping that if she could fall asleep again, she would be back in the genie realm and maybe just maybe she could see her mom again.
"Hello again Taylor." Her mom said, Taylor spun around in excitement and ran up to her babbling excitedly.
"Mom. Mom, it's all true, it's really all true. I went outside and I jumped and I landed on the roof. It was awesome, what else can I do, I'm magic right can I do spells?" Taylor rushed out in a single breath, hoping in place waiting for her answer. Annette placed a hand on her head, slowly getting Taylor to stop hoping and hopefully calm down.
"In order, that's amazing, I don't know and I don't know." Annette said with a bit of a laugh in her voice.
"What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know?" Taylor huffed. Annette ruffled her hair fondly.
"I'm not a half genie remember. I can't teach you, I'm just here because the ruling council thought that a familiar face to introduce you to all of this would be a good idea."
"I guess that makes sense, but if you aren't going to teach me who is?" Taylor asked with a pout.
"She should be along in a second." Taylor nodded at that and when she blinked suddenly there was three of them standing there. Next to her mom was a beautiful teenage girl clad all in red harem pants and a red bikini top, to complete the ensemble she had large golden bracelets on her wrists, a thin gold belt around her waist and to top it all off a golden tiara on her head. Besides her rather eye catching attire the most striking feature about her was her long purple hair which she wore in a ponytail. Taylor took all of this in but before she could say anything the new arrival dashed forward and pulled her into a tight hug.
"Oh my gosh! Taylor I'm so, so excited to meet you. I'm going to teach you everything you'll ever need to know about being a half genie hero okay. Ahh this is so exciting." The stranger squealed as Taylor contemplated tapping out in the hopes it would convince her to end the strangle hold masquerading as a hug. Thankfully Annette reached out and pulled the girl off of Taylor who struggled to catch her breath.
"Nice to meet you too, now who are you?" Taylor asked in between gasps of sweet, sweet oxygen.
"Oh jeez, where are my manners I didn't even introduce myself." The girl gasped in horror at her inadvertent rudeness. "I'm Shantae, I'm your great, great, great, great, great." Annette reached out and covered her mouth. Based on the muffled sounds coming from behind her palm however, Shantae was perfectly content continuing her sentence despite this minor setback.
"Suffice to say there's a lot of greats there." Annette said with a touch of embarrassment. "Shantae is a half genie like you and before she crossed over to the genie realm she was a guardian genie. She's going to be your teacher." So saying Annette took her hand off of Shantae's mouth who gave a brilliant smile at the two of them before finishing what she was saying.
"Great, great, great Grandma!!!" She chirped happily. She strolled over to Taylor and threw an arm around her shoulder leaning in close she whispered into her ear.
"Now you ready to get started?" Shantae asked sounding remarkable excited. Taylor beamed up at her.
"YEAH"
Shantae matched Taylor's smile and threw her fist into the air while she cried out to the heavens themselves.
"Okay so we are Ret-2-Go."
The excitement drained from Taylor's face as she stared in confusion.
"Was that a word?" Taylor asked blankly.
"I'll explain later."
"Hey, what's going on I thought we were going to take today off from training." Taylor asked in confusion. Shantae shook her head frantically and ran over to Taylor.
"This isn't for training, I've been keeping an eye on your friends and family back home while you were away. Just to be safe and Emma's in big, big trouble." Taylor felt her eyes grow huge and grabbed onto Shantae.
"What's going on with Emma? Is she okay? What happened Shantae? Tell me!" Taylor half yelled, shaking poor Shantae as she demanded answers. Shantae managed to extricate from Taylor's grip and shook her head briefly while she tried to get her wits back.
"Emma and her Dad were driving home from a modelling job she had and he decided to take a shortcut. Some people from that gang, oh what were they called, the one with the dragon."
"The ABB." Taylor gasped in horror, the color draining from her face.
"That's the one, they boxed them in and it didn't look like they were very nice." Shantae finished off with the understatement of the century. Taylor's face set in grim determination.
"I'm going to help them." Taylor stated leaving no room for argument. Shantae nodded and snapped her fingers. With that Taylor found herself clad in an outfit very reminiscent of Shantae's. She had the same red harem pants and gold tiara but instead of a bikini top Taylor had a red shirt which fully covered her. The other change was the bulky gold bracelets Shantae wore had been slimmed down and looked more like a set bracers you'd find on a suit of armor. Taylor looked down at herself in astonishment.
"Alright, that's neat but what's the point of this?" Taylor asked.
"I know secret identities are a big thing for heroes in your society. There's a spell on the tiara that should make it hard for anyone to figure out who you are unless you tell them." Shantae explained. She snapped her fingers again and a glowing blue portal opened behind her. "This will take you to where Emma and her Dad are. Good luck Taylor." Taylor flashed a quick grin at her mentor and ran towards the portal calling out as she went through.
"Ret-2-Go"
"What do you wanna keep girlie? Your choice." Taylor heard a cruel voice coming from the girl holding a knife to her best friends throat. She'd be the first to go down.
"That's enough!" Taylor called out, trying to fill her voice with as much command and power as she could. Based on the blank stares she received in response that wasn't much. Still at the very least the girl who had been threatening Emma had moved the knife away from her throat and started stalking towards Taylor. That was good news. The bad news was she made sure that one of her bully boys would grab Emma and hold her down so she couldn't run. Still Taylor hadn't expected this to be simple and waited as the girl came up to her making sure to stay out of reach of Taylor's fists.
"This has nothing to do with you girl, just keep walking and we won't do to you what we have planned for Red over there." The girl snarled glaring daggers at Taylor. From behind her Taylor could hear the sounds of Emma trying to hold back tears as she struggled to get away from the guy holding her. Taylor said nothing and just glared back deciding to take a page from her mentors book and give this bitch a taste of the old winsome locks. She dashed forward and whipped her head around sending her ponytail crashing into the head of the girl with the knife. Thanks to the magic flowing through Taylor's veins the hair hit her enemy with the force of a baseball bat sending the girl sprawling to the ground. Wanting to make sure knife girl would stay down Taylor quickly followed that up with a punch to the face, and then another one, and another for satisfaction. Taylor glared up at the two male thugs who were just staring at her in amazement bordering on fear.
"Shit, she's a cape! Run!" The thug holding Emma yelled. Putting his words into action he shoved Emma to the ground and ran to the exit at the other end of the street from Taylor, his friend following behind. This wouldn't do, this wouldn't do at all.
"Oh no you don't." Taylor yelled as she ran after them. Catching up to them quickly she punched one of them in the back of the head sending him flying into a wall where he stayed down. Deciding what worked on the girl would be enough for the other guy Taylor throw her head forward and whipped the other one with her devastating ponytail. Thug number three went down and Taylor stood there breathing heavily for a moment. She heard Emma start to quietly cry behind her and snapping back to reality she ran to her friend.
Taylor knelt in front of Emma and tried to bring her friend into a hug, hoping to offer some comfort. Emma screamed and tried to back away from her.
"Em, Em, you're okay now, you're safe. It's me, it's Taylor, you're okay, you're safe." Taylor whispered again and again desperately hoping to calm her down. Slowly, surely Emma seemed to calm down and her eyes lit up when she recognized her Taylor.
"Taylor, is that you?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's me."
"How'd you do that?" Emma asked in wonder beginning to recognize the fact that her best friend appearing from out of nowhere and beating up three thugs was just a tad bit odd.
"It's a, it's a long story." Taylor muttered. "I'm just glad you're safe." Taylor hesitantly opened her arms to see if Emma would be okay with a hug. Taylor could really use one right now and she thought maybe Emma could too. Based on the way Emma leaned right into her, Taylor figured she guessed right. The two girls just held each other for a good minute or two until they heard sirens approaching. Taylor turned her head towards the sound and out of the corner of her eye she could swear she saw a dark figure turning to leave.
This is the result of me running into a wall while trying to get the next chapter of Green Beast done and deciding to play Shantae and the Pirates Curse in an attempt to distract myself from writers block. I hope you enjoy the results of my weird brain making ridiculous connections.
Also Ret-2-Go is basically the catchphrase of Shantae the character. It just means ready to go.
Family is an odd thing, for all the importance people place on it how much do most of us really know about our families. Sure we know at least a bit about our parents and maybe even our grandparents but past a certain point it ceases to matter. At least that's how it is for most of us, the heroine of our story one Taylor Hebert is going to discover that some family legacies are a little more important than others. Let's join her now.
*****
It was a sunny summer day in Brockton Bay when they buried Annette Hebert. A day meant for joy and laughter for those who had been loved by her and loved her in return this was the greatest insult imaginable. Someone unique and precious had been stolen from their lives and god, or nature, or just the universe at large should have the decency to acknowledge it. The priest who had barely known her had finished giving his empty platitudes that had gone in one ear of Taylor and out the other. The funeral had ended and the mourners were beginning the slow, awkward process of leaving. A seemingly unending stream of indistinguishable faces went by her attempting to offer words of comforts which Taylor accepted robotically, until finally Taylor was left standing in front of the stone which was meant to represent one of the most important people in her life with just her father and her Emma beside her. The three just stood in silence for a moment taking in the... Well the everything really.
"It's time to go little owl." Danny said in the odd almost robotic tone he'd been speaking in since the passing of his wife. Taylor shook her head slightly at that.
"Okay, but could I just have a minute alone? Please Dad." Taylor whispered. Danny just looked at her, taking in the dark circles under her blood shoot eyes and found he couldn't refuse her. She'd held up through all of this and he could hardly deny her a moment of solitude to break down, it's not like he'd not been doing the same every night since he'd gotten the news. He pulled her into an embrace.
"Of course, I'll just go get the car ready, you take as much time as you need." He murmured into her hair. Once he finally let go Emma immediately replaced him in the hug.
"I've gotta go, but you call if you need me okay, promise." She pulled back from the hug and stared into Taylor's eyes trying to make sure she realized how serious she was. Taylor gave her a small smile which Emma returned.
"I promise." Taylor stated. "I just, I just need some time with Mom." Emma gave her one last quick squeeze and started making her way over to her families car where her Dad was waiting impatiently. Finally Taylor was left alone and finally let the tears she'd been holding back all day fall. This moment, these feeling were for her and her mom alone. She stood there weeping for she didn't know how long before the tears finally subsided and she could say the words she needed to say.
"I really miss you mom." Taylor stood there wrestling with her vocabularies inability to express how she was feeling. "No that's not it, I need you, Dad needs you and you're not here and, and, that just really, really sucks." Knowing what she wanted to say but not knowing how to say it Taylor fell silent again. "God this is stupid, you're not even here I just, I love you mom, bye." So saying Taylor followed a random impulse and placed a kiss on the grave. At that moment a guest of wind swirled around here and Taylor could swear that she felt someone hugging her from behind and on the wind she swore could smell her mother's favorite perfume. Taylor stumbled back and gazed at the grave in wonder.
"That's weird... I need to get some sleep, I'm starting to imagine things." So saying she turned and half ran to her fathers side ready to be done with the day. Danny gave her a smile and started the car. As they were pulling out he remembered something Alan had mentioned to him before heading out.
"Taylor, Alan is going to be having a kind of get together at their place. Kind of a tribute to Mom, chance for everybody to just remember her and talk about her. I have to go but you can skip if you want to. What do you think?" Taylor sat in silence for a moment weighing her desire to just sleep and get away from all of this for a few hours against her desire to see Emma and maybe get another hug from her life long friend. Eventually sleep won out.
"I think I just want to go home and have a nap or something Dad." Taylor whispered leaning against her window and closing her eyes. Danny nodded and began heading in the direction of home.
"Of course, sweetheart."
*****
Taylor found herself in a dark tunnel with no one around here and the only thing she could see was a dim light in the distance. Not knowing what else to do she began heading towards it wanting to at least have some kind of destination. Time passed but Taylor couldn't tell you how long she had been walking until finally without passing through any kind of door way or really even reaching the light she found herself somewhere else. A beautiful peaceful fountain with statues of two women pouring water into in from jars in their hands. Taylor walked closer to the fountain and ran her fingers over it, feeling engraving that had been worn away by time.
"Where am I?" Taylor murmured.
"Well now, that's a simple question with a complicated answer Little Owl. But I'll do my best." A familiar voice laughed behind her. Not daring to believe her senses Taylor slowly turned and saw her standing there with the same loving eyes, the same kind smile, the same long curly hair that matched Taylor's own. It couldn't be her, but it was.
"Mom." Taylor half sobbed and ran over to her hugging her fiercely. "I had the worst dream, you were dead and Dad was sad and I was sad and we had a funeral and, and, and." Taylor looked up and gazed into her mothers compassionate face. "Oh, this is the dream isn't it." She stated feeling that brief moment of hope fly away.
"Sort of, I have a lot to tell you. Come with me" Annette took her daughter by the hand and led her away from the fountain leading her to a hall filled with statues of women. "This is hard to explain to start with you are dreaming but this place is real. This is the genie realm." Annette said slowly trying to find the right words to explain what she barely understood. Taylor stared at her with open skepticism.
"Genies, like wish granting never had a friend like me genies?" Taylor snarked at her mom feeling a touch of comfort from the familiar feeling moment in such an odd setting. Annette stared at her for a moment and then started laughing to the point of tears.
"Oh gosh, I didn't believe it either at first. Wish I'd come up with that myself." Annette got out through the last of her giggles and straightened up trying to look serious in the face of her daughters disbelief. "No real genies aren't like the stories you've heard growing up they were more like well more like heroes. Think more Miss Militia and less Robin Williams. A genie would be assigned a town to protect and would use their magic to face down any threats or dangers faced by the people who lived there." Finishing her opening spiel Annette stopped and awaited Taylor's response.
"Fine, assuming I buy any of this, what does it have to do with us?" Taylor asked.
"A long time ago the genies judged that humans had reached the point where they could be trusted to defend and guide themselves so they returned to the genie realm. The problem is they didn't foresee that parahumans would emerge and now the world is in danger again. The genies who are here can't go back to the human world, the spell that brought them back was a one way trip. But they have descendants out there and their magic can be awoken. They would just be half genies, not as powerful as the original ones but they might be able to do some good."
Taylor just stood there while she tried to process the story her mother had just told her and find some way to make it fit with her existing world view.
"And lemme guess, I'm one of their descendants right?" Taylor asked in a suspiciously innocent voice. Annette nodded slowly.
"Yes, that's right."
"So I'm going to get these super special powers and save the day and all that right?"
"I wouldn't put it that way but yes that's the basic plan." Taylor nodded to herself for a moment at the confirmation.
"Fine, so what phenomenal cosmic power will I be awakening?" Taylor said in an awed voice which would sound oddly insincere to the ears of anyone who happened to be listening. In the face of her formidable sarcasm, Annette still bravely soldiered on.
"I'm new to this too Taylor, but from what I understand you're still young so you won't have full access to your magic powers. At least at first it's just going to make you much stronger and faster. The more impressive stuff will come later, when you're ready." Annette explained.
"Yeah okay, this sounds like a terrible fantasy novel. You realize that right?"
Annette came up to Taylor and knelt in front of her, taking her daughters hands in hers she implored Taylor.
"I know this is a lot to take in Taylor. Trust me it threw me for a loop too, but just trust me okay."
Taylor ripped her hands away from Annette's stepped back shaking her head.
"No you're not my mom, you're just a figment of my imagination. You're gone and this is just a dream and I. WANT. TO. WAKE. UP!" Taylor cried out in as loud a voice as she could manage."
*****
Taylor bolted awake in her bed with a cry. Shaking her head, she looked at the clock by her bedside and saw that she had only been asleep for about an hour. She just sat there for a moment trying to calm down. Ordinarily she never remembered her dreams but this one she could recall as clear as day. Shaking her head, Taylor gave a small laugh to herself.
"Genie realm, I need to take a creative writing class or something. I thought I was more creative than that." Still despite her better judgement Taylor found herself wondering what if. To her own amazement she found herself grabbing her shoes and heading to the backyard. "Magic powers, yeah right." Finding herself outside she took a quick look around to make sure there was no one around to see what was sure to be a horribly embarrassing moment. She'd prove to herself that she didn't have any kind of powers and she could put this whole weird thing out of her mind. Taylor crouched low and jumped as high as she could. Next thing she knew she was standing on her roof. Taylor looked down at the ground in amazement.
"It was real, it was all real." She murmured in amazement. "It was all real!!" With that cry Taylor leaped back down to the ground and ran up to her bedroom. Hoping that if she could fall asleep again, she would be back in the genie realm and maybe just maybe she could see her mom again.
*****
Taylor found herself back at the fountain again.
"Hello again Taylor." Her mom said, Taylor spun around in excitement and ran up to her babbling excitedly.
"Mom. Mom, it's all true, it's really all true. I went outside and I jumped and I landed on the roof. It was awesome, what else can I do, I'm magic right can I do spells?" Taylor rushed out in a single breath, hoping in place waiting for her answer. Annette placed a hand on her head, slowly getting Taylor to stop hoping and hopefully calm down.
"In order, that's amazing, I don't know and I don't know." Annette said with a bit of a laugh in her voice.
"What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know?" Taylor huffed. Annette ruffled her hair fondly.
"I'm not a half genie remember. I can't teach you, I'm just here because the ruling council thought that a familiar face to introduce you to all of this would be a good idea."
"I guess that makes sense, but if you aren't going to teach me who is?" Taylor asked with a pout.
"She should be along in a second." Taylor nodded at that and when she blinked suddenly there was three of them standing there. Next to her mom was a beautiful teenage girl clad all in red harem pants and a red bikini top, to complete the ensemble she had large golden bracelets on her wrists, a thin gold belt around her waist and to top it all off a golden tiara on her head. Besides her rather eye catching attire the most striking feature about her was her long purple hair which she wore in a ponytail. Taylor took all of this in but before she could say anything the new arrival dashed forward and pulled her into a tight hug.
"Oh my gosh! Taylor I'm so, so excited to meet you. I'm going to teach you everything you'll ever need to know about being a half genie hero okay. Ahh this is so exciting." The stranger squealed as Taylor contemplated tapping out in the hopes it would convince her to end the strangle hold masquerading as a hug. Thankfully Annette reached out and pulled the girl off of Taylor who struggled to catch her breath.
"Nice to meet you too, now who are you?" Taylor asked in between gasps of sweet, sweet oxygen.
"Oh jeez, where are my manners I didn't even introduce myself." The girl gasped in horror at her inadvertent rudeness. "I'm Shantae, I'm your great, great, great, great, great." Annette reached out and covered her mouth. Based on the muffled sounds coming from behind her palm however, Shantae was perfectly content continuing her sentence despite this minor setback.
"Suffice to say there's a lot of greats there." Annette said with a touch of embarrassment. "Shantae is a half genie like you and before she crossed over to the genie realm she was a guardian genie. She's going to be your teacher." So saying Annette took her hand off of Shantae's mouth who gave a brilliant smile at the two of them before finishing what she was saying.
"Great, great, great Grandma!!!" She chirped happily. She strolled over to Taylor and threw an arm around her shoulder leaning in close she whispered into her ear.
"Now you ready to get started?" Shantae asked sounding remarkable excited. Taylor beamed up at her.
"YEAH"
Shantae matched Taylor's smile and threw her fist into the air while she cried out to the heavens themselves.
"Okay so we are Ret-2-Go."
The excitement drained from Taylor's face as she stared in confusion.
"Was that a word?" Taylor asked blankly.
"I'll explain later."
*****
A year passed and by day Taylor seemed like an ordinary girl but at night she would train in her abilities. She grew stronger, faster, more skilled but she had yet to unlock any of the more viscerally impressive abilities of the genies. Still Shantae at least seemed pleased with the progress she was making, explaining that she hadn't started working as a guardian until she was eighteen. So Taylor at the tender age of fourteen was just about where she should be as far as she was concerned. With that assurance Taylor decided to relax a little bit and enjoy the nature camp her Dad had sent her too for the summer. Still she was doing this in her own way so while the other campers were hiking, or canoeing Taylor had located a particularly comfy looking tree and was taking a nap in the shade. She was enjoying a particularly nice dream involving puppies raining down from the heavens for her to play with. When she was rudely pulled out of it and into the genie realm where she saw Shantae looking oddly panicked.
"Hey, what's going on I thought we were going to take today off from training." Taylor asked in confusion. Shantae shook her head frantically and ran over to Taylor.
"This isn't for training, I've been keeping an eye on your friends and family back home while you were away. Just to be safe and Emma's in big, big trouble." Taylor felt her eyes grow huge and grabbed onto Shantae.
"What's going on with Emma? Is she okay? What happened Shantae? Tell me!" Taylor half yelled, shaking poor Shantae as she demanded answers. Shantae managed to extricate from Taylor's grip and shook her head briefly while she tried to get her wits back.
"Emma and her Dad were driving home from a modelling job she had and he decided to take a shortcut. Some people from that gang, oh what were they called, the one with the dragon."
"The ABB." Taylor gasped in horror, the color draining from her face.
"That's the one, they boxed them in and it didn't look like they were very nice." Shantae finished off with the understatement of the century. Taylor's face set in grim determination.
"I'm going to help them." Taylor stated leaving no room for argument. Shantae nodded and snapped her fingers. With that Taylor found herself clad in an outfit very reminiscent of Shantae's. She had the same red harem pants and gold tiara but instead of a bikini top Taylor had a red shirt which fully covered her. The other change was the bulky gold bracelets Shantae wore had been slimmed down and looked more like a set bracers you'd find on a suit of armor. Taylor looked down at herself in astonishment.
"Alright, that's neat but what's the point of this?" Taylor asked.
"I know secret identities are a big thing for heroes in your society. There's a spell on the tiara that should make it hard for anyone to figure out who you are unless you tell them." Shantae explained. She snapped her fingers again and a glowing blue portal opened behind her. "This will take you to where Emma and her Dad are. Good luck Taylor." Taylor flashed a quick grin at her mentor and ran towards the portal calling out as she went through.
"Ret-2-Go"
*****
Taylor stepped out of the portal and found herself in a side street in the bad part of town. She took note of Alan Barnes lying unconscious on the ground but there was a more distressing sight in front of her. There was a girl kneeling next to Emma holding a knife to her throat and two guys stood next to them, laughing like this was the best show they'd seen in years.
"That's enough!" Taylor called out, trying to fill her voice with as much command and power as she could. Based on the blank stares she received in response that wasn't much. Still at the very least the girl who had been threatening Emma had moved the knife away from her throat and started stalking towards Taylor. That was good news. The bad news was she made sure that one of her bully boys would grab Emma and hold her down so she couldn't run. Still Taylor hadn't expected this to be simple and waited as the girl came up to her making sure to stay out of reach of Taylor's fists.
"This has nothing to do with you girl, just keep walking and we won't do to you what we have planned for Red over there." The girl snarled glaring daggers at Taylor. From behind her Taylor could hear the sounds of Emma trying to hold back tears as she struggled to get away from the guy holding her. Taylor said nothing and just glared back deciding to take a page from her mentors book and give this bitch a taste of the old winsome locks. She dashed forward and whipped her head around sending her ponytail crashing into the head of the girl with the knife. Thanks to the magic flowing through Taylor's veins the hair hit her enemy with the force of a baseball bat sending the girl sprawling to the ground. Wanting to make sure knife girl would stay down Taylor quickly followed that up with a punch to the face, and then another one, and another for satisfaction. Taylor glared up at the two male thugs who were just staring at her in amazement bordering on fear.
"Shit, she's a cape! Run!" The thug holding Emma yelled. Putting his words into action he shoved Emma to the ground and ran to the exit at the other end of the street from Taylor, his friend following behind. This wouldn't do, this wouldn't do at all.
"Oh no you don't." Taylor yelled as she ran after them. Catching up to them quickly she punched one of them in the back of the head sending him flying into a wall where he stayed down. Deciding what worked on the girl would be enough for the other guy Taylor throw her head forward and whipped the other one with her devastating ponytail. Thug number three went down and Taylor stood there breathing heavily for a moment. She heard Emma start to quietly cry behind her and snapping back to reality she ran to her friend.
Taylor knelt in front of Emma and tried to bring her friend into a hug, hoping to offer some comfort. Emma screamed and tried to back away from her.
"Em, Em, you're okay now, you're safe. It's me, it's Taylor, you're okay, you're safe." Taylor whispered again and again desperately hoping to calm her down. Slowly, surely Emma seemed to calm down and her eyes lit up when she recognized her Taylor.
"Taylor, is that you?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's me."
"How'd you do that?" Emma asked in wonder beginning to recognize the fact that her best friend appearing from out of nowhere and beating up three thugs was just a tad bit odd.
"It's a, it's a long story." Taylor muttered. "I'm just glad you're safe." Taylor hesitantly opened her arms to see if Emma would be okay with a hug. Taylor could really use one right now and she thought maybe Emma could too. Based on the way Emma leaned right into her, Taylor figured she guessed right. The two girls just held each other for a good minute or two until they heard sirens approaching. Taylor turned her head towards the sound and out of the corner of her eye she could swear she saw a dark figure turning to leave.
This is the result of me running into a wall while trying to get the next chapter of Green Beast done and deciding to play Shantae and the Pirates Curse in an attempt to distract myself from writers block. I hope you enjoy the results of my weird brain making ridiculous connections.
Also Ret-2-Go is basically the catchphrase of Shantae the character. It just means ready to go.
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In The Land Of The Blind: A Marvel Inspired Story
Another random story idea I can't get out of my brain that I'm writing when I should be working on my actual ongoing stories. My brain's a jerk.
Now for the starting part of your soundtrack
April 12, 2011: Boston PRT Headquarters
A perfectly unremarkable man in a cheap off the rack suit made his way through the P.R.T Headquarters for the Boston department. He dodged his away around various protectorate members and P.R.T officers. It wasn't every day a new ward made their debut and the building was correspondingly hectic. Just before he made his final turn to go collect his charge, he was flagged down by a man who looked somewhat out of place. Despite his long tenure with the Parahuman Response Team Director Kamil Armstrong never quite managed to shed the image of the academic he used to be. He made a quick about face to go meet his boss.
"Is everything ready Agent Duncan?" Armstrong asked, only one answer was acceptable and thankfully it happened to be true. Duncan flashed a quick smile and held up the case he was carrying for Armstrong's inspection.
"Of course sir, I'm just heading to Taylor's quarters to collect her." Duncan responded with a boyish grin. Armstrong gave a nod and waved Duncan on his way.
"Good, I won't keep you any longer." Duncan flashed a quick salute at his superior and half jogged away. As he watched the young man trot off a mildly sardonic smile came across Armstrong's face and he leaned over to the man next to him.
"How long has Agent Duncan been with us Bill?" Armstrong asked in a wry voice.
"Three weeks sir, just out of training."
"Of course."
Despite the minor hold up caused by Armstrong checking in Duncan made good time and skidded to a stop in front of a plain door in the wards living quarters. He took a moment to catch his breath and tried to pat his hair back down. Finally deeming himself presentable he raised a hand to knock on the door and was startled when the door swung open before he could. In the darkness of the room all he could make out was what a line of faint red light glowing in the shadows. As he flinched back at the startling appearance of his charge, he couldn't help but note that being able to make an entrance like that would likely come in handy in the future.
"Hope I didn't scare you, Agent Duncan." Taylor said in as innocent a voice as she could manage, which statistically speaking someone somewhere would believe but that man was not Fred Duncan. While he tried to figure out what to say to regain his authority he took in Taylor's costume. It was after all the first time he was seeing it in full. Overall it was fairly simple, a black suit made up the base of the costume. On top of this she wore yellow boots and gloves which PR assured him were attractive contrasting colors and would do well with the public. Across the chest was a large X in the same yellow which the PR people were extremely happy about since it made for an easy logo they could merchandize. Duncan and Taylor were happy since it would likely draw fire should she end up in combat and coincidentally it was the most heavily armored part of her costume. The last piece was the most important, across her eyes was a large visor. All in all, it came together rather well Duncan thought.
"I see the costume finally arrived. What do you think now that you've got it on?" Duncan boomed in a cheerful voice, hopping to just bull past the awkwardness. Contemplating the question, Taylor idly stretched as she worked out her answer in her head.
"It came together pretty well I think." Taylor stated seriously. "The visor's a bit heavier than I was expecting but I should be able to adjust to that soon enough."
"I'm sure you'll adapt in no time." Duncan replied with a smile which Taylor returned. With that the two began the long walk to the press room in a companionable silence. It had been a long road to get here.
January 10, 2011. Brockton Bay, The Rig aka PHQ.
As he sat next to his daughters bedside in the medical bay of the Protectorate Headquarters Danny Hebert couldn't help but find it ironic, of the two of them Taylor had always been the one more interested in capes. For years she'd ask to go see it on the few times it would be opened up to the public, but it'd never happened. Life always got in the way, either he or Annette would have to work, or Taylor would have school, or was sick and then the one year that everything had lined up so it could happened Annette had..... Well neither he or Taylor had been up for a fun day seeing the superheroes that year. Attempting to shake off the melancholy that would always descend on him whenever he remembered Annette he reached out and adjusted the blankets Taylor was sleeping under, more so he would have something to do as opposed to seriously thinking Taylor would appreciate it. Taylor didn't react to his action at all. It had been five days since he'd received the worst phone call of his life. Some emotionless voice had told him that there had been a parahuman incident at Winslow High School and his daughter was involved. When he'd demanded to know if she was alright the government goon (Calson or something) gave some line about that being sensitive information but if he would come into the Rig they'd be happy to him everything. He didn't quite remember how he had responded to that it had been rather loud and graphic. There was something about shoving his boot in a rather uncomfortable part of the faceless government flunky's anatomy. In the middle of his rants (not threats obviously, Danny Hebert was a fine upstanding citizen and would never threaten a government employee just doing their job.) a woman's voice came on the phone and told him that his daughter was fine but they couldn't tell him what had happened over an open phone line and anything more specific would have to be talked about in person.
While he grumbled about it he had ultimately folded to the tone of authority that rang through every word she said and made the long drive to the retrofitted Oil Rig that served as the home base of his local superheroes. It was there that he found out that his baby girl had developed superpowers after being locked in a locker. Not for the first time he resolved to look into thatif his Little when his Little Owl woke up and she would, she had too any other outcome was too miserable to contemplate. According to witnesses Taylor had staggered out of the locker and almost immediately fainted. Five days had passed since then and she had not woken up yet. Danny turned his head as he heard the slide of the door opening.
"Sorry to interrupt ya, Danny boy." A pretty brown haired woman roughly his age in a lab coat called out in a cheerful voice. "Just taking a look at our girl here." She quickly followed up the words with action and efficiently checked over the vitals of Taylor and compared them to the charts she held in her hands. As she looked over everything a frown came across her face.
"Is uh, is everything alright Doc?" Danny asked hesitantly, hoping desperately that the frown across her face would be replaced with a 1000 watt smile as she told him that Taylor would wake up today and go on to live a happy life where nothing bad would ever, ever, ever happen to her again (look this week had been a hell of a year, let him hope). But alas this was not the case. The doctor gave a huff and sat down in the chair next to Danny.
"I'll be honest I'm not sure." The doctor sighed as she leaned her head back. "Physically, she's fine. There's absolutely no medical reason she should still be in a coma. I think at this point we have to assume it has something to do with her powers but..." She cut herself off with a shake of her head and her and Danny sat in silence for a second.
"But what?" Danny asked in a quiet voice.
"But if it's something to do with powers all I can really do is watch and wait and hopefully keep things from getting worse. An' I hate that." The doctor grumbled, to his own amazement Danny found himself laughing. The doctor stared blankly at him before she joined him and the two of them laughed long and loud, because it was that or cry. Over the last of his chuckles Danny heard the most beautiful sound he could ever imagine.
"Wouldya shud up Dad. Yer too loud" Taylor grumbled as she squeezed her eyes shut tightly and shifted on the bed. Danny's face brightened with a smile that hadn't been seen in years. He reached out and took hold of her hand.
"Sorry, Taylor. Won't happen again."
"Better not."
This lovely family moment was interrupted by the sound of a woman clearing her throat.
"It's nice to finally meet you. My name's Moira MacTaggart and I've been looking after you for a while now. I just need to ask you a few questions is that okay?"
Taylor pushed herself up to a sitting position and nodded her head, all the while making sure to keep her eyes closed. Moira smiled and pulled her chair over to be next to Taylor across from Danny.
"Thank you, we're going to start easy, what is your full name?"
"Taylor Anne Hebert."
"Your parents names."
"Danny and Annette Hebert."
"What day is it?"
"January 5, 2011."
Moira nodded absently as she considered what question she should ask next when she was interrupted.
"Moira, can I ask a question?" Taylor's raspy voice asked, noticing how rough her voice was sounding Danny clambered to his feet and went to go get some water.
"Of course you can."
Taylor nodded and took a deep breath.
"Alright, who are you and where am I and why am I here?"
Danny started laughing as he handed the glass of water to Taylor and helped her guide it to her dry and waiting mouth. Moira took a moment to glare at Danny while she composed an answer to Taylor's question.
"In order I'm Moira MacTaggart, I'm the Chief Medical Officer for the PRT ENE and I've been overseeing your medical care. You are in the medical bay of the Protectorate Headquarters and you're here for two reasons, you've been in a coma for the last five days and as for the second reason... Do you remember what happened before you passed out?"
Taylor frowned and lowered her head as she tried to remember. Slowly she started speaking as the memories returned.
"I was going to my locker, things had been better before the break, no one had really bothered me so I thought maybe it was over. I got to my locker and it, it smelled weird." Taylor stopped talking and started shaking. Danny reached out and grabbed onto her hands, trying to give some comfort.
"It's okay, kiddo. Just take your time." Danny whispered. Taylor nodded and leaned towards Danny. It was a familiar gesture but one Danny had not seen in a very long time. It reminded him of a little girl, tall and skinny demanding a hug from her Dad because she was sure it would keep all the monsters and nightmares away. It'd been a long while since she'd come to him for that but he still remembered what to do. Danny awkwardly settled next to his little girl and wrapped an arm around her pulling her into a side hug like he had so often, so long ago. Taylor leaned into him and after a moment she continued on.
"I opened the locker and there was all this.... stuff in there. It was disgusting and smelled terrible... I think I fell back and someone caught me. Next thing I know there was a bunch of people around me and they shoved me in. I tried to get out but someone hit me and they locked the door." Taylor was barely managing to keep her tone level. "I was kicking at the door and screaming for someone to help. I remember people laughing. My eyes were burning and I was kicking and screaming and then it all went red.... Then I woke up here." Taylor fell into silence and leaned into Danny who started stroking her hair.
"I'm sorry Taylor that sounds awful." Moira said in as comforting a tone as she could manage. "What happened after that is you went through something called a trigger. It's what happens when people get powers. Taylor, could you open your eyes for me please?" Taylor frantically shook her head.
"Taylor, I promise it's going to be okay. I know you're scared but please just open your eyes and I'll be able to help you."
Slowly, hesitantly Taylor turned her head towards the wall at the end of the room. She opened her eyes and immediately a blast of red energy flew from her eyes and violently blew through the wall. Thankfully Taylor's room was at the end of the hallway so the blast only went through the wall and into the sky. Taylor immediately screwed her eyes shut, cutting off the blast. The trio sat in silence for a moment until it was broken by Moira who slowly pulled out the radio in her pocket.
"This is Moira MacTaggart in the medical wing, Taylor Hebert has woken up. Could we get a repair team to room 616 please?"
Moira took in the atmosphere in Director Piggott's personal meeting room noting Piggot glowering at anyone who crossed her path, Armsmaster standing at attention beside her as stiff as a board, Miss Milita who at first glance seemed to be perfectly calm until one noticed that the glowing green weapon at her hip was shifting between forms almost too fast to make out and Moira decided that the events of the last few days had them all just a tad tense.
"First order of business, why is there a wall missing in room 616?" Piggot asked in a faux calm voice. She was gearing up for a follow up jab when she was interrupted.
"Pardon me Director, but I was just informed that the final repairs on the damaged wall have been completed." Armsmaster stated absently while he appeared to be staring into space. Piggot turned the full force of her glare onto the armor clad warrior, she'd had a perfectly good haranguing planned and he'd just ruined it for her.
"Sorry, I've been collaborating with Dragon on something to help out with Miss. Hebert's issues and the alert from the maintenance team came across my HUD. Carry on." Armsmaster stated in a remarkably calm voice. It was anyone's guess if he was so relaxed due to not realizing he'd irked the woman who controlled his budget or if he felt there was nothing she could do to him. There was evidence for both.
"Good, there'll be less collateral damage from now on." Director Piggot directed towards Armsmaster. "But that still doesn't answer my question. What. Were. You. Thinking. Doctor!" Piggot ground out while glaring at Moira. Moira stood up and took a deep breath before she gave the answer she'd been rehearsing for the last two days.
"My team and I had assumed that the issues with control that were observed during the Winslow incident were due to the fear and trauma associated with a trigger environment. I believed that there'd be a small amount of damage before Taylor would be able to deactivate her optic blasts. This was not the case." Moira took a deep breath and drank from the coffee mug in front of her. "It's rare but there are occasions where powers aren't fully in the control of the parahuman. That appears to be the case with Taylor. In her case her powers don't have an off switch for lack of the better word. The only thing that can stop them are her own body. We've been working with Armsmaster in an attempt to find a more reliable method of control but as far as I know there's been no success so far. Although it sounds like that may have changed."
Piggot nodded briefly. "I assume that you've taken steps to make sure these events won't repeat themselves."
"Yes ma'am, Taylor has agreed to have her eyes taped shut and be blindfolded at all times." Moira turned to Armsmaster. "Any chance we can expect a better solution soon? I hate having to do this to the poor girl."
"Yes Dragon and I believe we've developed a tool to control her blasts. We've taken a number of recordings of her using her powers over the last few days and we believe we can treat ruby quartz so it'll block the blasts after they start. If we put the quartz in glasses." Armsmaster finished his sentence with a shrug. It wasn't a perfect solution but it was a solution, with powers that was often the best you could get. "With your permission Director, I'd like to test this with Taylor after the meeting." Piggot gave an absent wave and turned towards Militia.
"Do it, Militia what's the status of the Winslow operation. Have we managed to lock down Hebert's identity?" Piggot demanded.
"We've managed to track down all the witnesses we've been able to confirm were there and convinced them to sign the NDA's." Miss Militia began. "That being said there is a possibility of some of them trying to ignore them so I recommend that we monitor for any mention of Taylor in conjunction with the destruction of Winslow High School." Miss Militia shifted in her seat while she tried to figure out how to word what she wanted to say next.
"Oh for gods sakes, out with it Militia!" Piggot snapped.
"There's one other issue. We've been attempting to ascertain who planned to trap Taylor in her locker." Once again Militia stopped in the middle of a thought.
"I'm aware I gave those orders. What were the results?"
"It took some doing but three people have been named as the ring leaders. Emma Barnes, Madison Clemments and.... Sophia Hess." Miss Militia said with a wince which could be seen even through the bandanna covering her face. The room fell silent as all four of them contemplated this situation. Then Director Piggot spoke up in the tone of one who is fully aware they are grasping at straws.
"You've confirmed this is the Sophia Hess who is also Shadow Stalker. The vigilante we've been holding up as an example of the benefits of the Wards program. Our own home grown success story who we're turning into a great hero."
"Yes ma'am."
Piggot nodded as she took this in.
"Shit, this doesn't leave this room. We are opening an investigation into Hess. I want to know where she's been every minute of every day since she wormed her way into a second chance. We are going to get all our ducks in a row, makes sure everything against her is air tight and then.... I'm going to give little miss Sophia a very rude awakening." A malicious grin spread across Piggot's face at the thought.
"Taylor, keep your eyes shut. I'm going to take off the blindfold." Danny muttered into her ear before doing so. Armsmaster opened up the box and removed a thick pair of glasses from it. Which he placed in Taylor's hands.
"Sunglasses, that's the big solution here?" Taylor snarked.
"Call it a proof of concept, now put them on." Armsmaster replied warmly. Before standing up and walking off to the side, he silently gestured for Danny to move so he was in front of her. Taylor put the glasses on but still hadn't opened her eyes.
"It's okay, kiddo. Open them up." Danny said in as calm a voice he could manage. Taylor hesitantly opened her eyes and a beatific smile came across her face.
"Hi Dad."
"Well I ever be able to control my optic blasts, you know without the glasses?" Taylor asked Moira who stared at her awkwardly.
"Parahuman powers aren't exactly my specialty Taylor. I just don't know." Moira said sadly. Taylor frowned in thought at that.
"Are there any specialists I can talk to? Can we get like a referral or something?"
"Director Armstrong over in Boston has devoted considerable research into Parahumans. If anyone would be able to help you, he can." Armsmaster stated confidently.
"Let me guess, if we want him to help us Taylor has to sign up for a four year hitch right?" Danny growled. Armsmaster just stared back calmly.
"I'm certain he would still help her but yes Ward's would have priority." Armsmaster stated flatly. Danny came to his feet and was about to try and get into the hero's face when a loud whistle rang through the room.
"Everyone just calm down damn it!" Moira snarled glaring at the two men in the room. "Look Danny, no one is saying Taylor needs to join the Wards." Armsmaster started to raise a hand in an attempt to make a point but stopped when she turned the full force of the glare on him. "No one is saying she needs to join the Wards. But it would probably be a good idea." She finished off.
"Why?" Taylor asked getting tired of everyone talking around her. "Why do I need to join the Wards? Can't I just go home and say I have like an eye condition or something?" Moira walked over and sat down next to Taylor.
"When your powers activated there was damage to more then your locker." Moira said slowly.
"How bad is it?" Taylor asked in a soft voice.
"Winslow High School has been condemned." Armsmaster stated. Taylor stared at him blankly for a moment and then turned to her Dad.
"I blew up my high school?" Danny winced and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah, kinda, little bit."
Taylor nodded and gave the most insightful reply she could muster.
"Neat."
The four of them sat in silence as they allowed her to process everything. Eventually though Armsmaster decided to try and salvage this.
"Mr. Hebert, Taylor. A large number of people saw Taylor use her powers. We've done our best to lock the story down but there's no guarantee that will be successful and if it isn't the gangs will eventually come for you. Either to recruit you or eliminate you. The Protectorate will try to protect you but there's no guarantee. If you join the Wards there would be much less chance of an open attack on you and your family because you'll have the weight of the PRT and the Protectorate behind you. Quite simply it would be too much trouble for Kaiser or Lung to bother. Now you can join here or Boston, and if you joined in Boston you would have regular access to some of the greatest parahuman researchers in the county. Now to ensure there's no miscommunication I'll contact Armstrong and arrange for a meeting with him regardless of your decision."
It was odd most people would get passionate when saying something like that but Armsmaster said it like he was reading off a drink menu he wasn't particularly impressed by. "I'll leave you to discuss it. Doctor MacTaggart please lock up afterwards." With that last thing said Armsmaster turned on his heel and headed for the interior of the lab where the real work took place.
Danny, Moira and Taylor sat in silence after he left. Slowly Danny turned toward Taylor and asked the one question that really needed to be asked.
"So what do you wanna do kiddo?"
Danny Hebert pulled his truck around back of the extremely bland looking brick building and turned to face Taylor.
"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" He asked seriously. "I know it could be rough if you stayed but I don't want."
"Dad, I'm sure okay. This is what makes sense. I'm not powerful enough to keep people off of us if anyone figures out who I am. So I need to join up and if I join up in Boston maybe some of the scientists here can figure out how to do something about this." So saying Taylor gestured towards the dark red glasses which had by necessity become a center piece of her wardrobe.
"Yeah, you're right I just wish it wasn't necessary I guess." Danny huffed leaning back in his seat. Taylor gave him a small smile and the two started to get out.
"Did they confirm my stuff got here okay?" Taylor asked as she headed towards the door that would lead her to her new home.
"Yeah, they called this morning." Danny said absently, reaching out to grab Taylor's shoulder. "Hey hold up a second I got you something." Taylor turned to him and gave an awkward smile.
"Dad you seriously didn't need to get me anything."
"No, this I had to get you so ... here." So saying Danny reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an old flip phone which he pushed into Taylor's hands. "I got one for myself, my numbers saved in the contacts, top of the list. Do not delete it." Taylor nodded absently as she stared at him. He'd spent the past few years refusing to even contemplate them getting cell phones and now Taylor just had to ask
"Why?"
Danny sighed and ruffled his hands through his hair (what was left of it anyways) a nervous tick of his.
"Two reasons, you're moving away from home and I want us to be able to reach each other and... I keep thinking that if you'd had a phone that morning maybe.... Maybe all this wouldn't be necessary." Danny said in a sad voice as he looked down at the ground. Next thing he knew he had to struggle to stay on his feet as Taylor half tacked him in a hug.
"It wasn't your fault."
"Maybe not but it feels that way sometimes. So let a dad spend money to try and make himself feel better okay." Danny chuckled as he returned the hug. "There's one more thing, it's in the back of the truck." So saying he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and the two walked back. Reaching into the back he pulled out a beat up brown bomber jacket. Behind the glasses Taylor's eyes grew wide as she noticed the X patch on the left arm. She hadn't seen this in years.
"Mom's jacket." Taylor whispered. Danny nodded.
"Yeah, I was doing some cleaning after we packed up your stuff and I found it up in the attic. I figured it gets cold here so it'd be good for you to have it but if you don't I can take it back." Danny babbled, at the mention of it being taken back Taylor immediately pulled the jacket on and held it tight to her.
"No it's mine now."
Danny shock his head fondly and gestured for Taylor to go first. So side by side the two walked to the door which would lead Taylor to her new life.
April 2, 2011: Boston Protectorate Training Facility
Taylor stood alone in the seemingly empty room, feeling a little out of place in the superhero training facility when she didn't have a costume just an old hoodie and a visor which would (theoretically) allow her to better control her optic blasts. Suddenly a voice called out from the control room.
"Okay Taylor, nice and easy test today. Just get across the room." Weld, the leader of the Boston Wards said through the intercom next to her. With a wry smirk Taylor pressed the button which would allow her to respond.
"Nice and Simple, huh. Why do I feel like you're lying to me?" Taylor snarked in as dry a tone as she could manage. Weld replied quickly.
"Because you are a cruel, cynical woman, my friend. Tell you what let's make a bet. You pass I'll tell Armstrong you're good to debut."
"Nice try, I spoke to him before this I know this is my last test. Tell you what if I pass this while only firing one blast you owe me twenty bucks and I get to pick my first patrol."
"If you fire more then one blast. You lose right?" Weld asked carefully, trying to figure out where the trick was.
"That's right."
"And what do I get if I win?"
"I'll pay you 20 bucks and.... You get final sign off on my costume. Is it a deal?"
There was a staticky silence from the intercom as Taylor waited for his response.
"Deal. Test begins in 30 seconds."
Taylor gave a smirk to no one in particular as she prepared to run.
"Now!"
Taylor ran out into the room and immediately had to dive in to a roll as a set of saw blades came across her path. Coming back to her feet after avoiding the first obstacle Taylor took a moment to give a wave to the control room before heading on. Hearing a familiar groaning sound Taylor dashed to the left, only just managing to get around the gaping hole that opened in the floor.
"Okay 30% of the way, Weld's gonna start bringing out the big stuff now good." Taylor muttered to herself as she began running full out, when she was about halfway to the exit three large weapons erupted from the ground. One was behind her, one to the left and one directly in front of her. The one to the left fired a weighted net at her which she was able to dodge easily enough. She almost thought that she could hear Weld cursing up a storm as she manipulated the dial on the side of her visor to the proper setting. Idly sidestepping a blast of confoam from the one in front of her Taylor decided that she had put on enough of a show for now. So with a smirk on her face Taylor fired a blast which destroyed weapon in front of her.
"ONE SHOT! THAT WAS THE DEAL! YOU ALL HEARD IT! I STILL-" Weld called out through the intercom, coming to a stop as the blast continued through the first weapon and ricocheted off the wall heading back past Taylor to destroy the weapon behind her. After this the blast ricocheted yet again(accompanied by the devastated groans of Weld) and went off at an angle to destroy the last weapon. Three enemies, one shot, three down. Enjoying the pride that came from a job well done Taylor ran to the end of the room before Weld thought to throw out some other kind of obstacle.
Taylor stood in the wings of the news room as she waited for her cue from Director Armstrong.
"And now ladies and gentlemen it is my very sincere pleasure to introduce the newest member of Boston's Wards. CYCLOPS!!!!
So there are a couple reasons why I'm hesitant to give this its own thread:
1) Alt-power stories are a dime a dozen and I'm pretty sure most people don't like Cyclops as much as I do. So not sure this would really interest anyone.
2) Cyclops's powers are really cool in a visual format like comics or film. I'm not sure I'm capable of translating that into text.
3) Taylor as a Cyclops analogue doesn't work because I'm pretty sure the Emma of it all would kill off any fondness Taylor has for redheads.
4) In case anyone's interested the broad plan for this is a few chapters in Boston to develop the other wards and build up some relationships, slowly have some tension build with Bastion as the mask slips a few times in front of Taylor. The incident with Bastion being caught being a racist prick happens and Taylor confronts him. This is caught on camera. The PRT pressure Taylor to be part of making this whole thing go away and try to convince her to give a statement supporting Bastion. Taylor agrees but uses the opportunity to go after him. Something along the lines "What you saw is not typical of Bastion. He's typically better at hiding it but it had been a hard day for him and I personally believe it's the hard days which reveal our character." Leviathan happens and Taylor volunteers to go afterwards she accompanies Weld to Brockton so she can be with her father.
And now I shall leave you with the greatest theme song the X-men have ever had.
Now for the starting part of your soundtrack
April 12, 2011: Boston PRT Headquarters
A perfectly unremarkable man in a cheap off the rack suit made his way through the P.R.T Headquarters for the Boston department. He dodged his away around various protectorate members and P.R.T officers. It wasn't every day a new ward made their debut and the building was correspondingly hectic. Just before he made his final turn to go collect his charge, he was flagged down by a man who looked somewhat out of place. Despite his long tenure with the Parahuman Response Team Director Kamil Armstrong never quite managed to shed the image of the academic he used to be. He made a quick about face to go meet his boss.
"Is everything ready Agent Duncan?" Armstrong asked, only one answer was acceptable and thankfully it happened to be true. Duncan flashed a quick smile and held up the case he was carrying for Armstrong's inspection.
"Of course sir, I'm just heading to Taylor's quarters to collect her." Duncan responded with a boyish grin. Armstrong gave a nod and waved Duncan on his way.
"Good, I won't keep you any longer." Duncan flashed a quick salute at his superior and half jogged away. As he watched the young man trot off a mildly sardonic smile came across Armstrong's face and he leaned over to the man next to him.
"How long has Agent Duncan been with us Bill?" Armstrong asked in a wry voice.
"Three weeks sir, just out of training."
"Of course."
XXX
Despite the minor hold up caused by Armstrong checking in Duncan made good time and skidded to a stop in front of a plain door in the wards living quarters. He took a moment to catch his breath and tried to pat his hair back down. Finally deeming himself presentable he raised a hand to knock on the door and was startled when the door swung open before he could. In the darkness of the room all he could make out was what a line of faint red light glowing in the shadows. As he flinched back at the startling appearance of his charge, he couldn't help but note that being able to make an entrance like that would likely come in handy in the future.
"Hope I didn't scare you, Agent Duncan." Taylor said in as innocent a voice as she could manage, which statistically speaking someone somewhere would believe but that man was not Fred Duncan. While he tried to figure out what to say to regain his authority he took in Taylor's costume. It was after all the first time he was seeing it in full. Overall it was fairly simple, a black suit made up the base of the costume. On top of this she wore yellow boots and gloves which PR assured him were attractive contrasting colors and would do well with the public. Across the chest was a large X in the same yellow which the PR people were extremely happy about since it made for an easy logo they could merchandize. Duncan and Taylor were happy since it would likely draw fire should she end up in combat and coincidentally it was the most heavily armored part of her costume. The last piece was the most important, across her eyes was a large visor. All in all, it came together rather well Duncan thought.
"I see the costume finally arrived. What do you think now that you've got it on?" Duncan boomed in a cheerful voice, hopping to just bull past the awkwardness. Contemplating the question, Taylor idly stretched as she worked out her answer in her head.
"It came together pretty well I think." Taylor stated seriously. "The visor's a bit heavier than I was expecting but I should be able to adjust to that soon enough."
"I'm sure you'll adapt in no time." Duncan replied with a smile which Taylor returned. With that the two began the long walk to the press room in a companionable silence. It had been a long road to get here.
XXX
January 10, 2011. Brockton Bay, The Rig aka PHQ.
As he sat next to his daughters bedside in the medical bay of the Protectorate Headquarters Danny Hebert couldn't help but find it ironic, of the two of them Taylor had always been the one more interested in capes. For years she'd ask to go see it on the few times it would be opened up to the public, but it'd never happened. Life always got in the way, either he or Annette would have to work, or Taylor would have school, or was sick and then the one year that everything had lined up so it could happened Annette had..... Well neither he or Taylor had been up for a fun day seeing the superheroes that year. Attempting to shake off the melancholy that would always descend on him whenever he remembered Annette he reached out and adjusted the blankets Taylor was sleeping under, more so he would have something to do as opposed to seriously thinking Taylor would appreciate it. Taylor didn't react to his action at all. It had been five days since he'd received the worst phone call of his life. Some emotionless voice had told him that there had been a parahuman incident at Winslow High School and his daughter was involved. When he'd demanded to know if she was alright the government goon (Calson or something) gave some line about that being sensitive information but if he would come into the Rig they'd be happy to him everything. He didn't quite remember how he had responded to that it had been rather loud and graphic. There was something about shoving his boot in a rather uncomfortable part of the faceless government flunky's anatomy. In the middle of his rants (not threats obviously, Danny Hebert was a fine upstanding citizen and would never threaten a government employee just doing their job.) a woman's voice came on the phone and told him that his daughter was fine but they couldn't tell him what had happened over an open phone line and anything more specific would have to be talked about in person.
While he grumbled about it he had ultimately folded to the tone of authority that rang through every word she said and made the long drive to the retrofitted Oil Rig that served as the home base of his local superheroes. It was there that he found out that his baby girl had developed superpowers after being locked in a locker. Not for the first time he resolved to look into that
"Sorry to interrupt ya, Danny boy." A pretty brown haired woman roughly his age in a lab coat called out in a cheerful voice. "Just taking a look at our girl here." She quickly followed up the words with action and efficiently checked over the vitals of Taylor and compared them to the charts she held in her hands. As she looked over everything a frown came across her face.
"Is uh, is everything alright Doc?" Danny asked hesitantly, hoping desperately that the frown across her face would be replaced with a 1000 watt smile as she told him that Taylor would wake up today and go on to live a happy life where nothing bad would ever, ever, ever happen to her again (look this week had been a hell of a year, let him hope). But alas this was not the case. The doctor gave a huff and sat down in the chair next to Danny.
"I'll be honest I'm not sure." The doctor sighed as she leaned her head back. "Physically, she's fine. There's absolutely no medical reason she should still be in a coma. I think at this point we have to assume it has something to do with her powers but..." She cut herself off with a shake of her head and her and Danny sat in silence for a second.
"But what?" Danny asked in a quiet voice.
"But if it's something to do with powers all I can really do is watch and wait and hopefully keep things from getting worse. An' I hate that." The doctor grumbled, to his own amazement Danny found himself laughing. The doctor stared blankly at him before she joined him and the two of them laughed long and loud, because it was that or cry. Over the last of his chuckles Danny heard the most beautiful sound he could ever imagine.
"Wouldya shud up Dad. Yer too loud" Taylor grumbled as she squeezed her eyes shut tightly and shifted on the bed. Danny's face brightened with a smile that hadn't been seen in years. He reached out and took hold of her hand.
"Sorry, Taylor. Won't happen again."
"Better not."
This lovely family moment was interrupted by the sound of a woman clearing her throat.
"It's nice to finally meet you. My name's Moira MacTaggart and I've been looking after you for a while now. I just need to ask you a few questions is that okay?"
Taylor pushed herself up to a sitting position and nodded her head, all the while making sure to keep her eyes closed. Moira smiled and pulled her chair over to be next to Taylor across from Danny.
"Thank you, we're going to start easy, what is your full name?"
"Taylor Anne Hebert."
"Your parents names."
"Danny and Annette Hebert."
"What day is it?"
"January 5, 2011."
Moira nodded absently as she considered what question she should ask next when she was interrupted.
"Moira, can I ask a question?" Taylor's raspy voice asked, noticing how rough her voice was sounding Danny clambered to his feet and went to go get some water.
"Of course you can."
Taylor nodded and took a deep breath.
"Alright, who are you and where am I and why am I here?"
Danny started laughing as he handed the glass of water to Taylor and helped her guide it to her dry and waiting mouth. Moira took a moment to glare at Danny while she composed an answer to Taylor's question.
"In order I'm Moira MacTaggart, I'm the Chief Medical Officer for the PRT ENE and I've been overseeing your medical care. You are in the medical bay of the Protectorate Headquarters and you're here for two reasons, you've been in a coma for the last five days and as for the second reason... Do you remember what happened before you passed out?"
Taylor frowned and lowered her head as she tried to remember. Slowly she started speaking as the memories returned.
"I was going to my locker, things had been better before the break, no one had really bothered me so I thought maybe it was over. I got to my locker and it, it smelled weird." Taylor stopped talking and started shaking. Danny reached out and grabbed onto her hands, trying to give some comfort.
"It's okay, kiddo. Just take your time." Danny whispered. Taylor nodded and leaned towards Danny. It was a familiar gesture but one Danny had not seen in a very long time. It reminded him of a little girl, tall and skinny demanding a hug from her Dad because she was sure it would keep all the monsters and nightmares away. It'd been a long while since she'd come to him for that but he still remembered what to do. Danny awkwardly settled next to his little girl and wrapped an arm around her pulling her into a side hug like he had so often, so long ago. Taylor leaned into him and after a moment she continued on.
"I opened the locker and there was all this.... stuff in there. It was disgusting and smelled terrible... I think I fell back and someone caught me. Next thing I know there was a bunch of people around me and they shoved me in. I tried to get out but someone hit me and they locked the door." Taylor was barely managing to keep her tone level. "I was kicking at the door and screaming for someone to help. I remember people laughing. My eyes were burning and I was kicking and screaming and then it all went red.... Then I woke up here." Taylor fell into silence and leaned into Danny who started stroking her hair.
"I'm sorry Taylor that sounds awful." Moira said in as comforting a tone as she could manage. "What happened after that is you went through something called a trigger. It's what happens when people get powers. Taylor, could you open your eyes for me please?" Taylor frantically shook her head.
"Taylor, I promise it's going to be okay. I know you're scared but please just open your eyes and I'll be able to help you."
Slowly, hesitantly Taylor turned her head towards the wall at the end of the room. She opened her eyes and immediately a blast of red energy flew from her eyes and violently blew through the wall. Thankfully Taylor's room was at the end of the hallway so the blast only went through the wall and into the sky. Taylor immediately screwed her eyes shut, cutting off the blast. The trio sat in silence for a moment until it was broken by Moira who slowly pulled out the radio in her pocket.
"This is Moira MacTaggart in the medical wing, Taylor Hebert has woken up. Could we get a repair team to room 616 please?"
XXX
January 12 2011. Brockton Bay PHQ
Moira took in the atmosphere in Director Piggott's personal meeting room noting Piggot glowering at anyone who crossed her path, Armsmaster standing at attention beside her as stiff as a board, Miss Milita who at first glance seemed to be perfectly calm until one noticed that the glowing green weapon at her hip was shifting between forms almost too fast to make out and Moira decided that the events of the last few days had them all just a tad tense.
"First order of business, why is there a wall missing in room 616?" Piggot asked in a faux calm voice. She was gearing up for a follow up jab when she was interrupted.
"Pardon me Director, but I was just informed that the final repairs on the damaged wall have been completed." Armsmaster stated absently while he appeared to be staring into space. Piggot turned the full force of her glare onto the armor clad warrior, she'd had a perfectly good haranguing planned and he'd just ruined it for her.
"Sorry, I've been collaborating with Dragon on something to help out with Miss. Hebert's issues and the alert from the maintenance team came across my HUD. Carry on." Armsmaster stated in a remarkably calm voice. It was anyone's guess if he was so relaxed due to not realizing he'd irked the woman who controlled his budget or if he felt there was nothing she could do to him. There was evidence for both.
"Good, there'll be less collateral damage from now on." Director Piggot directed towards Armsmaster. "But that still doesn't answer my question. What. Were. You. Thinking. Doctor!" Piggot ground out while glaring at Moira. Moira stood up and took a deep breath before she gave the answer she'd been rehearsing for the last two days.
"My team and I had assumed that the issues with control that were observed during the Winslow incident were due to the fear and trauma associated with a trigger environment. I believed that there'd be a small amount of damage before Taylor would be able to deactivate her optic blasts. This was not the case." Moira took a deep breath and drank from the coffee mug in front of her. "It's rare but there are occasions where powers aren't fully in the control of the parahuman. That appears to be the case with Taylor. In her case her powers don't have an off switch for lack of the better word. The only thing that can stop them are her own body. We've been working with Armsmaster in an attempt to find a more reliable method of control but as far as I know there's been no success so far. Although it sounds like that may have changed."
Piggot nodded briefly. "I assume that you've taken steps to make sure these events won't repeat themselves."
"Yes ma'am, Taylor has agreed to have her eyes taped shut and be blindfolded at all times." Moira turned to Armsmaster. "Any chance we can expect a better solution soon? I hate having to do this to the poor girl."
"Yes Dragon and I believe we've developed a tool to control her blasts. We've taken a number of recordings of her using her powers over the last few days and we believe we can treat ruby quartz so it'll block the blasts after they start. If we put the quartz in glasses." Armsmaster finished his sentence with a shrug. It wasn't a perfect solution but it was a solution, with powers that was often the best you could get. "With your permission Director, I'd like to test this with Taylor after the meeting." Piggot gave an absent wave and turned towards Militia.
"Do it, Militia what's the status of the Winslow operation. Have we managed to lock down Hebert's identity?" Piggot demanded.
"We've managed to track down all the witnesses we've been able to confirm were there and convinced them to sign the NDA's." Miss Militia began. "That being said there is a possibility of some of them trying to ignore them so I recommend that we monitor for any mention of Taylor in conjunction with the destruction of Winslow High School." Miss Militia shifted in her seat while she tried to figure out how to word what she wanted to say next.
"Oh for gods sakes, out with it Militia!" Piggot snapped.
"There's one other issue. We've been attempting to ascertain who planned to trap Taylor in her locker." Once again Militia stopped in the middle of a thought.
"I'm aware I gave those orders. What were the results?"
"It took some doing but three people have been named as the ring leaders. Emma Barnes, Madison Clemments and.... Sophia Hess." Miss Militia said with a wince which could be seen even through the bandanna covering her face. The room fell silent as all four of them contemplated this situation. Then Director Piggot spoke up in the tone of one who is fully aware they are grasping at straws.
"You've confirmed this is the Sophia Hess who is also Shadow Stalker. The vigilante we've been holding up as an example of the benefits of the Wards program. Our own home grown success story who we're turning into a great hero."
"Yes ma'am."
Piggot nodded as she took this in.
"Shit, this doesn't leave this room. We are opening an investigation into Hess. I want to know where she's been every minute of every day since she wormed her way into a second chance. We are going to get all our ducks in a row, makes sure everything against her is air tight and then.... I'm going to give little miss Sophia a very rude awakening." A malicious grin spread across Piggot's face at the thought.
XXX
A few hours after the rather eventful meeting Moira found herself in Armsmaster's third lab, the one they would let the tourists see with Taylor and Danny. Armsmaster came over and surprisingly gently for him led Taylor over to a medical table and helped her up to sit next to a small box which was also there.
"Taylor, keep your eyes shut. I'm going to take off the blindfold." Danny muttered into her ear before doing so. Armsmaster opened up the box and removed a thick pair of glasses from it. Which he placed in Taylor's hands.
"Sunglasses, that's the big solution here?" Taylor snarked.
"Call it a proof of concept, now put them on." Armsmaster replied warmly. Before standing up and walking off to the side, he silently gestured for Danny to move so he was in front of her. Taylor put the glasses on but still hadn't opened her eyes.
"It's okay, kiddo. Open them up." Danny said in as calm a voice he could manage. Taylor hesitantly opened her eyes and a beatific smile came across her face.
"Hi Dad."
XXX
After Taylor had been given back the gift of sight without massive destruction she asked the question that had been burning in her mind since she'd woken up and discovered that she was packing a bazooka behind each eye ball.
"Well I ever be able to control my optic blasts, you know without the glasses?" Taylor asked Moira who stared at her awkwardly.
"Parahuman powers aren't exactly my specialty Taylor. I just don't know." Moira said sadly. Taylor frowned in thought at that.
"Are there any specialists I can talk to? Can we get like a referral or something?"
"Director Armstrong over in Boston has devoted considerable research into Parahumans. If anyone would be able to help you, he can." Armsmaster stated confidently.
"Let me guess, if we want him to help us Taylor has to sign up for a four year hitch right?" Danny growled. Armsmaster just stared back calmly.
"I'm certain he would still help her but yes Ward's would have priority." Armsmaster stated flatly. Danny came to his feet and was about to try and get into the hero's face when a loud whistle rang through the room.
"Everyone just calm down damn it!" Moira snarled glaring at the two men in the room. "Look Danny, no one is saying Taylor needs to join the Wards." Armsmaster started to raise a hand in an attempt to make a point but stopped when she turned the full force of the glare on him. "No one is saying she needs to join the Wards. But it would probably be a good idea." She finished off.
"Why?" Taylor asked getting tired of everyone talking around her. "Why do I need to join the Wards? Can't I just go home and say I have like an eye condition or something?" Moira walked over and sat down next to Taylor.
"When your powers activated there was damage to more then your locker." Moira said slowly.
"How bad is it?" Taylor asked in a soft voice.
"Winslow High School has been condemned." Armsmaster stated. Taylor stared at him blankly for a moment and then turned to her Dad.
"I blew up my high school?" Danny winced and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah, kinda, little bit."
Taylor nodded and gave the most insightful reply she could muster.
"Neat."
The four of them sat in silence as they allowed her to process everything. Eventually though Armsmaster decided to try and salvage this.
"Mr. Hebert, Taylor. A large number of people saw Taylor use her powers. We've done our best to lock the story down but there's no guarantee that will be successful and if it isn't the gangs will eventually come for you. Either to recruit you or eliminate you. The Protectorate will try to protect you but there's no guarantee. If you join the Wards there would be much less chance of an open attack on you and your family because you'll have the weight of the PRT and the Protectorate behind you. Quite simply it would be too much trouble for Kaiser or Lung to bother. Now you can join here or Boston, and if you joined in Boston you would have regular access to some of the greatest parahuman researchers in the county. Now to ensure there's no miscommunication I'll contact Armstrong and arrange for a meeting with him regardless of your decision."
It was odd most people would get passionate when saying something like that but Armsmaster said it like he was reading off a drink menu he wasn't particularly impressed by. "I'll leave you to discuss it. Doctor MacTaggart please lock up afterwards." With that last thing said Armsmaster turned on his heel and headed for the interior of the lab where the real work took place.
Danny, Moira and Taylor sat in silence after he left. Slowly Danny turned toward Taylor and asked the one question that really needed to be asked.
"So what do you wanna do kiddo?"
XXX
January 17 2011, Boston PRT Headquarters
Danny Hebert pulled his truck around back of the extremely bland looking brick building and turned to face Taylor.
"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" He asked seriously. "I know it could be rough if you stayed but I don't want."
"Dad, I'm sure okay. This is what makes sense. I'm not powerful enough to keep people off of us if anyone figures out who I am. So I need to join up and if I join up in Boston maybe some of the scientists here can figure out how to do something about this." So saying Taylor gestured towards the dark red glasses which had by necessity become a center piece of her wardrobe.
"Yeah, you're right I just wish it wasn't necessary I guess." Danny huffed leaning back in his seat. Taylor gave him a small smile and the two started to get out.
"Did they confirm my stuff got here okay?" Taylor asked as she headed towards the door that would lead her to her new home.
"Yeah, they called this morning." Danny said absently, reaching out to grab Taylor's shoulder. "Hey hold up a second I got you something." Taylor turned to him and gave an awkward smile.
"Dad you seriously didn't need to get me anything."
"No, this I had to get you so ... here." So saying Danny reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an old flip phone which he pushed into Taylor's hands. "I got one for myself, my numbers saved in the contacts, top of the list. Do not delete it." Taylor nodded absently as she stared at him. He'd spent the past few years refusing to even contemplate them getting cell phones and now Taylor just had to ask
"Why?"
Danny sighed and ruffled his hands through his hair (what was left of it anyways) a nervous tick of his.
"Two reasons, you're moving away from home and I want us to be able to reach each other and... I keep thinking that if you'd had a phone that morning maybe.... Maybe all this wouldn't be necessary." Danny said in a sad voice as he looked down at the ground. Next thing he knew he had to struggle to stay on his feet as Taylor half tacked him in a hug.
"It wasn't your fault."
"Maybe not but it feels that way sometimes. So let a dad spend money to try and make himself feel better okay." Danny chuckled as he returned the hug. "There's one more thing, it's in the back of the truck." So saying he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and the two walked back. Reaching into the back he pulled out a beat up brown bomber jacket. Behind the glasses Taylor's eyes grew wide as she noticed the X patch on the left arm. She hadn't seen this in years.
"Mom's jacket." Taylor whispered. Danny nodded.
"Yeah, I was doing some cleaning after we packed up your stuff and I found it up in the attic. I figured it gets cold here so it'd be good for you to have it but if you don't I can take it back." Danny babbled, at the mention of it being taken back Taylor immediately pulled the jacket on and held it tight to her.
"No it's mine now."
Danny shock his head fondly and gestured for Taylor to go first. So side by side the two walked to the door which would lead Taylor to her new life.
XXX
April 2, 2011: Boston Protectorate Training Facility
Taylor stood alone in the seemingly empty room, feeling a little out of place in the superhero training facility when she didn't have a costume just an old hoodie and a visor which would (theoretically) allow her to better control her optic blasts. Suddenly a voice called out from the control room.
"Okay Taylor, nice and easy test today. Just get across the room." Weld, the leader of the Boston Wards said through the intercom next to her. With a wry smirk Taylor pressed the button which would allow her to respond.
"Nice and Simple, huh. Why do I feel like you're lying to me?" Taylor snarked in as dry a tone as she could manage. Weld replied quickly.
"Because you are a cruel, cynical woman, my friend. Tell you what let's make a bet. You pass I'll tell Armstrong you're good to debut."
"Nice try, I spoke to him before this I know this is my last test. Tell you what if I pass this while only firing one blast you owe me twenty bucks and I get to pick my first patrol."
"If you fire more then one blast. You lose right?" Weld asked carefully, trying to figure out where the trick was.
"That's right."
"And what do I get if I win?"
"I'll pay you 20 bucks and.... You get final sign off on my costume. Is it a deal?"
There was a staticky silence from the intercom as Taylor waited for his response.
"Deal. Test begins in 30 seconds."
Taylor gave a smirk to no one in particular as she prepared to run.
"Now!"
Taylor ran out into the room and immediately had to dive in to a roll as a set of saw blades came across her path. Coming back to her feet after avoiding the first obstacle Taylor took a moment to give a wave to the control room before heading on. Hearing a familiar groaning sound Taylor dashed to the left, only just managing to get around the gaping hole that opened in the floor.
"Okay 30% of the way, Weld's gonna start bringing out the big stuff now good." Taylor muttered to herself as she began running full out, when she was about halfway to the exit three large weapons erupted from the ground. One was behind her, one to the left and one directly in front of her. The one to the left fired a weighted net at her which she was able to dodge easily enough. She almost thought that she could hear Weld cursing up a storm as she manipulated the dial on the side of her visor to the proper setting. Idly sidestepping a blast of confoam from the one in front of her Taylor decided that she had put on enough of a show for now. So with a smirk on her face Taylor fired a blast which destroyed weapon in front of her.
"ONE SHOT! THAT WAS THE DEAL! YOU ALL HEARD IT! I STILL-" Weld called out through the intercom, coming to a stop as the blast continued through the first weapon and ricocheted off the wall heading back past Taylor to destroy the weapon behind her. After this the blast ricocheted yet again(accompanied by the devastated groans of Weld) and went off at an angle to destroy the last weapon. Three enemies, one shot, three down. Enjoying the pride that came from a job well done Taylor ran to the end of the room before Weld thought to throw out some other kind of obstacle.
XXX
April 12, 2011: Boston PRT Headquarters
Taylor stood in the wings of the news room as she waited for her cue from Director Armstrong.
"And now ladies and gentlemen it is my very sincere pleasure to introduce the newest member of Boston's Wards. CYCLOPS!!!!
So there are a couple reasons why I'm hesitant to give this its own thread:
1) Alt-power stories are a dime a dozen and I'm pretty sure most people don't like Cyclops as much as I do. So not sure this would really interest anyone.
2) Cyclops's powers are really cool in a visual format like comics or film. I'm not sure I'm capable of translating that into text.
3) Taylor as a Cyclops analogue doesn't work because I'm pretty sure the Emma of it all would kill off any fondness Taylor has for redheads.
4) In case anyone's interested the broad plan for this is a few chapters in Boston to develop the other wards and build up some relationships, slowly have some tension build with Bastion as the mask slips a few times in front of Taylor. The incident with Bastion being caught being a racist prick happens and Taylor confronts him. This is caught on camera. The PRT pressure Taylor to be part of making this whole thing go away and try to convince her to give a statement supporting Bastion. Taylor agrees but uses the opportunity to go after him. Something along the lines "What you saw is not typical of Bastion. He's typically better at hiding it but it had been a hard day for him and I personally believe it's the hard days which reveal our character." Leviathan happens and Taylor volunteers to go afterwards she accompanies Weld to Brockton so she can be with her father.
And now I shall leave you with the greatest theme song the X-men have ever had.
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The Wildcat of the Docks (A DC inspired story)
Trying to get back into writing after being seriously busy for a while. Dipping my toe in with just this quick scene.
Life had not gone the way she had planned Kelly Harris reflected as she tried to burrow deeper into her coat in the face of the cold Brockton Bay night. She was smart, she had ambitions but a combination of a lack of money to pay for college and her father being sick necessitating her to stay in Brockton Bay where being a black woman with strong opinions and a refusal to be cowed had limited opportunities meant that she was stuck working in a diner in the docks to make ends meet.
All things told it could be worse though and most days she was more or less content with her life of dishing out coffee and flapjacks to hard but fundamentally decent men and women who were happy to tip well to help out someone else who was just trying to get by in this city. At least she wasn't dancing in a club or selling pieces of body and soul on the streets hoping not to catch the wrong attention.
Yes, most days her life while not being what she'd dreamt of as a child (and really how many of us are lucky enough to live that life) was a decent one. It was a life she could be if not happy at least content with living. Nights however could be a different thing entirely. The nights where Bill the owner of the diner would call her into cover a shift for one of the girls were the worse. Gone from the diner were the dockworkers and other poor souls trying to scrape out a living on the edges of Brockton and they were replaced by a less fundamentally decent sort. The kind of people who made her skin crawl when they looked at her after completing the business transaction's she was careful not to see.
During the day you could be safe in the docks so long as you didn't go looking for trouble. The amount of eyes around meant it was too much trouble for any but the drug addled or crazy to try anything and those were usually easily avoided. But at night Brockton Bay essentially handed the docks over to any gang that wanted to claim them for the evening. Sure, occasionally a hero or a police car might drive down the main road in an attempt to show the flag but they never stopped and they made a point of not going to the places they'd be needed. The heroes and the fine boys and girls in blue would stick to the bright streets and never go into the dark places, the alleys and the side streets.
It hadn't always been like this Kelly remembered her Dad telling her about Armsmaster himself saving him from an Empire goon squad back when he was the head of the Protectorate ENE but sadly he didn't stay long. A few months in he decided to go back to leading Protectorate strike squads a few months into his tenure. Still, that was enough to make her Dad a fan for life and he made a point of watching every news story about the man that he could. She vaguely remembered the press conference Armsmaster gave announcing his resignation. He said something about needing to recognize what he was and wasn't capable of and that he needed to go where he could do the most good before handing over the reigns to Miss Militia his second in command.
Kelly couldn't keep herself from letting out a sardonic laugh as the memory played out in her minds eye. Maybe he was right that he wasn't the best fit for the job, he obviously knew himself better than she did but after hearing her Dad's story so many times through the years she couldn't imagine that he'd make the decisions that Militia had. She couldn't imagine that he'd decide they needed to focus their efforts and conserve their resources. That the heroes would only maintain a regular presence in certain vital areas of the city. Coincidentally these were all places where either the wealthy who could make large donations to the city and the PRT lived or places where tourists liked to spend money like the boardwalk. Although Kelly was sure that was purely a coincidence. Just like she was sure that any day now she'd win the lottery and retire to a beautiful tropical island where she'd be waited on hand and foot by muscular men in tight shorts and no shirts.
Kelly's random musings had kept her company through the long walk towards the bus stop and as it came into view she heaved a sigh of relief. In a few seconds she'd be at the bus stop and five minutes after that she'd be on the bus and thirty-five minutes after that she'd be home safe and sound until the next night shift rolled around.
"Where you goin, honey?"
A harsh voice grated out from behind her not looking back Kelly picked up the pace and kept walking almost jogging now hoping against hope that they'd take the hint and leave her alone. As she heard footsteps running up behind her and felt a hand grabbing her arm to pull her back, she had a moment to reflect that of course she wouldn't be that lucky. As she was held in place by one of the thugs and saw the other one standing in front of her clad in the red and black of the Empire 88 with the light from the street lights reflecting off his shaved head and his switch blade Kelly Harris screamed.
On the rooftops above where Kelly Harris was screaming a dark figure heard the sounds of her screams and ran to the edge of the roof where they took in the sight. The goon holding her had his hand over her mouth and was trying to keep her quiet while the jackass with the switch blade was holding it up to her throat and snarling threats. What exactly was being said couldn't be heard beyond the occasional racial slur but the tone was clear. The figures eyes narrowed and they leaped down towards the goon with the switch blade.
Kelly Harris was trying desperately to pull her neck away from the knife when it suddenly ceased to be an issue. A black blur fell from the heavens and collided with the skin head that been holding it. The knife fell from his hands as the dark clad figure tackled him to the ground, they rolled once or twice and finally settled with the figure in black straddling his chest. Her savior then began to rapidly punch him in the face. Over the sounds of crunching bone Kelly could hear a surprisingly young sounding voice snarl out some choice words.
"When a lady is walking home you don't bother her." The figure stopped punching for a moment to see if there was any fight left in the skin head. There wasn't. As she stood up the goon holding Kelly seemed to remember that he was capable of movement and shoved her to the ground and charged at the hero who had taken out his buddy. The hero turned and saw him coming he threw a few clumsy haymaker that they dodged easily. Then with a few quick jabs and an upper cut he went flying and the fight was over.
The figure approached her and now that the fight was over Kelly could actually take in what she was seeing a young woman dressed in a costume made out of what looked to be some kind of leather. The costume should have been laughable, the mask was designed to evoke cat ears. To continue the cat motif on her cheeks the black turned to grey giving the appearance of whiskers. She should have looked like nothing more than some kind of overzealous trick or treater but it was hard to laugh at someone who beat down two gangbangers in seconds. The hero's mouth was moving and as she snapped out of her daze Kelly realized that she had been ignoring her savior in her shock.
"Are you alright? Do you need a ambulance?"
The hero's voice was oddly gentle when the violence was done.
"I'm, I'm fine." Kelly stuttered staring in awe at her savior.
The hero nodded and flashed her a smile. The two stood in silence for a moment both at a loss for what to say. Thankfully just as it was beginning to get awkward the bus pulled up to the stop.
"That's my bus." Kelly said slowly pointing over to it for some reason she couldn't quite explain. "I should be getting home."
"Good call." The hero said hefting the two grown men over her shoulders like it was nothing. "You know the police station over on Finger avenue?" Kelly nodded her head. "I'm gonna drop these two morons off there, probably be a good idea to come by in the morning to give a statement."
With that said she turned to leave and just before she vanished into the night Kelly called after her.
"WAIT!!!" The figure stopped and looked back at her seeming confused.
"Who are you?" Kelly asked.
The hero's eyes widened behind the mask and she contemplated the question for a moment before nodding to themselves slightly.
"Wildcat. The name's Wildcat."
With that said the now named hero headed into the shadows of a nearby alley and Kelly got onto her bus wondering how she'd tell her Dad that there was a new hero in the docks.
Hours later just shortly before dawn would start to break Wildcat approached an average looking house and leapt up to the roof. As silently as possible she made her way to a specific window and jimmied it open once inside, she took in the sight of a perfectly ordinary bedroom. Catching her reflection in the mirror she contemplated the masked figure looking back at her. Wildcat reached up and removed her mask and took in the sight of Taylor Hebert's smiling face looking back at her.
As she lay down in her bed hoping to catch at least an hour or two of sleep before she would have to contend with school and all the numerous trials and tribulations that awaited her there. She took pride in the fact that it had been a good night. Taylor Hebert, Wildcat might not have been anything special. Just your average brute, tough and strong for sure but not anything game changing but she had done good tonight. People who would have been hurt or worse without her intervention were safe and that was enough for her. Miss Militia and Dauntless and the like could worry about protecting the city. Alexandria and the rest of the Triumvirate could save the world. Wildcat would take care of the alleys and the side streets and the dark corners and the forgotten people. God knows someone has to.
… shit I really like this idea
Life had not gone the way she had planned Kelly Harris reflected as she tried to burrow deeper into her coat in the face of the cold Brockton Bay night. She was smart, she had ambitions but a combination of a lack of money to pay for college and her father being sick necessitating her to stay in Brockton Bay where being a black woman with strong opinions and a refusal to be cowed had limited opportunities meant that she was stuck working in a diner in the docks to make ends meet.
All things told it could be worse though and most days she was more or less content with her life of dishing out coffee and flapjacks to hard but fundamentally decent men and women who were happy to tip well to help out someone else who was just trying to get by in this city. At least she wasn't dancing in a club or selling pieces of body and soul on the streets hoping not to catch the wrong attention.
Yes, most days her life while not being what she'd dreamt of as a child (and really how many of us are lucky enough to live that life) was a decent one. It was a life she could be if not happy at least content with living. Nights however could be a different thing entirely. The nights where Bill the owner of the diner would call her into cover a shift for one of the girls were the worse. Gone from the diner were the dockworkers and other poor souls trying to scrape out a living on the edges of Brockton and they were replaced by a less fundamentally decent sort. The kind of people who made her skin crawl when they looked at her after completing the business transaction's she was careful not to see.
During the day you could be safe in the docks so long as you didn't go looking for trouble. The amount of eyes around meant it was too much trouble for any but the drug addled or crazy to try anything and those were usually easily avoided. But at night Brockton Bay essentially handed the docks over to any gang that wanted to claim them for the evening. Sure, occasionally a hero or a police car might drive down the main road in an attempt to show the flag but they never stopped and they made a point of not going to the places they'd be needed. The heroes and the fine boys and girls in blue would stick to the bright streets and never go into the dark places, the alleys and the side streets.
It hadn't always been like this Kelly remembered her Dad telling her about Armsmaster himself saving him from an Empire goon squad back when he was the head of the Protectorate ENE but sadly he didn't stay long. A few months in he decided to go back to leading Protectorate strike squads a few months into his tenure. Still, that was enough to make her Dad a fan for life and he made a point of watching every news story about the man that he could. She vaguely remembered the press conference Armsmaster gave announcing his resignation. He said something about needing to recognize what he was and wasn't capable of and that he needed to go where he could do the most good before handing over the reigns to Miss Militia his second in command.
Kelly couldn't keep herself from letting out a sardonic laugh as the memory played out in her minds eye. Maybe he was right that he wasn't the best fit for the job, he obviously knew himself better than she did but after hearing her Dad's story so many times through the years she couldn't imagine that he'd make the decisions that Militia had. She couldn't imagine that he'd decide they needed to focus their efforts and conserve their resources. That the heroes would only maintain a regular presence in certain vital areas of the city. Coincidentally these were all places where either the wealthy who could make large donations to the city and the PRT lived or places where tourists liked to spend money like the boardwalk. Although Kelly was sure that was purely a coincidence. Just like she was sure that any day now she'd win the lottery and retire to a beautiful tropical island where she'd be waited on hand and foot by muscular men in tight shorts and no shirts.
Kelly's random musings had kept her company through the long walk towards the bus stop and as it came into view she heaved a sigh of relief. In a few seconds she'd be at the bus stop and five minutes after that she'd be on the bus and thirty-five minutes after that she'd be home safe and sound until the next night shift rolled around.
"Where you goin, honey?"
A harsh voice grated out from behind her not looking back Kelly picked up the pace and kept walking almost jogging now hoping against hope that they'd take the hint and leave her alone. As she heard footsteps running up behind her and felt a hand grabbing her arm to pull her back, she had a moment to reflect that of course she wouldn't be that lucky. As she was held in place by one of the thugs and saw the other one standing in front of her clad in the red and black of the Empire 88 with the light from the street lights reflecting off his shaved head and his switch blade Kelly Harris screamed.
On the rooftops above where Kelly Harris was screaming a dark figure heard the sounds of her screams and ran to the edge of the roof where they took in the sight. The goon holding her had his hand over her mouth and was trying to keep her quiet while the jackass with the switch blade was holding it up to her throat and snarling threats. What exactly was being said couldn't be heard beyond the occasional racial slur but the tone was clear. The figures eyes narrowed and they leaped down towards the goon with the switch blade.
Kelly Harris was trying desperately to pull her neck away from the knife when it suddenly ceased to be an issue. A black blur fell from the heavens and collided with the skin head that been holding it. The knife fell from his hands as the dark clad figure tackled him to the ground, they rolled once or twice and finally settled with the figure in black straddling his chest. Her savior then began to rapidly punch him in the face. Over the sounds of crunching bone Kelly could hear a surprisingly young sounding voice snarl out some choice words.
"When a lady is walking home you don't bother her." The figure stopped punching for a moment to see if there was any fight left in the skin head. There wasn't. As she stood up the goon holding Kelly seemed to remember that he was capable of movement and shoved her to the ground and charged at the hero who had taken out his buddy. The hero turned and saw him coming he threw a few clumsy haymaker that they dodged easily. Then with a few quick jabs and an upper cut he went flying and the fight was over.
The figure approached her and now that the fight was over Kelly could actually take in what she was seeing a young woman dressed in a costume made out of what looked to be some kind of leather. The costume should have been laughable, the mask was designed to evoke cat ears. To continue the cat motif on her cheeks the black turned to grey giving the appearance of whiskers. She should have looked like nothing more than some kind of overzealous trick or treater but it was hard to laugh at someone who beat down two gangbangers in seconds. The hero's mouth was moving and as she snapped out of her daze Kelly realized that she had been ignoring her savior in her shock.
"Are you alright? Do you need a ambulance?"
The hero's voice was oddly gentle when the violence was done.
"I'm, I'm fine." Kelly stuttered staring in awe at her savior.
The hero nodded and flashed her a smile. The two stood in silence for a moment both at a loss for what to say. Thankfully just as it was beginning to get awkward the bus pulled up to the stop.
"That's my bus." Kelly said slowly pointing over to it for some reason she couldn't quite explain. "I should be getting home."
"Good call." The hero said hefting the two grown men over her shoulders like it was nothing. "You know the police station over on Finger avenue?" Kelly nodded her head. "I'm gonna drop these two morons off there, probably be a good idea to come by in the morning to give a statement."
With that said she turned to leave and just before she vanished into the night Kelly called after her.
"WAIT!!!" The figure stopped and looked back at her seeming confused.
"Who are you?" Kelly asked.
The hero's eyes widened behind the mask and she contemplated the question for a moment before nodding to themselves slightly.
"Wildcat. The name's Wildcat."
With that said the now named hero headed into the shadows of a nearby alley and Kelly got onto her bus wondering how she'd tell her Dad that there was a new hero in the docks.
Hours later just shortly before dawn would start to break Wildcat approached an average looking house and leapt up to the roof. As silently as possible she made her way to a specific window and jimmied it open once inside, she took in the sight of a perfectly ordinary bedroom. Catching her reflection in the mirror she contemplated the masked figure looking back at her. Wildcat reached up and removed her mask and took in the sight of Taylor Hebert's smiling face looking back at her.
As she lay down in her bed hoping to catch at least an hour or two of sleep before she would have to contend with school and all the numerous trials and tribulations that awaited her there. She took pride in the fact that it had been a good night. Taylor Hebert, Wildcat might not have been anything special. Just your average brute, tough and strong for sure but not anything game changing but she had done good tonight. People who would have been hurt or worse without her intervention were safe and that was enough for her. Miss Militia and Dauntless and the like could worry about protecting the city. Alexandria and the rest of the Triumvirate could save the world. Wildcat would take care of the alleys and the side streets and the dark corners and the forgotten people. God knows someone has to.
… shit I really like this idea
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The Wildcat of the Docks: Bout One. Round One
In this chapter we have blatant exposition, the introduction of characters that people will hopefully find interesting and our beloved Taytay's first confrontation with a supervillain... Or at least a jackass with superpowers
The Hebert Household
A haven of familial bliss
7:00 AM
Taylor murmured wordlessly to herself as she rolled over in her bed and hugged a pillow to her chest. She was serene, she was at peace.
Blindly she reached out and fumbled around on her nightstand searching for the vile creature which would keep the mighty and noble Wildcat from her well deserved sleep. With a shove and the sound of a cord being pulled from a wall socket the beast was slain. Thus, with a smug smirk on her lips Taylor cuddled in to her pillow once more and prepared to fall asleep once more. She was serene, she was peaceful… She was awake. Grumbling to herself she rolled out of bed and began collecting herself, as she was grabbing the days wardrobe (jeans, t-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt to go over it) she got a glimpse of the calendar by her bed. Monday October 6, 2010. For a moment Taylor stared at the date before forcefully turning away.
"First day back." She muttered as she headed into the hallway. "No problem."
Showered and feeling just slightly more human and ready to face the world Taylor made her way downstairs. As she approached the kitchen, she was met with the smell of bacon sizzling in the pan and the sight of her suddenly guilty looking dad placing a stack of pancakes at her customary seat at the kitchen table. Danny Hebert fidgeted slightly as Taylor took in the sight of him, the unusually delicious looking breakfast foods on offer and cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Alright, out with it, Dad." Taylor snarked. "What's the bad news?"
Danny let out a nervous laugh and hurried to take the bacon out of the pan, more to have something to do than there being any risk of it burning. As he placed the bacon on Taylor's plate, he heaved a sigh and attempted to avoid the question.
"Why does there need to be anything wrong? Can't I just want to treat my lovely and intelligent daughter to a nice breakfast?"
Danny asked in an innocent tone with a smile fighting to make its way on to his face. Taylor returned the smile and sat down. After a few bites she rejoined the fencing match that was their morning conversation.
"You could, but the last time you did this was when I got out of the hospital. I'm just saying you got a pattern Dad. Rough conversations are going to happen, time to break out the pancake batter."
Danny sat down opposite Taylor and rubbed his hands over his head in frustration. A tick he'd never quite managed to get rid of despite years of teasing from his dearly departed wife. Until the end she'd always insisted that it was why he was going bald. As the idle thought crossed his mind, Danny felt the same sense of peace he always did when little bits of Annette would make herself known again. That peace ended as he realized he'd need to answer Taylor.
"Yeah, you got me kiddo."
Danny sighed and as Taylor preened slightly at the minor win that she'd managed to get so early in the morning he felt a rush of fondness for his daughter. Rubbing his hand over his jaw briefly he continued on.
"It's just today's your first day back since…" Danny trailed off not sure how to finish his sentence. Taylor stiffened in her seat and became extremely focused on cutting up her pancakes.
"Since I got jumped by a bunch of assholes."
Taylor snarled. Danny winced and nodded his head.
"Yeah, I'd wanted to be home when you got back but there's a meeting that I can't miss this afternoon and I can't reschedule. Believe me I've tried but this is the only time available and this is… It's big Taylor. But depending on how long it goes I might not be home until late tonight"
Taylor stared at her plate in confusion somehow over the course of the conversation all of the pancakes and all but one strip of bacon had vanished from the plate somehow. She picked up the last piece and chewed it thoughtfully, trying to figure out how to tell her Dad what she was feeling. Trying to figure out how she was feeling while she was at it. Finally with the bacon finished and no closer to a deep emotional revelation she settled on asking the practical question.
"What's the meeting about?"
Despite himself a smile came across Danny's face in his excitement. Today could be a win and it had been a long, long time since he had gotten one of those. As he took in the sight of his daughter straightening herself out in her chair. Trying so very hard to look strong he reflected that there were days it felt like it had been around sixteen years since his last one.
"There's a new company that wants to move into the Bay. Holt Holdings and I guess they couldn't find a building they like so they're gonna be building a new headquarters. You know how rich folks are." Danny waggled his eyebrows at Taylor trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"Yes, not enough golden staircases, right?"
Taylor said a small smile working its way onto her lips which Danny returned.
"Bingo, anyways the union put in a bid for the contract."
"Why?" Taylor interjected. "I thought you said everything just goes to one of the mayor's fucking cronies."
Danny frowned and puffed himself up with faux anger.
"Still worth taking the shot. Now watch your language young lady. I raised you better than that."
Taylor rolled her eyes and sank back in a huff.
"Fine, fine. The mayor's worthless fucking cronies."
Taylor said with a smirk that mirrored the one on Danny's face.
"That's better." Danny said firmly. "We need to be sure to show them all the respect they're due. Anyways it seems like Mr. Holt agrees with us. A little birdie told me that he turned down all the companies our honorable Mayor Christner so kindly suggested for him."
"This is big, isn't it?" Taylor asked.
"Huge." Danny nodded. "This one contract could keep us in work for months, it'd be more revenue coming in than we've gotten in a long time and some of the crew could get work in the company down the line." Danny looked pained and slowed his speech to a stop.
"Shit, I'm doing this all wrong aren't I?" Danny muttered to himself. "Look Taylor are you okay with this? If you're not just say the word and I can have Kurt or somebody step in for me at the negotiations."
Taylor frowned and looked down at the table as her Dad looked on her with concerned eyes. He had dedicated himself to the Dockworkers Union, heck the docks themselves heart and soul and had for as long as she could remember. Danny pushed himself to the brink of madness trying to find work for his people.
Even beyond that as the years went by and the police and the heroes had slowly but surely pulled back from the docks and the surrounding areas the Dockworkers had stepped up. Organizing themselves into a combination neighbourhood watch and militia they did their best to keep some kind of order in the docks. There wasn't much that they could do in the grand scheme of things. There was only so many of them and they could only be in so many places at once. But the idea of them being around was enough that stores wouldn't usually be shaken down during the day, if you were on the main roads and moved fast you'd probably be safe. It kept the docks functioning if nothing else. But this it could do more than just keep things from getting worse, it might be able to make things better even if just a little bit. In the face of that how could Taylor stand in the way?
"It's fine Dad." Taylor said calmly. "I was kind of thinking after school I'd go to Grant's and get a workout in. It's been a while since I've seen everyone… Beside it'll be fun to hit something." Taylor finished with a smirk.
Danny nodded his head slowly and stood up walking over to her.
"You're sure about this?" He asked seriously.
"I'm sure Dad. I'll be fine."
Taylor said a confident smile on her face. Danny looked up and down at his little girl standing there tall and proud and strong and couldn't help himself. He pulled her into a hug.
"I'm so proud of you. You know that right?"
Danny murmured into her hair. Slowly, hesitantly Taylor returned the hug. A quiet part of Danny's mind raised the question if it had been so long since he'd hugged his daughter that she found the idea confusing. The rest of Danny's mind promptly told it to shut the hell up and even if that were true, he's fixing it damn it!
"I know Dad. Thanks."
Taylor whispered as she wrapped her arms around him tight. After a moment the two Hebert's separated and stood in the awkward confusion that always ensues after a happy moment. Finally, Danny reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Extracting a few bills from it he handed them over to Taylor.
"That's 80 bucks. I figure after your time at the gym. You could hit up the boardwalk or something and get something to eat or go shopping. Whatever it is you teenagers do for fun."
Taylor nodded her head as she put the bills into her pockets.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. Thanks Dad."
At that moment the two heard the backfire of a large vehicle starting up and taking off. Looking out the window they saw the bus which would usually be Taylor's transportation to that bastion of education and positive socialization that was Winslow high school driving away. Conspicuously lacking one Taylor Hebert.
"Guess, I'm giving you a lift to school?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, I'll get my bag."
Taylor called out already heading up to her room. As she entered her room and bent down to grab her bag she saw it. Hidden beneath her bed where she had left it the night before was her Wildcat costume. The mask seemed to stare into her soul and after a few seconds Taylor gave in to the mad compulsion that had gripped her. Dumping out the textbooks quickly she made room in her bag and placed her costume inside. Using the books to cover it over she figured as long as she kept the bag with her no one should be able to see the costume. All she needed to do was leave her textbooks in her bag at all times and ignore her education. For possibly the first time in her high school career Taylor would fit in perfectly at school.
Winslow High School
A cesspool of scum and villainy
7:45 am
Taylor drummed her fingers on her leg to a beat only she could hear as Danny's ancient pick-up truck heaved its way into the parking lot of Winslow High School. Danny cursed under his breath as he looked around and found that all of the admittedly few useable parking spaces were occupied.
"I'll just drop you off at the front, that okay?"
Danny idly asked as he began to maneuver his way around the people and vehicles in the parking lot. Taylor nodded silently as she gazed at the school unconsciously clenching and unclenching her fists as they approached. After Danny pulled to a stop, she quickly grabbed her bag and got out of the vehicle. As she turned to say goodbye her and Danny locked eyes. Danny seemed to take her measure for a moment and seeming to decide he liked what he saw, he raised his hand in a quick farewell and drove off. Taylor stared after him in mild bemusement. It seemed that this morning's talk had exhausted his capacity for conversation.
As Taylor entered the school it seemed to her that all eyes were on her as she walked through the halls and just at the edge of her hearing, she could hear whispers.
"Psycho."
"Freak"
"Heard she broke his jaw."
"His jaw? I heard it was his leg."
"Can't believe they let her back in."
As she made her way through the halls towards her locker Taylor couldn't help but admire the power of the high school rumor mill. A teenage girl gets attacked by four boys and within two weeks it turned into her being the psycho who attacked those poor innocent babies.
Taylor sneered to herself in derision as images of what had happened flashed through her mind. She'd noticed them following her from school, she'd picked up speed, so did they. She started to run, so did they. Then they caught her. She could swear she could still feel how that first blow to the head felt as one of them hit her from behind. She'd tried to fight back, she'd used everything she'd learned from her boxing training at Grant's gym plus a few moves that she'd picked up from her Dad's friend Kurt that weren't exactly allowed under marquis of queensbury rules but it hadn't been enough. End of the day there were four of them and one of her.
Then things went black for who knows how long and when she came to, she was stronger and tougher than she'd ever been. She'd managed to fight them off easily after that and stumbled home where her father saw her bloody and bruised. Taylor was pulled out of her reverie when she felt a hand placed on her shoulder. She spun around and pulled a fist back ready to lash out at her attacker. She managed to stop herself when she realized that she was face to face with quite possibly the least threatening person on the planet, Mr. Gladly the platonic ideal of peaked in high school. Taylor lowered her fist with a huff.
"Sorry, you startled me. What do you want?"
Gladly let out a nervous laugh and straightened his back trying to show his vaunted coolness and authority. He failed, miserably.
"Principal Blackwell wanted to speak to you Taylor." Gladly intoned gravely. "She wants to make sure there aren't any problems today. Best you head over to the office now."
Taylor arched an eyebrow at him and leaned slightly against her locker. Gladly began to feel an uncomfortable kinship with a prey animal that finds itself face to face with some kind of predator.
"Now, what kind of problems could she be worried about?" Taylor asked innocently. "Certainly not that someone could try to attack me here. She swore that Winslow was a perfectly safe learning environment."
It wasn't until this very moment that Taylor realized the level of sarcastic disdain she was able to put in to just a few words. Amazingly Gladly seemed to pick up on it as he raised his hands in submission. It would seem Taylor would have to raise her estimation of his intelligence ever so slightly.
"Hey, I'm just the messenger here Taylor." Gladly said as he failed to sound ingratiating. "But I'm sure she just wants to make sure you're okay."
Taylor snorted and turned to head towards the office.
"I'm sure that's it."
Principal Blackwell was a severe woman who always kept herself cold and detached from the students nominally under her care and her office reflected that. There were no pictures of loved ones on her desk, no pictures on the walls, not even a plant barely clinging to life under the fluorescent lights overhead. There was nothing here to give any glimpse of the woman beneath the role if one even existed at all. Taylor took in all of this quickly before taking a seat and leaning back in the chair. As the silence between them went on longer and longer with no one speaking Taylor stretched out and gave a fake yawn.
"Look it's been real nice seeing you but if you're not gonna say anything I'll just be going to class and let some other people get a chance to stare."
Not wasting a moment Taylor made to get out of her chair and head for the door.
"Sit. Down. Ms. Hebert." Blackwell gritted out.
Taylor did so and turned a perfectly innocent smile towards Blackwell.
"Of course, now what can I do for you Ms. Blackwell."
Taylor said with all the insincere sweetness she could muster. Principal Blackwell harrumphed and placed a file on the desk. She jabbed a finger down at one seemingly at random and stared Taylor dead in the eyes.
"These are the medical files of the four young men you put in the hospital." She intoned gravely.
Taylor arched an eyebrow in bemusement and glared daggers back at Blackwell.
"You mean the people who I defended myself from when they tried to assault me."
Taylor snarled back. Blackwell jolted back in shock. Taylor had always been passive in their interactions before. Whenever she would complain about bullying to Blackwell and she'd decline to investigate Taylor would grumble and groan but she'd never truly fight back. Something had changed and Blackwell wasn't certain she approved of it. Best to crush this attempted rebellion in the bud.
"Be that as it may don't you think this was excessive. A broken leg, one broken arm, one of them won't be able to see out of his eye."
Taylor shook her head calmly.
"Considering they jumped me in an alley and were trying to tape me up so I couldn't move. No. No I don't and the cops agreed with me." Taylor snarked. "Amazing they got that right." She muttered in an aside to herself that was missed by Blackwell.
"Yes, well I just want to make it clear that we absolutely do not condone violence on school grounds." Blackwell stated.
"Yeah, okay." Taylor chuckled. "You know what fine. So long as no one tries to attack me I'll make sure to live up to the fine reputation of Winslow High School. Fair enough?"
Taylor held out her and across the desk offering a handshake and a smug grin. Eventually Blackwell reached out and reciprocated the handshake.
"I don't appreciate the sarcasm Ms. Hebert. But I suppose it's the best I can expect from you."
Taylor's grin just grew in the face of Blackwell's exasperation.
"I suppose it is."
With the final word Taylor turned and headed out of the office offering only a dismissive wave to Blackwell as she left. She kept up her façade of calm as she walked away from the office and headed down the hall out of sight. Coming to a halt she breathed deeply once, twice and then with a snarl on her lips she turned and punched a locker as hard as she could. Feeling better she walked away and hearing the locker fall to the ground behind her a small smile came to her lips.
"Excessive force, give me a break. Hope Dads day is going better than mine."
The Dockworkers Association
The Home For Folks Too Dumb To Quit
9:30 am.
Danny Hebert sat at his desk going over the notes he'd prepared for his meeting with the representative from Holt Industries for the third time in the past hour. This was quite simply the biggest deal he'd been a part of since joining the Dockworkers years ago. People were counting on him and he absolutely couldn't screw this up. So, as he once more came to the end of his notes he took a sip of his coffee and prepared to review once more everything he'd gathered on the people he was meeting with.
The company was impressive, it seemed to do anything and everything and always be an industry leader. Manufacturing, digital security, pharmaceuticals pretty much any industrial sector you could imagine there was a division of Holt dedicated to it and that was before even mentioning its founder and CEO. Michael Holt was to engage in a rather shameless degree of understatement a genius. More than that he was a modern day renaissance man not being content with accumulating three doctoral degrees by the age of 21 he was also a world class athlete with gold medals in boxing, gymnastics and track and field specifically marathon running.
The man had conquered the world of academics, athletics and business to the point where a part of Danny had to wonder why he needed the Dockworkers when there was probably a division of Holt dedicated to construction and if there wasn't give the man a week and he'd have it up and running. Danny Hebert was a proud man both of himself and his people but having looked over everything he could find about the people he was potentially getting involved with he couldn't help but feel somewhat out of his depth. Thankfully he was pulled out of his maudlin thoughts by the ringing of the telephone that was somewhere on his desk buried under mountains of papers. On the third ring he managed to find the receiver and pull it to his ear.
"Dockworkers association. Danny Hebert speaking, how can I help you?"
Danny said the practiced opening line falling from his lips without any fault.
"Danny, nice to put a voice to your emails." A warm voice said into his ear. "This is Michael Holt, how are you doing?"
Danny's eyes widened and he tightened his grip on the phone.
"Fine, just fine. I hadn't realized I'd be dealing with you directly." Danny trailed off as he tried to figure out a way to finish that sentence that wasn't I figured you're a rich snob who wouldn't bother with us lowly workers. His reverie was broken up by a friendly chuckle.
"Little quirk of mine, I like to meet anyone I'm thinking of doing business with face to face before I make any decisions. Nothing quite like looking into someone's eyes to get a feel for their character. I'm sure you understand."
Danny nodded briefly to himself.
"Of course, so what can I do for you Mr. Holt?"
"Michael please. I apologize for the suddenness of this but I was hoping that we could reschedule our meeting."
Danny winced and closed his eyes for a moment. He'd been down this road before, rescheduled meetings, missed calls and then a few months down the line you realized that you'd left half a dozen messages that hadn't been responded to and wouldn't be responded to. Still, you had to play the game.
"I understand, things come up. When would be a better day for you?"
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment as Michael Holt considered the question.
"Did it sound like? Oh, it did didn't it." He murmured to himself. "No Danny, I had an opening in my schedule and wanted to see if you'd be available to meet earlier that's all. Say 11?"
Danny couldn't help himself and let out a small laugh.
"Of course, 11 it is. I look forward to meeting you."
"Perfect, thanks so much for being so accommodating. I look forward to meeting you as well." Holt replied and Danny thought he could hear a smile in his voice.
The next hour and change passed in a blur as Danny got himself ready and finally the appointed hour arrived. Danny could hear through his door someone exchanging words with Phyliss who had worked the front desk at least since Danny had started and possibly since time immemorial. Danny took a moment to compose himself and after taking a deep breath he walked out of his office to meet a man who could make or break his future.
As he walked out Danny took the measure of Michael Holt and had to admit that at first glance the man cut an impressive figure. He was a tall handsome black man in a suit that was fashionable and well cut to his frame and there was a certain presence to him. The man just drew the eye and as he had something to Phyliss that Danny couldn't quite hear that had her giggling it seemed evident that he had the charisma to match his looks. Seeming to hear the closing of the door Michael Holt turned and as soon as his eyes fell on Danny a smile came across his face and he quickly approached him with his hand out.
"You must be Danny Hebert, right?" He said in a jovial tone.
Danny returned the offered handshake and returned the smile.
"That's right and you're Michael Holt I presume. Follow me my office is just through here" Michael gestured for Danny to take the lead before turning and murmuring a quick goodbye to Phyliss.
Danny took a seat at his desk and waited for Michael to sit down. As soon as his guest was settled in he went into his spiel. Laying out the number of workers available, the equipment they had already and the equipment they would need. As he was going through the timeline they would be working under Michael cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"Danny, we can go over all that later. I'd more or less decided I wanted to work with you before I walked in here."
Danny stared at him in bewilderment.
"I'm sorry what?"
Michael Holt smirked and leaned back in his chair.
"Can I be blunt?" Danny nodded. "I'm a smart man before I arrived in the city I'd done my research and if you're a reasonably intelligent person it doesn't take long for patterns to emerge. This area, these people, your people are holding on by the skin of their teeth am I right?"
Danny nodded his head.
"We are but!" He began to interject.
"And I admire that." Holt said quickly trying to avert a fight that would help no one. "The docks are managing to hold on despite getting absolutely no help from your government. Hell when I mentioned I'd hoped to work with you the mayor tried to talk me out of it."
"Jackass." Danny muttered to himself and then looked horrified at his lapse in professionalism but Holt just laughed.
"Quite, so despite all of the odds this little area managed to hold on. Through crime and economic downturn this neighbourhood held on and kept believing things could get better, I had to ask myself why? So I looked deeper and everything I found pointed me to the Dockworkers Association and Danny Hebert. You found work for people when it seemed like there was none, your people managed to keep crime at something people could survive. You all kept fighting for your home even when it seemed hopeless and I wanted to help."
Danny took this all in and leaned in closer.
"Say, I believe you. Why do you need the Dockworkers Association? I've looked into your company you could absolutely build everything you need, all the infrastructure on your own."
Michael nodded in agreement.
"We could no doubt but if we just came in and started tearing up the place we'd be seen as interlopers and outsiders cutting out the local boys and tossing a few scraps to people. If we want to actually help we need the people of the Docks to buy in and near as I can tell the best way to do that is to get you on board with this. So, there it is all cards on the table. What do you say?"
Danny hesitated for a moment and finally decided to ask the one question that he needed to be answered.
"Okay, why Brockton Bay? There are a ton of towns that could use the money you're offering to pump in."
"That's right there are and we'll get to them. Brockton Bay is kind of a proof of concept and as for why we chose here to do it." A wicked grin grew on Michael's face. "I love the idea of a black man coming in and fixing the economy of the stronghold of a bunch of neo-nazi's. I want to rub their faces in it."
Almost without his realizing it an answering grin came to Danny's lips.
"I can get behind that."
And with that said the two men got to work hammering out the details of the contract.
Grant's Gym, an out of the way corner of the Docks.
Where if you don't hurt when you're leaving, you're doing it wrong
3:30 pm
Taylor rolled her neck as she walked towards the building trying to work out the kinks and aches that had accumulated over a day of school. Her first day back had been fine all things considered, barring her run in with what could technically be called authority figures in the forms of Gladly and Blackwell no one had bothered her. Evidently all it took to make people stop bullying you was to lose your reputation as the local sad sack and gain a reputation for violence. Who knew? Still as she walked in the doors of the gym and heard the sounds of people hitting the speed bag, smelt that mixture of blood, sweat and tears the so defined a boxing gym she felt at home.
As she headed towards the locker room, she exchanged nods and waves with a few people she knew until finally she was stopped in her tracks by a young man.
"Taylor, welcome back."
Al Pratt beamed at her. The short but surprisingly powerful boxer had been one of the first to befriend her when she'd walked in here as a gawky beanpole hoping to pick up a trick or two. Taylor laughed and smiled at him.
"Good to be back Al. How have things been here?"
Al shrugged as the two of them started heading towards the locker rooms together.
"Same old, same old. Pep's been hard at work training for his next fight and Ted's been his usual grumpy self."
"I'm sure."
Taylor smirked but their conversation was cut short as a door flung open and Ted Grant stormed out of his office. The former two-time heavyweight champion was still an impressive sight, as strong and as powerful in his sixties as he had been in his prime. The only concession to age his body had made were the grey hairs that were slowly taking over his temples. He deigned to offer the two of them a brief nod as he stormed by them.
"Look Laborn, I'm happy to help you out but you gotta meet me half way here and that means showing up to work!"
They could hear Grant growling into his phone as they stared wide eyed after him.
"What was that about?" Taylor asked
Al shrugged next to her.
"You remember Brian, he's one of the trainers here."
Taylor nodded.
"Yeah, he was one of the first guys I spared with when Ted said I was ready. Jerk promised he'd take it easy on me."
"And he didn't?" Al asked as he got distracted from his story.
"No, he did and I made him pay for it. Good news he started taking me more seriously after that… Bad news he started taking me more seriously after that." Al gave a wordless sound of acknowledgement as Taylor finished her story. "So, what's going on with him?"
"No idea." Al replied. "Last couple weeks he's just stopped showing up to work."
"Weird." Taylor said as they arrived at the locker room. "Hey after I'm changed mind doing a little pad work with me?"
"Sure thing."
Taylor was in and out of the changing room quickly and as she swiftly made her way to the ring where Al was waiting for her, she bumped into Ted.
"Sorry Ted, didn't see you coming."
Taylor said quickly as she tried to make her way around him before being brought to a halt by his hand on her shoulder.
"Hold up, kid." Ted said in his customarily gruff tone. "You good to be here? Way I heard it you got roughed up pretty good." His eyes were kind as he looked her over.
Taylor nodded determinedly.
"I'm fine, Ted really. Just want to get back to it so I can make sure I can take anybody who tries something without ending up in the hospital myself."
She finished off with an awkward chuckle which Ted answered with a resounding roar of laughter. He patted her roughly on the back and wiped a tear from his eye.
"That'a girl. What's the plan for today?"
Taylor pointed at the ring where Al was waiting for her.
"I was going to do some pad work with Al, get my form back and then maybe hit the bags for a bit then finish it off with some strength training."
Ted nodded to himself briefly before turning and walking towards the ring."
"Yeah, that works, get a move on I'll supervise."
After that the afternoon passed in a blur of punches thrown, weights lifted and yelled instructions to "keep your left up before someone takes your block off." The whole time Taylor was smiling inside. God help her she'd missed this.
The Boardwalk
Come for the attractions, stay for the inflated prices
8:00 pm
Taylor with her bag over her shoulder strolled along the boardwalk feeling relaxed and at peace. There was nothing quite like punching something to work out the stresses of life and now as she made her way through the crowd, she knew there was only one thing she needed to make this day perfect. Frank's would still be open for another thirty minutes and they had the best cheese dogs in the city. Taylor licked her lips as she mentally reviewed her to do list for the moment. Get to Frank's, fork over the $23.85 that would get her two cheese dogs and a large coke and then she could enjoy wonderfully greasy deliciousness. Yes, absolutely nothing could ruin this day. As she thought that the screams started.
Someone else can handle this. Taylor thought. This is the boardwalk, there's always a hero around to make sure the tourist's wallets are safe. I can just grab dinner and head home. The screaming continued unabated until finally with a growl of frustration Taylor left the line and headed towards the sound of the noise.
As she came to a halt and took in the scene a small part of her mind noted that if it weren't for the people lying on the ground brutalized this would be kind of a funny sight. Ahead of her was a guy wearing a pink jumpsuit jogging along while shadow boxing and following behind was a guy in a fat suit on a tiny bicycle. Every little while though the illusion of innocent comedy would break and pinky would attack some random passerby and as soon as he'd beaten them to the point they couldn't move, he'd quickly grab a wallet or a purse, toss it to his partner and move on.
Taylor took notice of an alley off to the side and ran towards it her mind racing all the while. Clearly these were Uber and Leet, a pair of idiots who would play out a video game while they were pulling their crimes and post the results on the internet. As she quickly changed into her costume out of sight of both passerby's and cameras (no one ever mentioned how awkward it was to change at a moment's notice) she went over what she knew about them. According to PHO Uber was a thinker of some kind whose power basically let him be really good at things. Judging by what she saw right now he was pretending to be a boxer of some kind. Fine she could handle that. A nasty grin came across Taylor's face as she thought that while pulling on her mask.
Then there was Leet, he was a tinker and a bit of a joke at that from what Taylor could tell half the time his tech would blow up on him when he tried to use it. Still, she reflected as she leapt to the roof of the building even a mediocre tinker could be dangerous. Probably best to take him out of the action first and then focus on Uber. She nodded to herself briefly as she raced along the roofs of the various businesses and tourist traps that lined the boardwalk coming to a stop near to them. Closer, closer. Now Leet was right in front of her, her eyes narrowed as she prepared herself to get into the fight.
Wildcat pounced upon Leet knocking him from his bike. They rolled over once, twice, three times so Leet would be disoriented and finally Wildcat began raining blows upon his face. Blood began to coat the knuckles of her gloves as she felt something give way around his nose. Deciding that he'd be staying down for a while she turned towards Uber just in time to catch a right hook to the face. She shook her head briefly and took in the sight of Uber standing before her. Up close she couldn't help but notice he was touch more muscular than she'd thought based on the videos of his she'd seen. This fight might be slightly harder than she'd expected. An excited grin grew across her face as she lifted her hands and got ready for a scrap. Slightly.
"Jesus christ lady! He's had enough. Lay off of him and fight someone your own size." Uber ranted as he tried to throw another punch that Wildcat dodged away from. Wildcat barked out a sardonic laugh and threw a couple jabs that managed to catch Uber on the chin.
"Hey at least he decided to be a part of the fight. Pretty sure your sparing partners back there didn't get a choice."
As Uber was reeling back, she tried to follow up with a quick hook and uppercut that would hopefully lay him out quick but suddenly he was able to block her punches perfectly. As Wildcat worked to recover herself Uber failed to capitalize on the opening.
Huh, he had a clear shot at me there and he didn't take it. It's almost like he can only do… Let's try something here.
Wildcat took a step or two back and lowered her guard slightly. Just enough that Uber would see it. Uber's stance shifted slightly and he charged in swinging. Wildcat dodged and weaved around the fast and furious blows.
Now let's see if I'm right.
As Wildcat stepped around a punch, she saw her opening. Uber had left his side wide open and Wildcat lashed out with a punishing blow to the ribs. Uber gasped out in pain and bent over trying to catch his breath. She followed up with a quick uppercut and a right hook to the jaw.
If I'm right, his power only lets him focus on one technique at a time. He can do offence or defence but not both and he probably needs to focus so long as I don't let up.
Putting her thoughts into action Wildcat just kept coming punch after punch. Kick after kick. Blow after blow. As she felt bones crack beneath her knuckles, she tried not to think about how good that felt. She never let up even for a moment. She hit the villain again and again and again never giving him a minute to breath, a minute to think until finally his eyes began to flutter close and he slumped to the ground. Down for the ten count.
Wildcat took a moment to breath and then she surveyed her work. Uber was down and out his face bloody and bruised and a few feet away was Leet still lying on the ground unconscious.
Guess he had a glass jaw. Good to know.
Wildcat thought with a smirk on her lips. She took in the sight of the crowd and cupped her hands to her lips.
"Anybody wanna call the cops or the enforcers? I don't wanna waste anymore of my night on these losers than I already have."
Someone cleared their throat behind her and a voice that sounded like someone around her age trying to sound mature and authoritative spoke out in response.
"I think I can take care of that Miss."
Wildcat turned around and for the first time in her short career found herself face to face to some of the other heroes in the Bay. Apparently, the Wards were here and had been too late to the action. A nasty cynical part of Taylor couldn't help but feel that was completely typical for them. Still, she tried to keep that thought from her face as she took in the sight of Gallant, Kid Winn and Brockton Bay's own mini Alexandria Glory Girl. Kid Winn and Gallant were both trying to look professional and heroic while Glory Girl kept looking at the beaten down forms of Uber and Leet with a large smile on her face.
"Yeah, thanks." Taylor said to Gallant. "If you lot got something that can make sure they won't run when they wake up I'd appreciate it."
Gallant gestured to Kid Winn.
"Winn can handle that." He said in a voice that quickly grated on Taylor's nerves. So clearly he'd been the one to speak first.
"Yeah, no problem." Kid Winn said before he quickly pulled out one of his guns and fiddled with it for a second before walking over to Uber and spraying him down with some kind of foam that hardened quickly. He then repeated the procedure on Leet before hustling back over.
"The PRT should be here in 15, that'll keep them long enough."
Kid Winn and Gallant quickly fell into a somewhat incoherent conversation that was a mix of jargon and acronyms that Taylor truly just didn't care about and judging by the yawn Glory Girl was trying to hide she wasn't the only one. Taylor quickly clapped her hands to bring everyone's attention on her.
"So, if we're done here. I'm just gonna be going."
With that said Taylor turned to leave. Before being brought to a halt by a beautiful blonde face beaming in front of her.
"You don't have to run off so quick." Glory Girl said cheerfully.
Gallant walked up to them and placed a hand on Taylor's shoulder before interjecting.
"We could actually stand to get a statement from you. If you don't mind."
Wildcat rolled her eyes briefly.
"Fine let's just make this quick. I missed cheese dogs for this and I get grumpy when I'm hungry."
"Perfect." Kid Winn said. "But how about we do this somewhere a bit less public." He looked around briefly and pointed at a random roof. "How bout up there?" Gallant and Glory Girl both nodded briefly and flew off towards the roof. Glory Girl and Kid Winn under their own power (well his hover boards power in Winn's case) and Gallant being carried bridal style in Glory Girl's arms. Taylor started running after them grumbling under her breath the whole while.
"None of them ask if I wanted a lift, freaking jerks. I'm the one who did all the work."
As Taylor clambered her way onto the roof, she caught the tail end of a conversation.
"So, either of you ever hear of this girl before?" Gallant asked to the group.
"She's new to me." Glory Girl replied with a shrug.
Kid Winn let out a quiet hmm as he seemed to stare off into space for a moment before coming back to the conversation.
"There've been reports of a new vigilante working out of the Docks, calls herself the Cat or something."
It was at that point Taylor decided to make herself known. She needed to protect her branding after all.
"It's Wildcat actually."
The three of them jumped slightly and turned to face her. Kid Winn started rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Sorry the reports were unclear. I'll uh, make sure they get updated."
Taylor nodded seriously at him.
"Good now what's this about?"
She demanded to know. Almost before she could get a word out Glory Girl was in front of her with a grin on her face and a high five on offer.
"I don't know about these two but I just wanted to say congrats. You laid Uber out like a chump."
Taylor stared uncomprehendingly at the platonic ideal of the popular cheerleader floating before her. Finally, she reached out and slapped Glory Girl's hand causing her smile to somehow get even bigger.
"It wasn't really a big deal. The guy was a punk."
Taylor said deliberately casually.
"Still." Gallant said as he and Kid Winn walked over to join the two of them. "It's a good sign that you're ready to deal with some more important things than just some thugs in the docks."
Taylor felt her back stiffen, her eyes narrow and her muscles tense with every word Gallant spoke. He sounded like every rich asshole who'd ever dismissed her Dad in the meetings she wasn't supposed to be overhearing. All the people who could have helped her people who were struggling and instead just chose to look down on them. She didn't like people like that.
"Important. What do you mean important?!"
Taylor snarled as she stalked towards him. Gallant raised his hands up placatingly and spoke in a calm voice as he replied.
"I just mean taking on supervillains and protecting places that mean more to the city. It's not like there's much in the Docks that needs to be protected is all."
Both Kid Winn and Glory Girl stared at him wide eyed.
"Dude, maybe you should." Kid Winn tried to say before Taylor cut him off.
"Last night I saved a woman from the Empire." Wildcat growled as she got fully in his face. "You tellin me she didn't need to be protected!"
Gallant backed up half a step and seemed to sense that he'd made a mistake of some kind even if he wasn't sure where.
"No, not at all it's just in the big picture places like downtown and the boardwalk mean more to the city." Gallant said in the tone of voice of someone reciting something they'd repeated so often that they didn't even think to question it. Taylor let out a sardonic laugh.
"Lemme tell you something about the big picture. It's made of the small pictures. That woman I saved last night she matters just because she matters. Not because of the good she can do for the city, or the economy or whatever!" Taylor roared into the faceplate of Gallant. "She matters because she was a person who needed help. That's all that matters and if you don't get that stay the hell away from me."
Having said her piece, the Wildcat turned and ran to the edge of the building and leaped into the night. Behind her she could hear the faint sounds of arguing between Glory Girl, Kid Winn and the rather ironically named Gallant.
So it turns out I'm not great at writing fight scenes and I have a character who is all about punching people in the face. Ah well the only way to learn is by doing. Also for the record any characters with names you may recognize are not currently superheroes.
The Hebert Household
A haven of familial bliss
7:00 AM
Taylor murmured wordlessly to herself as she rolled over in her bed and hugged a pillow to her chest. She was serene, she was at peace.
BRING!!!!!!!!
Blindly she reached out and fumbled around on her nightstand searching for the vile creature which would keep the mighty and noble Wildcat from her well deserved sleep. With a shove and the sound of a cord being pulled from a wall socket the beast was slain. Thus, with a smug smirk on her lips Taylor cuddled in to her pillow once more and prepared to fall asleep once more. She was serene, she was peaceful… She was awake. Grumbling to herself she rolled out of bed and began collecting herself, as she was grabbing the days wardrobe (jeans, t-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt to go over it) she got a glimpse of the calendar by her bed. Monday October 6, 2010. For a moment Taylor stared at the date before forcefully turning away.
"First day back." She muttered as she headed into the hallway. "No problem."
Showered and feeling just slightly more human and ready to face the world Taylor made her way downstairs. As she approached the kitchen, she was met with the smell of bacon sizzling in the pan and the sight of her suddenly guilty looking dad placing a stack of pancakes at her customary seat at the kitchen table. Danny Hebert fidgeted slightly as Taylor took in the sight of him, the unusually delicious looking breakfast foods on offer and cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Alright, out with it, Dad." Taylor snarked. "What's the bad news?"
Danny let out a nervous laugh and hurried to take the bacon out of the pan, more to have something to do than there being any risk of it burning. As he placed the bacon on Taylor's plate, he heaved a sigh and attempted to avoid the question.
"Why does there need to be anything wrong? Can't I just want to treat my lovely and intelligent daughter to a nice breakfast?"
Danny asked in an innocent tone with a smile fighting to make its way on to his face. Taylor returned the smile and sat down. After a few bites she rejoined the fencing match that was their morning conversation.
"You could, but the last time you did this was when I got out of the hospital. I'm just saying you got a pattern Dad. Rough conversations are going to happen, time to break out the pancake batter."
Danny sat down opposite Taylor and rubbed his hands over his head in frustration. A tick he'd never quite managed to get rid of despite years of teasing from his dearly departed wife. Until the end she'd always insisted that it was why he was going bald. As the idle thought crossed his mind, Danny felt the same sense of peace he always did when little bits of Annette would make herself known again. That peace ended as he realized he'd need to answer Taylor.
"Yeah, you got me kiddo."
Danny sighed and as Taylor preened slightly at the minor win that she'd managed to get so early in the morning he felt a rush of fondness for his daughter. Rubbing his hand over his jaw briefly he continued on.
"It's just today's your first day back since…" Danny trailed off not sure how to finish his sentence. Taylor stiffened in her seat and became extremely focused on cutting up her pancakes.
"Since I got jumped by a bunch of assholes."
Taylor snarled. Danny winced and nodded his head.
"Yeah, I'd wanted to be home when you got back but there's a meeting that I can't miss this afternoon and I can't reschedule. Believe me I've tried but this is the only time available and this is… It's big Taylor. But depending on how long it goes I might not be home until late tonight"
Taylor stared at her plate in confusion somehow over the course of the conversation all of the pancakes and all but one strip of bacon had vanished from the plate somehow. She picked up the last piece and chewed it thoughtfully, trying to figure out how to tell her Dad what she was feeling. Trying to figure out how she was feeling while she was at it. Finally with the bacon finished and no closer to a deep emotional revelation she settled on asking the practical question.
"What's the meeting about?"
Despite himself a smile came across Danny's face in his excitement. Today could be a win and it had been a long, long time since he had gotten one of those. As he took in the sight of his daughter straightening herself out in her chair. Trying so very hard to look strong he reflected that there were days it felt like it had been around sixteen years since his last one.
"There's a new company that wants to move into the Bay. Holt Holdings and I guess they couldn't find a building they like so they're gonna be building a new headquarters. You know how rich folks are." Danny waggled his eyebrows at Taylor trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"Yes, not enough golden staircases, right?"
Taylor said a small smile working its way onto her lips which Danny returned.
"Bingo, anyways the union put in a bid for the contract."
"Why?" Taylor interjected. "I thought you said everything just goes to one of the mayor's fucking cronies."
Danny frowned and puffed himself up with faux anger.
"Still worth taking the shot. Now watch your language young lady. I raised you better than that."
Taylor rolled her eyes and sank back in a huff.
"Fine, fine. The mayor's worthless fucking cronies."
Taylor said with a smirk that mirrored the one on Danny's face.
"That's better." Danny said firmly. "We need to be sure to show them all the respect they're due. Anyways it seems like Mr. Holt agrees with us. A little birdie told me that he turned down all the companies our honorable Mayor Christner so kindly suggested for him."
"This is big, isn't it?" Taylor asked.
"Huge." Danny nodded. "This one contract could keep us in work for months, it'd be more revenue coming in than we've gotten in a long time and some of the crew could get work in the company down the line." Danny looked pained and slowed his speech to a stop.
"Shit, I'm doing this all wrong aren't I?" Danny muttered to himself. "Look Taylor are you okay with this? If you're not just say the word and I can have Kurt or somebody step in for me at the negotiations."
Taylor frowned and looked down at the table as her Dad looked on her with concerned eyes. He had dedicated himself to the Dockworkers Union, heck the docks themselves heart and soul and had for as long as she could remember. Danny pushed himself to the brink of madness trying to find work for his people.
Even beyond that as the years went by and the police and the heroes had slowly but surely pulled back from the docks and the surrounding areas the Dockworkers had stepped up. Organizing themselves into a combination neighbourhood watch and militia they did their best to keep some kind of order in the docks. There wasn't much that they could do in the grand scheme of things. There was only so many of them and they could only be in so many places at once. But the idea of them being around was enough that stores wouldn't usually be shaken down during the day, if you were on the main roads and moved fast you'd probably be safe. It kept the docks functioning if nothing else. But this it could do more than just keep things from getting worse, it might be able to make things better even if just a little bit. In the face of that how could Taylor stand in the way?
"It's fine Dad." Taylor said calmly. "I was kind of thinking after school I'd go to Grant's and get a workout in. It's been a while since I've seen everyone… Beside it'll be fun to hit something." Taylor finished with a smirk.
Danny nodded his head slowly and stood up walking over to her.
"You're sure about this?" He asked seriously.
"I'm sure Dad. I'll be fine."
Taylor said a confident smile on her face. Danny looked up and down at his little girl standing there tall and proud and strong and couldn't help himself. He pulled her into a hug.
"I'm so proud of you. You know that right?"
Danny murmured into her hair. Slowly, hesitantly Taylor returned the hug. A quiet part of Danny's mind raised the question if it had been so long since he'd hugged his daughter that she found the idea confusing. The rest of Danny's mind promptly told it to shut the hell up and even if that were true, he's fixing it damn it!
"I know Dad. Thanks."
Taylor whispered as she wrapped her arms around him tight. After a moment the two Hebert's separated and stood in the awkward confusion that always ensues after a happy moment. Finally, Danny reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Extracting a few bills from it he handed them over to Taylor.
"That's 80 bucks. I figure after your time at the gym. You could hit up the boardwalk or something and get something to eat or go shopping. Whatever it is you teenagers do for fun."
Taylor nodded her head as she put the bills into her pockets.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. Thanks Dad."
At that moment the two heard the backfire of a large vehicle starting up and taking off. Looking out the window they saw the bus which would usually be Taylor's transportation to that bastion of education and positive socialization that was Winslow high school driving away. Conspicuously lacking one Taylor Hebert.
"Guess, I'm giving you a lift to school?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, I'll get my bag."
Taylor called out already heading up to her room. As she entered her room and bent down to grab her bag she saw it. Hidden beneath her bed where she had left it the night before was her Wildcat costume. The mask seemed to stare into her soul and after a few seconds Taylor gave in to the mad compulsion that had gripped her. Dumping out the textbooks quickly she made room in her bag and placed her costume inside. Using the books to cover it over she figured as long as she kept the bag with her no one should be able to see the costume. All she needed to do was leave her textbooks in her bag at all times and ignore her education. For possibly the first time in her high school career Taylor would fit in perfectly at school.
Winslow High School
A cesspool of scum and villainy
7:45 am
Taylor drummed her fingers on her leg to a beat only she could hear as Danny's ancient pick-up truck heaved its way into the parking lot of Winslow High School. Danny cursed under his breath as he looked around and found that all of the admittedly few useable parking spaces were occupied.
"I'll just drop you off at the front, that okay?"
Danny idly asked as he began to maneuver his way around the people and vehicles in the parking lot. Taylor nodded silently as she gazed at the school unconsciously clenching and unclenching her fists as they approached. After Danny pulled to a stop, she quickly grabbed her bag and got out of the vehicle. As she turned to say goodbye her and Danny locked eyes. Danny seemed to take her measure for a moment and seeming to decide he liked what he saw, he raised his hand in a quick farewell and drove off. Taylor stared after him in mild bemusement. It seemed that this morning's talk had exhausted his capacity for conversation.
As Taylor entered the school it seemed to her that all eyes were on her as she walked through the halls and just at the edge of her hearing, she could hear whispers.
"Psycho."
"Freak"
"Heard she broke his jaw."
"His jaw? I heard it was his leg."
"Can't believe they let her back in."
As she made her way through the halls towards her locker Taylor couldn't help but admire the power of the high school rumor mill. A teenage girl gets attacked by four boys and within two weeks it turned into her being the psycho who attacked those poor innocent babies.
Taylor sneered to herself in derision as images of what had happened flashed through her mind. She'd noticed them following her from school, she'd picked up speed, so did they. She started to run, so did they. Then they caught her. She could swear she could still feel how that first blow to the head felt as one of them hit her from behind. She'd tried to fight back, she'd used everything she'd learned from her boxing training at Grant's gym plus a few moves that she'd picked up from her Dad's friend Kurt that weren't exactly allowed under marquis of queensbury rules but it hadn't been enough. End of the day there were four of them and one of her.
Then things went black for who knows how long and when she came to, she was stronger and tougher than she'd ever been. She'd managed to fight them off easily after that and stumbled home where her father saw her bloody and bruised. Taylor was pulled out of her reverie when she felt a hand placed on her shoulder. She spun around and pulled a fist back ready to lash out at her attacker. She managed to stop herself when she realized that she was face to face with quite possibly the least threatening person on the planet, Mr. Gladly the platonic ideal of peaked in high school. Taylor lowered her fist with a huff.
"Sorry, you startled me. What do you want?"
Gladly let out a nervous laugh and straightened his back trying to show his vaunted coolness and authority. He failed, miserably.
"Principal Blackwell wanted to speak to you Taylor." Gladly intoned gravely. "She wants to make sure there aren't any problems today. Best you head over to the office now."
Taylor arched an eyebrow at him and leaned slightly against her locker. Gladly began to feel an uncomfortable kinship with a prey animal that finds itself face to face with some kind of predator.
"Now, what kind of problems could she be worried about?" Taylor asked innocently. "Certainly not that someone could try to attack me here. She swore that Winslow was a perfectly safe learning environment."
It wasn't until this very moment that Taylor realized the level of sarcastic disdain she was able to put in to just a few words. Amazingly Gladly seemed to pick up on it as he raised his hands in submission. It would seem Taylor would have to raise her estimation of his intelligence ever so slightly.
"Hey, I'm just the messenger here Taylor." Gladly said as he failed to sound ingratiating. "But I'm sure she just wants to make sure you're okay."
Taylor snorted and turned to head towards the office.
"I'm sure that's it."
Principal Blackwell was a severe woman who always kept herself cold and detached from the students nominally under her care and her office reflected that. There were no pictures of loved ones on her desk, no pictures on the walls, not even a plant barely clinging to life under the fluorescent lights overhead. There was nothing here to give any glimpse of the woman beneath the role if one even existed at all. Taylor took in all of this quickly before taking a seat and leaning back in the chair. As the silence between them went on longer and longer with no one speaking Taylor stretched out and gave a fake yawn.
"Look it's been real nice seeing you but if you're not gonna say anything I'll just be going to class and let some other people get a chance to stare."
Not wasting a moment Taylor made to get out of her chair and head for the door.
"Sit. Down. Ms. Hebert." Blackwell gritted out.
Taylor did so and turned a perfectly innocent smile towards Blackwell.
"Of course, now what can I do for you Ms. Blackwell."
Taylor said with all the insincere sweetness she could muster. Principal Blackwell harrumphed and placed a file on the desk. She jabbed a finger down at one seemingly at random and stared Taylor dead in the eyes.
"These are the medical files of the four young men you put in the hospital." She intoned gravely.
Taylor arched an eyebrow in bemusement and glared daggers back at Blackwell.
"You mean the people who I defended myself from when they tried to assault me."
Taylor snarled back. Blackwell jolted back in shock. Taylor had always been passive in their interactions before. Whenever she would complain about bullying to Blackwell and she'd decline to investigate Taylor would grumble and groan but she'd never truly fight back. Something had changed and Blackwell wasn't certain she approved of it. Best to crush this attempted rebellion in the bud.
"Be that as it may don't you think this was excessive. A broken leg, one broken arm, one of them won't be able to see out of his eye."
Taylor shook her head calmly.
"Considering they jumped me in an alley and were trying to tape me up so I couldn't move. No. No I don't and the cops agreed with me." Taylor snarked. "Amazing they got that right." She muttered in an aside to herself that was missed by Blackwell.
"Yes, well I just want to make it clear that we absolutely do not condone violence on school grounds." Blackwell stated.
"Yeah, okay." Taylor chuckled. "You know what fine. So long as no one tries to attack me I'll make sure to live up to the fine reputation of Winslow High School. Fair enough?"
Taylor held out her and across the desk offering a handshake and a smug grin. Eventually Blackwell reached out and reciprocated the handshake.
"I don't appreciate the sarcasm Ms. Hebert. But I suppose it's the best I can expect from you."
Taylor's grin just grew in the face of Blackwell's exasperation.
"I suppose it is."
With the final word Taylor turned and headed out of the office offering only a dismissive wave to Blackwell as she left. She kept up her façade of calm as she walked away from the office and headed down the hall out of sight. Coming to a halt she breathed deeply once, twice and then with a snarl on her lips she turned and punched a locker as hard as she could. Feeling better she walked away and hearing the locker fall to the ground behind her a small smile came to her lips.
"Excessive force, give me a break. Hope Dads day is going better than mine."
The Dockworkers Association
The Home For Folks Too Dumb To Quit
9:30 am.
Danny Hebert sat at his desk going over the notes he'd prepared for his meeting with the representative from Holt Industries for the third time in the past hour. This was quite simply the biggest deal he'd been a part of since joining the Dockworkers years ago. People were counting on him and he absolutely couldn't screw this up. So, as he once more came to the end of his notes he took a sip of his coffee and prepared to review once more everything he'd gathered on the people he was meeting with.
The company was impressive, it seemed to do anything and everything and always be an industry leader. Manufacturing, digital security, pharmaceuticals pretty much any industrial sector you could imagine there was a division of Holt dedicated to it and that was before even mentioning its founder and CEO. Michael Holt was to engage in a rather shameless degree of understatement a genius. More than that he was a modern day renaissance man not being content with accumulating three doctoral degrees by the age of 21 he was also a world class athlete with gold medals in boxing, gymnastics and track and field specifically marathon running.
The man had conquered the world of academics, athletics and business to the point where a part of Danny had to wonder why he needed the Dockworkers when there was probably a division of Holt dedicated to construction and if there wasn't give the man a week and he'd have it up and running. Danny Hebert was a proud man both of himself and his people but having looked over everything he could find about the people he was potentially getting involved with he couldn't help but feel somewhat out of his depth. Thankfully he was pulled out of his maudlin thoughts by the ringing of the telephone that was somewhere on his desk buried under mountains of papers. On the third ring he managed to find the receiver and pull it to his ear.
"Dockworkers association. Danny Hebert speaking, how can I help you?"
Danny said the practiced opening line falling from his lips without any fault.
"Danny, nice to put a voice to your emails." A warm voice said into his ear. "This is Michael Holt, how are you doing?"
Danny's eyes widened and he tightened his grip on the phone.
"Fine, just fine. I hadn't realized I'd be dealing with you directly." Danny trailed off as he tried to figure out a way to finish that sentence that wasn't I figured you're a rich snob who wouldn't bother with us lowly workers. His reverie was broken up by a friendly chuckle.
"Little quirk of mine, I like to meet anyone I'm thinking of doing business with face to face before I make any decisions. Nothing quite like looking into someone's eyes to get a feel for their character. I'm sure you understand."
Danny nodded briefly to himself.
"Of course, so what can I do for you Mr. Holt?"
"Michael please. I apologize for the suddenness of this but I was hoping that we could reschedule our meeting."
Danny winced and closed his eyes for a moment. He'd been down this road before, rescheduled meetings, missed calls and then a few months down the line you realized that you'd left half a dozen messages that hadn't been responded to and wouldn't be responded to. Still, you had to play the game.
"I understand, things come up. When would be a better day for you?"
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment as Michael Holt considered the question.
"Did it sound like? Oh, it did didn't it." He murmured to himself. "No Danny, I had an opening in my schedule and wanted to see if you'd be available to meet earlier that's all. Say 11?"
Danny couldn't help himself and let out a small laugh.
"Of course, 11 it is. I look forward to meeting you."
"Perfect, thanks so much for being so accommodating. I look forward to meeting you as well." Holt replied and Danny thought he could hear a smile in his voice.
The next hour and change passed in a blur as Danny got himself ready and finally the appointed hour arrived. Danny could hear through his door someone exchanging words with Phyliss who had worked the front desk at least since Danny had started and possibly since time immemorial. Danny took a moment to compose himself and after taking a deep breath he walked out of his office to meet a man who could make or break his future.
As he walked out Danny took the measure of Michael Holt and had to admit that at first glance the man cut an impressive figure. He was a tall handsome black man in a suit that was fashionable and well cut to his frame and there was a certain presence to him. The man just drew the eye and as he had something to Phyliss that Danny couldn't quite hear that had her giggling it seemed evident that he had the charisma to match his looks. Seeming to hear the closing of the door Michael Holt turned and as soon as his eyes fell on Danny a smile came across his face and he quickly approached him with his hand out.
"You must be Danny Hebert, right?" He said in a jovial tone.
Danny returned the offered handshake and returned the smile.
"That's right and you're Michael Holt I presume. Follow me my office is just through here" Michael gestured for Danny to take the lead before turning and murmuring a quick goodbye to Phyliss.
Danny took a seat at his desk and waited for Michael to sit down. As soon as his guest was settled in he went into his spiel. Laying out the number of workers available, the equipment they had already and the equipment they would need. As he was going through the timeline they would be working under Michael cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"Danny, we can go over all that later. I'd more or less decided I wanted to work with you before I walked in here."
Danny stared at him in bewilderment.
"I'm sorry what?"
Michael Holt smirked and leaned back in his chair.
"Can I be blunt?" Danny nodded. "I'm a smart man before I arrived in the city I'd done my research and if you're a reasonably intelligent person it doesn't take long for patterns to emerge. This area, these people, your people are holding on by the skin of their teeth am I right?"
Danny nodded his head.
"We are but!" He began to interject.
"And I admire that." Holt said quickly trying to avert a fight that would help no one. "The docks are managing to hold on despite getting absolutely no help from your government. Hell when I mentioned I'd hoped to work with you the mayor tried to talk me out of it."
"Jackass." Danny muttered to himself and then looked horrified at his lapse in professionalism but Holt just laughed.
"Quite, so despite all of the odds this little area managed to hold on. Through crime and economic downturn this neighbourhood held on and kept believing things could get better, I had to ask myself why? So I looked deeper and everything I found pointed me to the Dockworkers Association and Danny Hebert. You found work for people when it seemed like there was none, your people managed to keep crime at something people could survive. You all kept fighting for your home even when it seemed hopeless and I wanted to help."
Danny took this all in and leaned in closer.
"Say, I believe you. Why do you need the Dockworkers Association? I've looked into your company you could absolutely build everything you need, all the infrastructure on your own."
Michael nodded in agreement.
"We could no doubt but if we just came in and started tearing up the place we'd be seen as interlopers and outsiders cutting out the local boys and tossing a few scraps to people. If we want to actually help we need the people of the Docks to buy in and near as I can tell the best way to do that is to get you on board with this. So, there it is all cards on the table. What do you say?"
Danny hesitated for a moment and finally decided to ask the one question that he needed to be answered.
"Okay, why Brockton Bay? There are a ton of towns that could use the money you're offering to pump in."
"That's right there are and we'll get to them. Brockton Bay is kind of a proof of concept and as for why we chose here to do it." A wicked grin grew on Michael's face. "I love the idea of a black man coming in and fixing the economy of the stronghold of a bunch of neo-nazi's. I want to rub their faces in it."
Almost without his realizing it an answering grin came to Danny's lips.
"I can get behind that."
And with that said the two men got to work hammering out the details of the contract.
Grant's Gym, an out of the way corner of the Docks.
Where if you don't hurt when you're leaving, you're doing it wrong
3:30 pm
Taylor rolled her neck as she walked towards the building trying to work out the kinks and aches that had accumulated over a day of school. Her first day back had been fine all things considered, barring her run in with what could technically be called authority figures in the forms of Gladly and Blackwell no one had bothered her. Evidently all it took to make people stop bullying you was to lose your reputation as the local sad sack and gain a reputation for violence. Who knew? Still as she walked in the doors of the gym and heard the sounds of people hitting the speed bag, smelt that mixture of blood, sweat and tears the so defined a boxing gym she felt at home.
As she headed towards the locker room, she exchanged nods and waves with a few people she knew until finally she was stopped in her tracks by a young man.
"Taylor, welcome back."
Al Pratt beamed at her. The short but surprisingly powerful boxer had been one of the first to befriend her when she'd walked in here as a gawky beanpole hoping to pick up a trick or two. Taylor laughed and smiled at him.
"Good to be back Al. How have things been here?"
Al shrugged as the two of them started heading towards the locker rooms together.
"Same old, same old. Pep's been hard at work training for his next fight and Ted's been his usual grumpy self."
"I'm sure."
Taylor smirked but their conversation was cut short as a door flung open and Ted Grant stormed out of his office. The former two-time heavyweight champion was still an impressive sight, as strong and as powerful in his sixties as he had been in his prime. The only concession to age his body had made were the grey hairs that were slowly taking over his temples. He deigned to offer the two of them a brief nod as he stormed by them.
"Look Laborn, I'm happy to help you out but you gotta meet me half way here and that means showing up to work!"
They could hear Grant growling into his phone as they stared wide eyed after him.
"What was that about?" Taylor asked
Al shrugged next to her.
"You remember Brian, he's one of the trainers here."
Taylor nodded.
"Yeah, he was one of the first guys I spared with when Ted said I was ready. Jerk promised he'd take it easy on me."
"And he didn't?" Al asked as he got distracted from his story.
"No, he did and I made him pay for it. Good news he started taking me more seriously after that… Bad news he started taking me more seriously after that." Al gave a wordless sound of acknowledgement as Taylor finished her story. "So, what's going on with him?"
"No idea." Al replied. "Last couple weeks he's just stopped showing up to work."
"Weird." Taylor said as they arrived at the locker room. "Hey after I'm changed mind doing a little pad work with me?"
"Sure thing."
Taylor was in and out of the changing room quickly and as she swiftly made her way to the ring where Al was waiting for her, she bumped into Ted.
"Sorry Ted, didn't see you coming."
Taylor said quickly as she tried to make her way around him before being brought to a halt by his hand on her shoulder.
"Hold up, kid." Ted said in his customarily gruff tone. "You good to be here? Way I heard it you got roughed up pretty good." His eyes were kind as he looked her over.
Taylor nodded determinedly.
"I'm fine, Ted really. Just want to get back to it so I can make sure I can take anybody who tries something without ending up in the hospital myself."
She finished off with an awkward chuckle which Ted answered with a resounding roar of laughter. He patted her roughly on the back and wiped a tear from his eye.
"That'a girl. What's the plan for today?"
Taylor pointed at the ring where Al was waiting for her.
"I was going to do some pad work with Al, get my form back and then maybe hit the bags for a bit then finish it off with some strength training."
Ted nodded to himself briefly before turning and walking towards the ring."
"Yeah, that works, get a move on I'll supervise."
After that the afternoon passed in a blur of punches thrown, weights lifted and yelled instructions to "keep your left up before someone takes your block off." The whole time Taylor was smiling inside. God help her she'd missed this.
The Boardwalk
Come for the attractions, stay for the inflated prices
8:00 pm
Taylor with her bag over her shoulder strolled along the boardwalk feeling relaxed and at peace. There was nothing quite like punching something to work out the stresses of life and now as she made her way through the crowd, she knew there was only one thing she needed to make this day perfect. Frank's would still be open for another thirty minutes and they had the best cheese dogs in the city. Taylor licked her lips as she mentally reviewed her to do list for the moment. Get to Frank's, fork over the $23.85 that would get her two cheese dogs and a large coke and then she could enjoy wonderfully greasy deliciousness. Yes, absolutely nothing could ruin this day. As she thought that the screams started.
Someone else can handle this. Taylor thought. This is the boardwalk, there's always a hero around to make sure the tourist's wallets are safe. I can just grab dinner and head home. The screaming continued unabated until finally with a growl of frustration Taylor left the line and headed towards the sound of the noise.
As she came to a halt and took in the scene a small part of her mind noted that if it weren't for the people lying on the ground brutalized this would be kind of a funny sight. Ahead of her was a guy wearing a pink jumpsuit jogging along while shadow boxing and following behind was a guy in a fat suit on a tiny bicycle. Every little while though the illusion of innocent comedy would break and pinky would attack some random passerby and as soon as he'd beaten them to the point they couldn't move, he'd quickly grab a wallet or a purse, toss it to his partner and move on.
Taylor took notice of an alley off to the side and ran towards it her mind racing all the while. Clearly these were Uber and Leet, a pair of idiots who would play out a video game while they were pulling their crimes and post the results on the internet. As she quickly changed into her costume out of sight of both passerby's and cameras (no one ever mentioned how awkward it was to change at a moment's notice) she went over what she knew about them. According to PHO Uber was a thinker of some kind whose power basically let him be really good at things. Judging by what she saw right now he was pretending to be a boxer of some kind. Fine she could handle that. A nasty grin came across Taylor's face as she thought that while pulling on her mask.
Then there was Leet, he was a tinker and a bit of a joke at that from what Taylor could tell half the time his tech would blow up on him when he tried to use it. Still, she reflected as she leapt to the roof of the building even a mediocre tinker could be dangerous. Probably best to take him out of the action first and then focus on Uber. She nodded to herself briefly as she raced along the roofs of the various businesses and tourist traps that lined the boardwalk coming to a stop near to them. Closer, closer. Now Leet was right in front of her, her eyes narrowed as she prepared herself to get into the fight.
Wildcat pounced upon Leet knocking him from his bike. They rolled over once, twice, three times so Leet would be disoriented and finally Wildcat began raining blows upon his face. Blood began to coat the knuckles of her gloves as she felt something give way around his nose. Deciding that he'd be staying down for a while she turned towards Uber just in time to catch a right hook to the face. She shook her head briefly and took in the sight of Uber standing before her. Up close she couldn't help but notice he was touch more muscular than she'd thought based on the videos of his she'd seen. This fight might be slightly harder than she'd expected. An excited grin grew across her face as she lifted her hands and got ready for a scrap. Slightly.
"Jesus christ lady! He's had enough. Lay off of him and fight someone your own size." Uber ranted as he tried to throw another punch that Wildcat dodged away from. Wildcat barked out a sardonic laugh and threw a couple jabs that managed to catch Uber on the chin.
"Hey at least he decided to be a part of the fight. Pretty sure your sparing partners back there didn't get a choice."
As Uber was reeling back, she tried to follow up with a quick hook and uppercut that would hopefully lay him out quick but suddenly he was able to block her punches perfectly. As Wildcat worked to recover herself Uber failed to capitalize on the opening.
Huh, he had a clear shot at me there and he didn't take it. It's almost like he can only do… Let's try something here.
Wildcat took a step or two back and lowered her guard slightly. Just enough that Uber would see it. Uber's stance shifted slightly and he charged in swinging. Wildcat dodged and weaved around the fast and furious blows.
Now let's see if I'm right.
As Wildcat stepped around a punch, she saw her opening. Uber had left his side wide open and Wildcat lashed out with a punishing blow to the ribs. Uber gasped out in pain and bent over trying to catch his breath. She followed up with a quick uppercut and a right hook to the jaw.
If I'm right, his power only lets him focus on one technique at a time. He can do offence or defence but not both and he probably needs to focus so long as I don't let up.
Putting her thoughts into action Wildcat just kept coming punch after punch. Kick after kick. Blow after blow. As she felt bones crack beneath her knuckles, she tried not to think about how good that felt. She never let up even for a moment. She hit the villain again and again and again never giving him a minute to breath, a minute to think until finally his eyes began to flutter close and he slumped to the ground. Down for the ten count.
Wildcat took a moment to breath and then she surveyed her work. Uber was down and out his face bloody and bruised and a few feet away was Leet still lying on the ground unconscious.
Guess he had a glass jaw. Good to know.
Wildcat thought with a smirk on her lips. She took in the sight of the crowd and cupped her hands to her lips.
"Anybody wanna call the cops or the enforcers? I don't wanna waste anymore of my night on these losers than I already have."
Someone cleared their throat behind her and a voice that sounded like someone around her age trying to sound mature and authoritative spoke out in response.
"I think I can take care of that Miss."
Wildcat turned around and for the first time in her short career found herself face to face to some of the other heroes in the Bay. Apparently, the Wards were here and had been too late to the action. A nasty cynical part of Taylor couldn't help but feel that was completely typical for them. Still, she tried to keep that thought from her face as she took in the sight of Gallant, Kid Winn and Brockton Bay's own mini Alexandria Glory Girl. Kid Winn and Gallant were both trying to look professional and heroic while Glory Girl kept looking at the beaten down forms of Uber and Leet with a large smile on her face.
"Yeah, thanks." Taylor said to Gallant. "If you lot got something that can make sure they won't run when they wake up I'd appreciate it."
Gallant gestured to Kid Winn.
"Winn can handle that." He said in a voice that quickly grated on Taylor's nerves. So clearly he'd been the one to speak first.
"Yeah, no problem." Kid Winn said before he quickly pulled out one of his guns and fiddled with it for a second before walking over to Uber and spraying him down with some kind of foam that hardened quickly. He then repeated the procedure on Leet before hustling back over.
"The PRT should be here in 15, that'll keep them long enough."
Kid Winn and Gallant quickly fell into a somewhat incoherent conversation that was a mix of jargon and acronyms that Taylor truly just didn't care about and judging by the yawn Glory Girl was trying to hide she wasn't the only one. Taylor quickly clapped her hands to bring everyone's attention on her.
"So, if we're done here. I'm just gonna be going."
With that said Taylor turned to leave. Before being brought to a halt by a beautiful blonde face beaming in front of her.
"You don't have to run off so quick." Glory Girl said cheerfully.
Gallant walked up to them and placed a hand on Taylor's shoulder before interjecting.
"We could actually stand to get a statement from you. If you don't mind."
Wildcat rolled her eyes briefly.
"Fine let's just make this quick. I missed cheese dogs for this and I get grumpy when I'm hungry."
"Perfect." Kid Winn said. "But how about we do this somewhere a bit less public." He looked around briefly and pointed at a random roof. "How bout up there?" Gallant and Glory Girl both nodded briefly and flew off towards the roof. Glory Girl and Kid Winn under their own power (well his hover boards power in Winn's case) and Gallant being carried bridal style in Glory Girl's arms. Taylor started running after them grumbling under her breath the whole while.
"None of them ask if I wanted a lift, freaking jerks. I'm the one who did all the work."
As Taylor clambered her way onto the roof, she caught the tail end of a conversation.
"So, either of you ever hear of this girl before?" Gallant asked to the group.
"She's new to me." Glory Girl replied with a shrug.
Kid Winn let out a quiet hmm as he seemed to stare off into space for a moment before coming back to the conversation.
"There've been reports of a new vigilante working out of the Docks, calls herself the Cat or something."
It was at that point Taylor decided to make herself known. She needed to protect her branding after all.
"It's Wildcat actually."
The three of them jumped slightly and turned to face her. Kid Winn started rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Sorry the reports were unclear. I'll uh, make sure they get updated."
Taylor nodded seriously at him.
"Good now what's this about?"
She demanded to know. Almost before she could get a word out Glory Girl was in front of her with a grin on her face and a high five on offer.
"I don't know about these two but I just wanted to say congrats. You laid Uber out like a chump."
Taylor stared uncomprehendingly at the platonic ideal of the popular cheerleader floating before her. Finally, she reached out and slapped Glory Girl's hand causing her smile to somehow get even bigger.
"It wasn't really a big deal. The guy was a punk."
Taylor said deliberately casually.
"Still." Gallant said as he and Kid Winn walked over to join the two of them. "It's a good sign that you're ready to deal with some more important things than just some thugs in the docks."
Taylor felt her back stiffen, her eyes narrow and her muscles tense with every word Gallant spoke. He sounded like every rich asshole who'd ever dismissed her Dad in the meetings she wasn't supposed to be overhearing. All the people who could have helped her people who were struggling and instead just chose to look down on them. She didn't like people like that.
"Important. What do you mean important?!"
Taylor snarled as she stalked towards him. Gallant raised his hands up placatingly and spoke in a calm voice as he replied.
"I just mean taking on supervillains and protecting places that mean more to the city. It's not like there's much in the Docks that needs to be protected is all."
Both Kid Winn and Glory Girl stared at him wide eyed.
"Dude, maybe you should." Kid Winn tried to say before Taylor cut him off.
"Last night I saved a woman from the Empire." Wildcat growled as she got fully in his face. "You tellin me she didn't need to be protected!"
Gallant backed up half a step and seemed to sense that he'd made a mistake of some kind even if he wasn't sure where.
"No, not at all it's just in the big picture places like downtown and the boardwalk mean more to the city." Gallant said in the tone of voice of someone reciting something they'd repeated so often that they didn't even think to question it. Taylor let out a sardonic laugh.
"Lemme tell you something about the big picture. It's made of the small pictures. That woman I saved last night she matters just because she matters. Not because of the good she can do for the city, or the economy or whatever!" Taylor roared into the faceplate of Gallant. "She matters because she was a person who needed help. That's all that matters and if you don't get that stay the hell away from me."
Having said her piece, the Wildcat turned and ran to the edge of the building and leaped into the night. Behind her she could hear the faint sounds of arguing between Glory Girl, Kid Winn and the rather ironically named Gallant.
So it turns out I'm not great at writing fight scenes and I have a character who is all about punching people in the face. Ah well the only way to learn is by doing. Also for the record any characters with names you may recognize are not currently superheroes.
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The Wildcat of the Dock: The Palooka's Interlude
Now for a bit of a look into Gallant's mind as we see teenagers attempt healthy communication while discussing complicated socio-economic issues... I'm scared too
As he watched Wildcat leap into the night there were two thoughts that ran through the mind of Dean Stansfield, the boy called Gallant. The first was that man oh man could Wildcat move. The second was that he was very glad that his costume covered the entirety of his face because he was certain that his gaping mouth looked particularly ungallant. Somewhere along the line there he'd lost control of the situation and he wasn't sure how. As he turned and took in the look's he was getting from both Kid Win and Vicky hisscary, intimidating, extremely lovely girlfriend he was pretty sure he'd be finding out soon.
Kid Win's hands were repeatedly clenching and unclenching into fists at his sides but he kept himself from speaking. Based on what Dean could tell from his powers he was angry, livid in fact but he seemed to be trying to keep it under control. Vicky was not.
"What did you just say?"
Vicky demanded in an icy voice that Dean recognized from previous break-ups . Dean cocked his head in confusion. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why everything he was doing seemed to be making everyone angry right now.
"I was trying to warm her up for a Wards pitch." Dean half asked slowly. "I just said that she should be proud she took down her first supervillain, figured I'd get her feeling all proud of herself and then… Will you saw what happened she got all huffy and things got out of hand."
Vicky blinked and opened her mouth a few times in an attempt to respond but she never quite managed to get the words out. Kid Win heaved out a long exhausted sigh and rested his face in the palms of his hands before attempting to untangle this gordian knot of a public relations failure.
"Okay dude, first of all that's not what you said." Kid Win began slowly.
"Yes, I did!"
Dean began to interject starting to get frustrated at somehow becoming the bad guy here. Win raised his hand as a signal for him to stop before he dug himself even deeper. Showing a remarkable degree of insight Dean followed the unspoken suggestion.
"No, you didn't, you might think you did but you didn't." Kid Win said quickly and forcefully. "It might not have been how you meant it. I sure freaking hope it wasn't how you meant it. But you basically said 'you've not done anything worthwhile until now' and trust me someone writing off your work like that doesn't feel good. I speak from experience here."
Finally, Vicky seemed to regain her ability to speak and continued on.
"That definitely pissed her off." Vicky said slowly struggling to keep her temper (breath in for five, breathe out for five) "but I don't think it was what pushed her over the edge. She decided to run off when you said that the people she'd helped DIDN'T! MATTER!"
Vicky lost her grip on her temper and finished off her sentence in a half scream. A crowd was beginning to gather around the building they were speaking on as the PRT had arrived and were beginning to load up Uber and Leet for transport to the nearest cell where hopefully they'd stay this time. One show had ended and another one had begun was the thought shared between the onlookers. Kid Win took in the sight a little nervously.
"Hey, guys let's move this somewhere away from prying eyes. We're probably going to look bad enough on the news as it is."
Dean and Vicky took notice of the crowd and reluctantly agreed.
"Alright but we aren't finished with this." Vicky growled jabbing a finger in Gallant's face. "The roof of the church on Fox street should be empty." With that said Vicky floated up into the air. "Make sure he shows up Win."
Having given her decrees Vicky flew off into the night certain that they would be followed lest her wrath be invoked. Both Gallant and Kid Win stood in awkward silence for a moment.
"So, any chance of a ride?"
Gallant asked hopefully. Fox street was about two miles away and while he could walk it, he would really prefer not to. Beneath his visor Kid Win rolled his eyes and used his foot to press a hidden button on his hover board which caused the deck of the board to expand so two people could stand on it with plenty of space.
"Come on."
Win said as he hopped on with Gallant following shortly. The two flew towards their destination in a companionable silence until.
"So, why do you think?"
"We aren't going to talk about this." Win cut him off. "Wait till we meet up with Vicky."
"What, why?" Dean asked in confusion.
"Because she's better at yelling than I am."
Dean winced beneath his helmet as he realized that he really didn't have any allies right now.
They arrived at the church to find Vicky standing on the roof pacing back and forth. Every few steps she'd stop, look at the sky briefly, mutter angrily to herself and return to pacing. Clearly, she hadn't taken the travel time to cool off Dean mused.
"Once more into the breach."
Dean murmured under his breath as they flew closer. Kid Win couldn't stop himself from letting out a chuckle. They landed just behind Vicky and Kid Win cleared his throat. Vicky whirled around quickly.
"Bout time." She said immediately glaring daggers at Gallant.
"We got here as soon as we could."
Dean said in the calmest tone he could muster. Reaching up he took off his helmet and favored Vicky with the most charming smile he was capable of. Vicky increased the intensity of her glare and snorted in derision.
"You ain't getting out of this that easy."
She said stalking up to Dean. "Now what did you mean by not important!" With every word Vicky shoved him in the chest, harder and harder until finally on the last word Dean lost his footing and fell to the ground. Pushing himself up he found himself with both Vicky and Kid Win looking down at him. Kid Win reached up and took off his visor revealing Chris to the world. He placed a hand on Vicky's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.
"Look, I'm sure Dean didn't mean it the way that it sounded." Chris said gently. "Right Dean." Recognizing his cue for what it was Dean semi frantically nodded in agreement. "Good, so Dean what were you trying to say?"
Dean took a deep breath and tried to compose his thoughts the events of the last… God it couldn't have been more than a half hour since they'd run in to Wildcat and he'd lost all control of his life.
"I didn't mean the woman she saved wasn't important." Dean implored. "I'd never think something like that, you guys know that right?"
He looked into their eyes Chris seemed to be a touch more understanding and his aura showed the anger starting to fade slightly. Vicky's eyes remained cold and not for the first time Dean found himself wishing his ability to read emotions worked on her.
"Of course, saving those people is the right thing to do." Dean continued. "It's just the overall area you know the docks and places like that don't really do much good in the big picture."
Chris raised his hands to stop Dean for a moment.
"Alright, here's where I think my problem starts with all of this. Define the big picture for me."
Dean frowned slightly and thought. He'd never really been asked that before.
"It's just. It's like my Dad says the people in the Docks are all stuck in the past. They're holding on to the days when this was a port town and refusing to get with the times. They don't want to get jobs that matter or be a part of the future of this community." Dean rubbed his jaw as he contemplated how to continue on. "It sucks but it's the reality. They don't give much back to the city. The businesses downtown like Medhall and."
"And the Stansfield Conglomerate." Vicky said sharply.
"I, yes we're a part of that group." Dean stuttered. "It's not anything personal, it's just the Protectorate has to focus its efforts in the places where they'll do the most good for the largest amount of people."
Vicky stared in horror at him. She'd had her frustrations with Dean, a hundred and one petty little things that they'd argue and fight over and maybe they'd cause them to break up for a few days but she'd never doubted his fundamental decency. She'd never heard him sound so callous.
"So just screw anyone who doesn't make enough money is that it?" Vicky half whispered.
Dean shook his head frantically. Somehow everything he says is just coming out wrong tonight. He didn't think that. He'd never think that. It's just you can't help everyone and you have to live with it.
"No, it's not like we ignore them or anything. We send out patrols there. If people call something in we'll go but it's just we can't be too proactive there. It's not a good use of… resources so we do what we can. I'm sorry if that's not enough for some people but that's the way it is." Dean fairly roared in response as he climbed to his feet.
"So, what they should be grateful you're doing the bare fucking minimum." Vicky snarled getting into Dean's face. Spittle flew from her mouth as she hurled vitriol at him and the anger and frustration that Dean had been suppressing during this entire interrogation boiled over.
"Oh who the hell are you to judge!" Dean snapped getting right back into Vicky's face.
"How often is New Wave in the docks huh!?" Vicky furrowed her brow in concentration for a moment before looking down. "That's what I thought."
Dean looked her up and down and gave a cruel smirk that sat oddly on his usually charming features.
"As a matter of fact, when was the last time New Wave did anything that mattered?" Dean said cruelly. "The Protectorate and the PRT are out there every night patrolling, fighting villains trying to hold things together and then there's New Wave… Who go out when they feel like it. Maybe."
Vicky reeled back like Gallant had slapped her and blinked back a few tears. In an instant Dean realized what it was he'd said. Vicky had trusted him over the course of their relationship, she'd shared any number of insecurities and fears about herself, her family, New Wave as a whole and he'd used that trust in an attempt to hurt her. A horribly successful attempt.
"The difference is we aren't the government." Vicky said softly. "We never promised people that we'd protect them. The Protectorate did." Vicky shook her head and walked past Dean. "Fuck you Dean."
With her final words said Vicky flew off. Dean ran to the edge of the building.
"Vicky, wait!!!"
Despite his words echoing through the night she didn't stop, she didn't turn back, she didn't even hesitate. She just kept flying away from him. Chris walked up next to Dean and placed his hand on his shoulder. With a sigh he began to speak.
"I have a cousin who works in the docks." Chris said slowly. "He's a great guy, he used to babysit me when I was a kid. He'd spend hours helping me work through my math homework. Just the best guy in the world."
Chris gulped down a lump in his throat, he didn't usually get personal like this and especially not with Dean.
"About two years back his wife got sick. Lymphoma and he couldn't afford the costs." Chris blinked rapidly for a second. "Danny Hebert and the dockworkers they put together a pool. They got donations from literally everybody who worked in the association from a bunch of locals in the area, other businesses. Everybody chipped in and they got enough. They're good people trying to hold on Dean. They deserve better than being written off like that."
Chris got on his board and prepared to make the trek home.
"You're a good guy Dean." Chris said as he put his visor back on. "I really believe that, just maybe take a look beyond your Dad's world y'know."
With that said he left Dean alone with his thoughts and he couldn't have left him with a more vicious crowd.
Dean's night passed in an alternating stream of guilt and feelings of outrage at how unfairly he'd been treated. Sadly, this left him with precious little time for sleep so he trudged through his day at Arcadia dead to the world with only a precious few cat naps in between classes (and sometimes during) to keep him vaguely functional. It was only after school ended and he walked into the PRT headquarters that he was jolted back to full alertness. As soon as he entered the building, he was informed that Deputy Director Renick wanted to speak to him about last nights patrol.
Dean trudged slowly through the halls wondering how his meeting with the deputy director would go. With one step he'd be certain that he would be completely and utterly vindicated. Everything he said had been in line with the PRT's goals and his thoughts were perfectly logical. With another step however he'd question himself. Vicky and Chris's criticisms and accusations would suddenly seem to make sense and he'd feel all of six inches tall. To make things worse the whole time he couldn't help but hear Wildcat's question ringing in the back of his mind. Her demand to know if she was saying an innocent woman didn't need to be protected. In the face of that question, in the cold light of day his logical and practical explanations didn't seem so persuasive.
As he took the final step into Renick's office (Vicky and Chris were right his mind screamed at him) the man himself looked up and gave Dean a brief smile before gesturing towards a chair in front of his desk.
"Take a seat son."
Renick said in a seemingly friendly tone. Dean obeyed and took the opportunity to take the measure of the Deputy Director. At a first glance he didn't strike all that impressive figure. A middle-aged man in a decently cut off the rack suit. To those who didn't look too closely he'd appear to be any run of the mill middle manager of some random company. Someone you'd pass by on the street everyday and never take any notice of. All that would be true, unless you looked into his eyes. Renick's eyes were cold and calculating despite the aura of friendliness he tried to give off and they were keenly intelligent. It always felt like in one glance he'd assessed everything that he could possibly need to know about your character.
"Can I ask what this is about Director?" Dean asked hesitantly.
Renick placed some files in a desk drawer and turned the full force of his gaze onto Dean.
"It's nothing serious. No need to worry, I just heard that you had run into a new cape last night and wanted to hear her thoughts."
Dean stared at him in confusion. He hadn't even had a chance to file his report yet and he was certain Kid Win hadn't either. Shadow Stalker had been working the console last night and she wouldn't proactively offer information to bosses. So…
"How did you hear about that?" Dean asked before he could stop himself. "I haven't even had a chance to file the report yet."
Renick looked at him with disappointment etched on to his face.
"Gallant, the console automatically records your activities. Weren't you paying attention during your training?"
Dean nodded quickly, of course he had been paying attention during his monitor training. He certainly hadn't been wondering whether or not Vicky would be up for a little private time later that night. No sir.
"Of course, just slipped my mind. Sorry sir."
"Anyways, what were your impressions of this new cape?" Renick drawled. "This Wildcat was it?"
"Yes sir." Dean replied as he sat up a little straighter in his chair. "She's definitely a brute. We saw her jump 15 or 20 feet to the ground with no trouble and be perfectly ready for a fight."
Renick nodded briefly as he wrote down what something on a pad of paper that had appeared seemingly from nowhere.
"She's either some kind of combat thinker or pretty well trained." Dean continued. "She managed to outfight Uber pretty easily and despite his reputation that's not an easy thing to do. There might be more to her powers but that's all I could see. It was a pretty quick fight all things told."
Renick nodded to himself before once again restarting the interview.
"Alright, that's her powers covered but what were your impressions of her as a person? Is she someone we can work with?"
Dean frowned as he contemplated the question and suppressed his knee jerk response caused by lingering bitterness over their last interaction. As he worked to put his thoughts together he began to speak.
"She's definitely a hero and she's really dedicated to the Docks." Dean answered slowly. "When I tried to pitch the Wards to her."
"You think she's Wards age?" Renick interjected.
"I think so, anyways when I tried to pitch the Wards to her I well I screwed up to be honest with you sir." Dean said figuring it'd be best to own up to it as opposed to get called out by Chris's report. "I said somethings that she interpreted as being disparaging towards the Docks and her work there and that pretty much closed off all possibility of communication. I guess you heard what I said though huh?"
Dean trailed off feeling sheepish.
"I did, we'll talk about that in a moment. Now my question is do you think we can work with her, maybe build bridges?" Renick demanded.
Dean looked up slightly as he contemplated the question.
"I think so. She's passionate about helping people. If we lead with that than I think she'd be willing to work with us at least on a case by case basis type of thing and we can build up a relationship that way. I'd probably be more of a hindrance than a help on that front though."
Renick's face gave nothing away as he took in Dean's assessment.
"That was my assessment as well. I'll draft the official orders in regards to Wildcat and deliver them to the team at the formal briefing in an hour. Now as to your attempts to recruit Wildcat."
Dean lowered his head slightly as he prepared for the tirade that he was sure to come.
"You need to learn how to properly convey information."
Dean blinked at him, once, twice. That was not the response he expected.
"I beg your pardon, sir?" Dean asked feeling just a bit adrift.
Renick gave a small chuckle and leaned back in his chair as he prepared to dispense the wisdom he'd acquired over the course of his career.
"Your arguments were absolutely correct, Dean. But it can be hard for civilians to recognize that."
Dean frowned as he contemplated Renick's words. Someone was finally agreeing with him but for some reason.
"Are you sure sir?" Dean asked hesitantly. "Wildcat made some pretty persuasive points and so did the… Others"
Dean felt another surge of guilt as he remembered the argument between him and Vicky. Somehow, he got the feeling a nice bracelet and flowers wouldn't be enough to fix things this time.
"Yes, well emotional arguments always hit harder than rational arguments." Renick said with disdain dripping from every word. "Wildcat goes out and let's be generous and say she stops a dozen muggers that night. That's a dozen people saved. Last week Assault and Miss Militia fended off an attack by the merchants on a Medhall supply warehouse. That resulted in dozens of jobs being saved and vital supplies of medicine being preserved saving potentially hundreds upon hundreds of lives. Do you know the reason they were able to respond quickly enough to accomplish that?"
Dean instinctively knowing his role shook his head.
"They were able to respond so quickly because they were already patrolling the area and they were doing that because we know that attacks there pose a large threat to everyone in the city and that includes the docks."
"I suppose that makes sense." Dean replied. "But shouldn't we still have people looking in on the docks as well. Just in case."
Renick nodded seriously.
"Of course and we do. Three times a week between the hours of 1 and four am we have a protectorate hero patrolling through the docks because that's when our analysts say crimes are most likely to occur and of course if someone there calls in an emergency we'll respond."
Dean still looked conflicted and looked down in his lap. Renick got up from his desk and walked around next to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I know it can be hard to understand." Renick said in a gentle voice. "But the cold hard truth of it is we can't save everyone and because of that we need to act in a way to save the most people we can." Renick squeezed his shoulder in what was intended to be a comforting gesture but instead made Dean hide a wince of pain. "And the way we do that is by acting in a way that lets the city as a whole serve as many people as possible. Do you understand?"
Dean nodded and gave the director a small smile.
"Yes sir."
"Good lad." Renick said retuning the smile. "Now for future reference make sure to have these debates out of earshot of the public."
"Of course, sir."
With the conversation seemingly concluded Dean got up from the chair and headed towards the door but was stopped before he could leave.
"One last thing Dean." Renick called out after him. "You're going to be on monitor duty for the next two weeks. Best to keep you out of the spotlight for now and I'm going to arrange for you to take some PR training courses. The schedules will be sent to your inbox. You will be available for them. Do you understand me?" Renick's voice got cold at the end.
"Loud and clear." Dean replied. "Will that be all?"
Renick gave Dean a dismissive wave and with that Dean was gone from his sight. As Dean walked through the halls he was conflicted. Renick agreed with him, he said that Dean was right and Vicky and Chris and Wildcat were wrong. He'd been vindicated and yet instead of feeling comforted or proud he was just as conflicted as he'd been in the aftermath of the argument last night. He was conflicted because there was a single question he couldn't escape. They couldn't save everyone, fine Dean understood that. It sucked but it made sense even a parahuman was still human after all. But still even if you couldn't save everyone.
"Shouldn't you still try?" Dean asked himself in the silence of the hall. To his disappointment no answer was offered.
And that's Dean done. He's a little lost right now. Next chapter Vicky attempts to befriend an alley cat
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As he watched Wildcat leap into the night there were two thoughts that ran through the mind of Dean Stansfield, the boy called Gallant. The first was that man oh man could Wildcat move. The second was that he was very glad that his costume covered the entirety of his face because he was certain that his gaping mouth looked particularly ungallant. Somewhere along the line there he'd lost control of the situation and he wasn't sure how. As he turned and took in the look's he was getting from both Kid Win and Vicky his
Kid Win's hands were repeatedly clenching and unclenching into fists at his sides but he kept himself from speaking. Based on what Dean could tell from his powers he was angry, livid in fact but he seemed to be trying to keep it under control. Vicky was not.
"What did you just say?"
Vicky demanded in an icy voice that Dean recognized from previous break-ups . Dean cocked his head in confusion. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why everything he was doing seemed to be making everyone angry right now.
"I was trying to warm her up for a Wards pitch." Dean half asked slowly. "I just said that she should be proud she took down her first supervillain, figured I'd get her feeling all proud of herself and then… Will you saw what happened she got all huffy and things got out of hand."
Vicky blinked and opened her mouth a few times in an attempt to respond but she never quite managed to get the words out. Kid Win heaved out a long exhausted sigh and rested his face in the palms of his hands before attempting to untangle this gordian knot of a public relations failure.
"Okay dude, first of all that's not what you said." Kid Win began slowly.
"Yes, I did!"
Dean began to interject starting to get frustrated at somehow becoming the bad guy here. Win raised his hand as a signal for him to stop before he dug himself even deeper. Showing a remarkable degree of insight Dean followed the unspoken suggestion.
"No, you didn't, you might think you did but you didn't." Kid Win said quickly and forcefully. "It might not have been how you meant it. I sure freaking hope it wasn't how you meant it. But you basically said 'you've not done anything worthwhile until now' and trust me someone writing off your work like that doesn't feel good. I speak from experience here."
Finally, Vicky seemed to regain her ability to speak and continued on.
"That definitely pissed her off." Vicky said slowly struggling to keep her temper (breath in for five, breathe out for five) "but I don't think it was what pushed her over the edge. She decided to run off when you said that the people she'd helped DIDN'T! MATTER!"
Vicky lost her grip on her temper and finished off her sentence in a half scream. A crowd was beginning to gather around the building they were speaking on as the PRT had arrived and were beginning to load up Uber and Leet for transport to the nearest cell where hopefully they'd stay this time. One show had ended and another one had begun was the thought shared between the onlookers. Kid Win took in the sight a little nervously.
"Hey, guys let's move this somewhere away from prying eyes. We're probably going to look bad enough on the news as it is."
Dean and Vicky took notice of the crowd and reluctantly agreed.
"Alright but we aren't finished with this." Vicky growled jabbing a finger in Gallant's face. "The roof of the church on Fox street should be empty." With that said Vicky floated up into the air. "Make sure he shows up Win."
Having given her decrees Vicky flew off into the night certain that they would be followed lest her wrath be invoked. Both Gallant and Kid Win stood in awkward silence for a moment.
"So, any chance of a ride?"
Gallant asked hopefully. Fox street was about two miles away and while he could walk it, he would really prefer not to. Beneath his visor Kid Win rolled his eyes and used his foot to press a hidden button on his hover board which caused the deck of the board to expand so two people could stand on it with plenty of space.
"Come on."
Win said as he hopped on with Gallant following shortly. The two flew towards their destination in a companionable silence until.
"So, why do you think?"
"We aren't going to talk about this." Win cut him off. "Wait till we meet up with Vicky."
"What, why?" Dean asked in confusion.
"Because she's better at yelling than I am."
Dean winced beneath his helmet as he realized that he really didn't have any allies right now.
They arrived at the church to find Vicky standing on the roof pacing back and forth. Every few steps she'd stop, look at the sky briefly, mutter angrily to herself and return to pacing. Clearly, she hadn't taken the travel time to cool off Dean mused.
"Once more into the breach."
Dean murmured under his breath as they flew closer. Kid Win couldn't stop himself from letting out a chuckle. They landed just behind Vicky and Kid Win cleared his throat. Vicky whirled around quickly.
"Bout time." She said immediately glaring daggers at Gallant.
"We got here as soon as we could."
Dean said in the calmest tone he could muster. Reaching up he took off his helmet and favored Vicky with the most charming smile he was capable of. Vicky increased the intensity of her glare and snorted in derision.
"You ain't getting out of this that easy."
She said stalking up to Dean. "Now what did you mean by not important!" With every word Vicky shoved him in the chest, harder and harder until finally on the last word Dean lost his footing and fell to the ground. Pushing himself up he found himself with both Vicky and Kid Win looking down at him. Kid Win reached up and took off his visor revealing Chris to the world. He placed a hand on Vicky's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.
"Look, I'm sure Dean didn't mean it the way that it sounded." Chris said gently. "Right Dean." Recognizing his cue for what it was Dean semi frantically nodded in agreement. "Good, so Dean what were you trying to say?"
Dean took a deep breath and tried to compose his thoughts the events of the last… God it couldn't have been more than a half hour since they'd run in to Wildcat and he'd lost all control of his life.
"I didn't mean the woman she saved wasn't important." Dean implored. "I'd never think something like that, you guys know that right?"
He looked into their eyes Chris seemed to be a touch more understanding and his aura showed the anger starting to fade slightly. Vicky's eyes remained cold and not for the first time Dean found himself wishing his ability to read emotions worked on her.
"Of course, saving those people is the right thing to do." Dean continued. "It's just the overall area you know the docks and places like that don't really do much good in the big picture."
Chris raised his hands to stop Dean for a moment.
"Alright, here's where I think my problem starts with all of this. Define the big picture for me."
Dean frowned slightly and thought. He'd never really been asked that before.
"It's just. It's like my Dad says the people in the Docks are all stuck in the past. They're holding on to the days when this was a port town and refusing to get with the times. They don't want to get jobs that matter or be a part of the future of this community." Dean rubbed his jaw as he contemplated how to continue on. "It sucks but it's the reality. They don't give much back to the city. The businesses downtown like Medhall and."
"And the Stansfield Conglomerate." Vicky said sharply.
"I, yes we're a part of that group." Dean stuttered. "It's not anything personal, it's just the Protectorate has to focus its efforts in the places where they'll do the most good for the largest amount of people."
Vicky stared in horror at him. She'd had her frustrations with Dean, a hundred and one petty little things that they'd argue and fight over and maybe they'd cause them to break up for a few days but she'd never doubted his fundamental decency. She'd never heard him sound so callous.
"So just screw anyone who doesn't make enough money is that it?" Vicky half whispered.
Dean shook his head frantically. Somehow everything he says is just coming out wrong tonight. He didn't think that. He'd never think that. It's just you can't help everyone and you have to live with it.
"No, it's not like we ignore them or anything. We send out patrols there. If people call something in we'll go but it's just we can't be too proactive there. It's not a good use of… resources so we do what we can. I'm sorry if that's not enough for some people but that's the way it is." Dean fairly roared in response as he climbed to his feet.
"So, what they should be grateful you're doing the bare fucking minimum." Vicky snarled getting into Dean's face. Spittle flew from her mouth as she hurled vitriol at him and the anger and frustration that Dean had been suppressing during this entire interrogation boiled over.
"Oh who the hell are you to judge!" Dean snapped getting right back into Vicky's face.
"How often is New Wave in the docks huh!?" Vicky furrowed her brow in concentration for a moment before looking down. "That's what I thought."
Dean looked her up and down and gave a cruel smirk that sat oddly on his usually charming features.
"As a matter of fact, when was the last time New Wave did anything that mattered?" Dean said cruelly. "The Protectorate and the PRT are out there every night patrolling, fighting villains trying to hold things together and then there's New Wave… Who go out when they feel like it. Maybe."
Vicky reeled back like Gallant had slapped her and blinked back a few tears. In an instant Dean realized what it was he'd said. Vicky had trusted him over the course of their relationship, she'd shared any number of insecurities and fears about herself, her family, New Wave as a whole and he'd used that trust in an attempt to hurt her. A horribly successful attempt.
"The difference is we aren't the government." Vicky said softly. "We never promised people that we'd protect them. The Protectorate did." Vicky shook her head and walked past Dean. "Fuck you Dean."
With her final words said Vicky flew off. Dean ran to the edge of the building.
"Vicky, wait!!!"
Despite his words echoing through the night she didn't stop, she didn't turn back, she didn't even hesitate. She just kept flying away from him. Chris walked up next to Dean and placed his hand on his shoulder. With a sigh he began to speak.
"I have a cousin who works in the docks." Chris said slowly. "He's a great guy, he used to babysit me when I was a kid. He'd spend hours helping me work through my math homework. Just the best guy in the world."
Chris gulped down a lump in his throat, he didn't usually get personal like this and especially not with Dean.
"About two years back his wife got sick. Lymphoma and he couldn't afford the costs." Chris blinked rapidly for a second. "Danny Hebert and the dockworkers they put together a pool. They got donations from literally everybody who worked in the association from a bunch of locals in the area, other businesses. Everybody chipped in and they got enough. They're good people trying to hold on Dean. They deserve better than being written off like that."
Chris got on his board and prepared to make the trek home.
"You're a good guy Dean." Chris said as he put his visor back on. "I really believe that, just maybe take a look beyond your Dad's world y'know."
With that said he left Dean alone with his thoughts and he couldn't have left him with a more vicious crowd.
Dean's night passed in an alternating stream of guilt and feelings of outrage at how unfairly he'd been treated. Sadly, this left him with precious little time for sleep so he trudged through his day at Arcadia dead to the world with only a precious few cat naps in between classes (and sometimes during) to keep him vaguely functional. It was only after school ended and he walked into the PRT headquarters that he was jolted back to full alertness. As soon as he entered the building, he was informed that Deputy Director Renick wanted to speak to him about last nights patrol.
Dean trudged slowly through the halls wondering how his meeting with the deputy director would go. With one step he'd be certain that he would be completely and utterly vindicated. Everything he said had been in line with the PRT's goals and his thoughts were perfectly logical. With another step however he'd question himself. Vicky and Chris's criticisms and accusations would suddenly seem to make sense and he'd feel all of six inches tall. To make things worse the whole time he couldn't help but hear Wildcat's question ringing in the back of his mind. Her demand to know if she was saying an innocent woman didn't need to be protected. In the face of that question, in the cold light of day his logical and practical explanations didn't seem so persuasive.
As he took the final step into Renick's office (Vicky and Chris were right his mind screamed at him) the man himself looked up and gave Dean a brief smile before gesturing towards a chair in front of his desk.
"Take a seat son."
Renick said in a seemingly friendly tone. Dean obeyed and took the opportunity to take the measure of the Deputy Director. At a first glance he didn't strike all that impressive figure. A middle-aged man in a decently cut off the rack suit. To those who didn't look too closely he'd appear to be any run of the mill middle manager of some random company. Someone you'd pass by on the street everyday and never take any notice of. All that would be true, unless you looked into his eyes. Renick's eyes were cold and calculating despite the aura of friendliness he tried to give off and they were keenly intelligent. It always felt like in one glance he'd assessed everything that he could possibly need to know about your character.
"Can I ask what this is about Director?" Dean asked hesitantly.
Renick placed some files in a desk drawer and turned the full force of his gaze onto Dean.
"It's nothing serious. No need to worry, I just heard that you had run into a new cape last night and wanted to hear her thoughts."
Dean stared at him in confusion. He hadn't even had a chance to file his report yet and he was certain Kid Win hadn't either. Shadow Stalker had been working the console last night and she wouldn't proactively offer information to bosses. So…
"How did you hear about that?" Dean asked before he could stop himself. "I haven't even had a chance to file the report yet."
Renick looked at him with disappointment etched on to his face.
"Gallant, the console automatically records your activities. Weren't you paying attention during your training?"
Dean nodded quickly, of course he had been paying attention during his monitor training. He certainly hadn't been wondering whether or not Vicky would be up for a little private time later that night. No sir.
"Of course, just slipped my mind. Sorry sir."
"Anyways, what were your impressions of this new cape?" Renick drawled. "This Wildcat was it?"
"Yes sir." Dean replied as he sat up a little straighter in his chair. "She's definitely a brute. We saw her jump 15 or 20 feet to the ground with no trouble and be perfectly ready for a fight."
Renick nodded briefly as he wrote down what something on a pad of paper that had appeared seemingly from nowhere.
"She's either some kind of combat thinker or pretty well trained." Dean continued. "She managed to outfight Uber pretty easily and despite his reputation that's not an easy thing to do. There might be more to her powers but that's all I could see. It was a pretty quick fight all things told."
Renick nodded to himself before once again restarting the interview.
"Alright, that's her powers covered but what were your impressions of her as a person? Is she someone we can work with?"
Dean frowned as he contemplated the question and suppressed his knee jerk response caused by lingering bitterness over their last interaction. As he worked to put his thoughts together he began to speak.
"She's definitely a hero and she's really dedicated to the Docks." Dean answered slowly. "When I tried to pitch the Wards to her."
"You think she's Wards age?" Renick interjected.
"I think so, anyways when I tried to pitch the Wards to her I well I screwed up to be honest with you sir." Dean said figuring it'd be best to own up to it as opposed to get called out by Chris's report. "I said somethings that she interpreted as being disparaging towards the Docks and her work there and that pretty much closed off all possibility of communication. I guess you heard what I said though huh?"
Dean trailed off feeling sheepish.
"I did, we'll talk about that in a moment. Now my question is do you think we can work with her, maybe build bridges?" Renick demanded.
Dean looked up slightly as he contemplated the question.
"I think so. She's passionate about helping people. If we lead with that than I think she'd be willing to work with us at least on a case by case basis type of thing and we can build up a relationship that way. I'd probably be more of a hindrance than a help on that front though."
Renick's face gave nothing away as he took in Dean's assessment.
"That was my assessment as well. I'll draft the official orders in regards to Wildcat and deliver them to the team at the formal briefing in an hour. Now as to your attempts to recruit Wildcat."
Dean lowered his head slightly as he prepared for the tirade that he was sure to come.
"You need to learn how to properly convey information."
Dean blinked at him, once, twice. That was not the response he expected.
"I beg your pardon, sir?" Dean asked feeling just a bit adrift.
Renick gave a small chuckle and leaned back in his chair as he prepared to dispense the wisdom he'd acquired over the course of his career.
"Your arguments were absolutely correct, Dean. But it can be hard for civilians to recognize that."
Dean frowned as he contemplated Renick's words. Someone was finally agreeing with him but for some reason.
"Are you sure sir?" Dean asked hesitantly. "Wildcat made some pretty persuasive points and so did the… Others"
Dean felt another surge of guilt as he remembered the argument between him and Vicky. Somehow, he got the feeling a nice bracelet and flowers wouldn't be enough to fix things this time.
"Yes, well emotional arguments always hit harder than rational arguments." Renick said with disdain dripping from every word. "Wildcat goes out and let's be generous and say she stops a dozen muggers that night. That's a dozen people saved. Last week Assault and Miss Militia fended off an attack by the merchants on a Medhall supply warehouse. That resulted in dozens of jobs being saved and vital supplies of medicine being preserved saving potentially hundreds upon hundreds of lives. Do you know the reason they were able to respond quickly enough to accomplish that?"
Dean instinctively knowing his role shook his head.
"They were able to respond so quickly because they were already patrolling the area and they were doing that because we know that attacks there pose a large threat to everyone in the city and that includes the docks."
"I suppose that makes sense." Dean replied. "But shouldn't we still have people looking in on the docks as well. Just in case."
Renick nodded seriously.
"Of course and we do. Three times a week between the hours of 1 and four am we have a protectorate hero patrolling through the docks because that's when our analysts say crimes are most likely to occur and of course if someone there calls in an emergency we'll respond."
Dean still looked conflicted and looked down in his lap. Renick got up from his desk and walked around next to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I know it can be hard to understand." Renick said in a gentle voice. "But the cold hard truth of it is we can't save everyone and because of that we need to act in a way to save the most people we can." Renick squeezed his shoulder in what was intended to be a comforting gesture but instead made Dean hide a wince of pain. "And the way we do that is by acting in a way that lets the city as a whole serve as many people as possible. Do you understand?"
Dean nodded and gave the director a small smile.
"Yes sir."
"Good lad." Renick said retuning the smile. "Now for future reference make sure to have these debates out of earshot of the public."
"Of course, sir."
With the conversation seemingly concluded Dean got up from the chair and headed towards the door but was stopped before he could leave.
"One last thing Dean." Renick called out after him. "You're going to be on monitor duty for the next two weeks. Best to keep you out of the spotlight for now and I'm going to arrange for you to take some PR training courses. The schedules will be sent to your inbox. You will be available for them. Do you understand me?" Renick's voice got cold at the end.
"Loud and clear." Dean replied. "Will that be all?"
Renick gave Dean a dismissive wave and with that Dean was gone from his sight. As Dean walked through the halls he was conflicted. Renick agreed with him, he said that Dean was right and Vicky and Chris and Wildcat were wrong. He'd been vindicated and yet instead of feeling comforted or proud he was just as conflicted as he'd been in the aftermath of the argument last night. He was conflicted because there was a single question he couldn't escape. They couldn't save everyone, fine Dean understood that. It sucked but it made sense even a parahuman was still human after all. But still even if you couldn't save everyone.
"Shouldn't you still try?" Dean asked himself in the silence of the hall. To his disappointment no answer was offered.
And that's Dean done. He's a little lost right now. Next chapter Vicky attempts to befriend an alley cat
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The Wildcat of the Docks: Taylor Interlude
So Vicky's chapter got away from me I should hopefully have it out sometime tomorrow but in the meanwhile that chapter intitally opened with what Taylor did after Gallant's failed his charisma check and the switch between the two stories keeps feeling janky to me but I wanna include the Taytay stuff. So I'm going to just make it its own thing because I'm the writer and I can do that.
The Streets of Brockton Bay
9:00 pm.
As Taylor walked home through the night thoughts were racing through her mind almost faster than she could comprehend them. She'd been right and it was only now that she'd realized that deep down in her heart of heart's she'd hoped that she would be proven wrong. On some level she'd always hoped that when she got powers and put on a costume and went out to fight the good fight and met other hero's they'd… What be the paragons they proclaimed themselves to be? Heroes, noble and true fighting the good fight and doing the best they could against near insurmountable odds. Yes, in a tiny corner of her mind that's what Taylor had hoped for and with a few words Gallant had destroyed that tiny flicker of faith. Fine, then the docks were going to be left to take care of themselves. No real change there and they'd been getting by just fine. Nothing had changed, not really there were still good people in the docks who had been left behind and Wildcat was going to do what she could for them.
Taylor came to a stop across the street from her home. Now it was time for the hard part and so she took a deep breath and prepared to spend the rest of the evening lying to her only remaining family. As she opened the door and made her way inside a part of her hoped that her Dad would have decided to go to bed early.
"Welcome home kiddo!"
The cheerful voice of Danny Hebert rang out from the living room easily drowning out the sound of the late night news. Pasting a smile on her face Taylor turned and headed towards the sound of his voice. Offering him a quick wave Taylor collapsed onto the couch and tilting her head up to the ceiling gave voice to the frustration that had been building and building all through the night.
"UGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH"
When Taylor opened her eyes she was met by Danny Hebert's gentle frown.
"Day was that bad huh? Do ya wanna talk about it or just stew for a bit?"
Taylor tilted her head as she contemplated the options before her. She couldn't tell her Dad everything but maybe… Yes that would work and she could give voice to at least a bit of her anger.
"Most of the day was alright." Taylor said slowly. "Nobody wanted to bother me at school and getting back to the gym was fantastic. It's just afterwards." Taylor trailed off as she tried to figure out how to explain what happened without having to explain to her Dad the whole Wildcat situation.
"Afterwards?" Danny prompted.
"Afterwards, I decided to hit the boardwalk, grab some cheese dogs from Franks and maybe do a little tourist mocking. Just relax for a bit and head home but there was this villain attack."
Danny's eyes widened and he dashed around the couch and knelt in front of Taylor. His eyes were frantically looking over every inch of her he could see trying to see where she was hurt. Taylor let out a soft laugh and patted him on the shoulders trying to calm him down.
"I'm fine Dad, I'm fine. It was just Uber and Leet being jackasses. Worst thing that happened is Franks closed before I could get my food." Taylor said quickly. Danny nodded his head and gestured for her to carry on.
"So, I missed dinner but still decided to wander for a bit and I'd just eat something when I got home. Anyways long story short, I ran into these rich pricks and I guess they could smell the dock rat on me." Taylor shook her head briefly and forced a grin on her face. "You know what screw them I'm not gonna let them drag me down! They ain't worth it."
Danny let out a dry chuckle and patted Taylor hard on her shoulders, his customary show of affection.
"That's my girl. Just say fuck them and move on." Danny stopped speaking and arched an eyebrow at her, he waited until finally with an eyeroll worthy of the angsty teenager she was Taylor broke.
"Fine." Taylor scoffed. "FUCK THEM!!!!!" She screamed into the night.
"Feel better?"
"I guess so."
"Good, now then." Danny stood up and arched his back to work out the kinks for some reason his body didn't seem to realize he was as young and vital as he ever was. It truly was quite frustrating but he digressed. "You haven't eaten anything right?"
Taylor's stomach roared as if in answer and with a slight blush Taylor shook her head to confirm that its complaints were true. Danny gave her a small smile.
"Alright, you relax and I'll get something together for you alright?"
Taylor gave him a small grin and settled into the couch to relax as Danny headed into the kitchen. Deciding to relax for a bit Taylor turned her attention to the newscaster.
"It was announced earlier today that in a joint operation between the guild and the Protectorate's strike team one the villain Heartbreaker was killed. We go now to Montreal, Quebec where Alice Hayes has more."
The generically handsome newscaster was replaced with a young woman standing in a field surrounded by tents and armored vehicles. People were constantly moving all around her as she awaited her cue. Giving a professional smile to the camera and the viewers at home she launched into her spiel.
"Thanks Dan, I'm standing in the staging area where the assault on Heartbreaker's compound was planned. Inside the tent behind me Armsmaster who along with Dragon was one of the architects of this amazing victory should be wrapping up his debriefing shortly and he has promised me a few minutes of his time."
The flap of the tent behind her and the man in question stepped out into the light and he cut quite the dramatic figure. The sun gleamed off his power armor almost giving him the appearance of some kind of futuristic knight errant. Turning his head he caught sight of the reporter and headed towards her. As he came closer to the camera the position of the sun changed and you could see a bit more of the person behind the iconography and that person looked tired. There was a slight slump to his shoulders and his beard was a little wild as if he hadn't had time to groom it properly over the last few days.
"Ms. Hayes, I believe it's time for our interview." Armsmaster stated calmly as he waited off to the side of the reporter.
Suddenly Taylor's view of the tv was cut off by the torso of one Danny Hebert and more importantly by a sandwich piled high with ham and pepperoni and salami. Positively slathered in mustard and with a pickle on the side. Between this and the can of coke Danny silently offered to her this was the meal heartburn was made of and it was going to be so worth it. Danny sat down next to her and after turning off the television opened his own can and took a sip. The two sat in companionable silence as Taylor devoured (in a very lady like fashion) her sandwich finally once the beast had been satiated Taylor turned to her father.
"So, you listened to me complain, how'd your day go?" Taylor asked.
Danny took a contemplative sip of his coke before answering.
"Not too bad." He said slowly savouring the bit of good news he had to give. "We got the contract." Taylor stared at him with her eyes wide before a huge smile burst across her face.
"You got it!" She cried out in excitement.
"We got it." Danny said with satisfaction. "I actually just got home a bit before you did, spent the whole day getting things in order to hit the ground running. Things are finally starting to look up."
"It was bound to happen sooner or later." Taylor said idly.
"Damn right." Danny laughed before holding up his can for a toast. "To those of us who are too dumb to quit." With a laugh of her own Taylor banged her can against his.
"And too angry to die." Taylor finished the old refrain before she began to gather up her plate.
"I'd love to celebrate but I should probably turn in." Taylor said as she headed towards the kitchen.
"Won't be long behind you." Danny replied. "We're going to celebrate properly this weekend I think." He said idly almost too himself. "Maybe have some of the boys over for a barbeque. Live it up like the lower middle class to which we aspire. What do you think?"
"Sounds good." Taylor said as she dumped her plate in the sink and headed for the stairs. "I'll never turn down a good steak."
With the tentative plans made Taylor headed up the stairs with a smile on her face resolving to put all thoughts of Gallant, Kid Win and Glory Girl out of her mind. After all it's not like they'll be thinking of her at all.
Isn't anything too important here it's just kind of Taylor decompressing but I didn't want to cut it
The Streets of Brockton Bay
9:00 pm.
As Taylor walked home through the night thoughts were racing through her mind almost faster than she could comprehend them. She'd been right and it was only now that she'd realized that deep down in her heart of heart's she'd hoped that she would be proven wrong. On some level she'd always hoped that when she got powers and put on a costume and went out to fight the good fight and met other hero's they'd… What be the paragons they proclaimed themselves to be? Heroes, noble and true fighting the good fight and doing the best they could against near insurmountable odds. Yes, in a tiny corner of her mind that's what Taylor had hoped for and with a few words Gallant had destroyed that tiny flicker of faith. Fine, then the docks were going to be left to take care of themselves. No real change there and they'd been getting by just fine. Nothing had changed, not really there were still good people in the docks who had been left behind and Wildcat was going to do what she could for them.
Taylor came to a stop across the street from her home. Now it was time for the hard part and so she took a deep breath and prepared to spend the rest of the evening lying to her only remaining family. As she opened the door and made her way inside a part of her hoped that her Dad would have decided to go to bed early.
"Welcome home kiddo!"
The cheerful voice of Danny Hebert rang out from the living room easily drowning out the sound of the late night news. Pasting a smile on her face Taylor turned and headed towards the sound of his voice. Offering him a quick wave Taylor collapsed onto the couch and tilting her head up to the ceiling gave voice to the frustration that had been building and building all through the night.
"UGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH"
When Taylor opened her eyes she was met by Danny Hebert's gentle frown.
"Day was that bad huh? Do ya wanna talk about it or just stew for a bit?"
Taylor tilted her head as she contemplated the options before her. She couldn't tell her Dad everything but maybe… Yes that would work and she could give voice to at least a bit of her anger.
"Most of the day was alright." Taylor said slowly. "Nobody wanted to bother me at school and getting back to the gym was fantastic. It's just afterwards." Taylor trailed off as she tried to figure out how to explain what happened without having to explain to her Dad the whole Wildcat situation.
"Afterwards?" Danny prompted.
"Afterwards, I decided to hit the boardwalk, grab some cheese dogs from Franks and maybe do a little tourist mocking. Just relax for a bit and head home but there was this villain attack."
Danny's eyes widened and he dashed around the couch and knelt in front of Taylor. His eyes were frantically looking over every inch of her he could see trying to see where she was hurt. Taylor let out a soft laugh and patted him on the shoulders trying to calm him down.
"I'm fine Dad, I'm fine. It was just Uber and Leet being jackasses. Worst thing that happened is Franks closed before I could get my food." Taylor said quickly. Danny nodded his head and gestured for her to carry on.
"So, I missed dinner but still decided to wander for a bit and I'd just eat something when I got home. Anyways long story short, I ran into these rich pricks and I guess they could smell the dock rat on me." Taylor shook her head briefly and forced a grin on her face. "You know what screw them I'm not gonna let them drag me down! They ain't worth it."
Danny let out a dry chuckle and patted Taylor hard on her shoulders, his customary show of affection.
"That's my girl. Just say fuck them and move on." Danny stopped speaking and arched an eyebrow at her, he waited until finally with an eyeroll worthy of the angsty teenager she was Taylor broke.
"Fine." Taylor scoffed. "FUCK THEM!!!!!" She screamed into the night.
"Feel better?"
"I guess so."
"Good, now then." Danny stood up and arched his back to work out the kinks for some reason his body didn't seem to realize he was as young and vital as he ever was. It truly was quite frustrating but he digressed. "You haven't eaten anything right?"
Taylor's stomach roared as if in answer and with a slight blush Taylor shook her head to confirm that its complaints were true. Danny gave her a small smile.
"Alright, you relax and I'll get something together for you alright?"
Taylor gave him a small grin and settled into the couch to relax as Danny headed into the kitchen. Deciding to relax for a bit Taylor turned her attention to the newscaster.
"It was announced earlier today that in a joint operation between the guild and the Protectorate's strike team one the villain Heartbreaker was killed. We go now to Montreal, Quebec where Alice Hayes has more."
The generically handsome newscaster was replaced with a young woman standing in a field surrounded by tents and armored vehicles. People were constantly moving all around her as she awaited her cue. Giving a professional smile to the camera and the viewers at home she launched into her spiel.
"Thanks Dan, I'm standing in the staging area where the assault on Heartbreaker's compound was planned. Inside the tent behind me Armsmaster who along with Dragon was one of the architects of this amazing victory should be wrapping up his debriefing shortly and he has promised me a few minutes of his time."
The flap of the tent behind her and the man in question stepped out into the light and he cut quite the dramatic figure. The sun gleamed off his power armor almost giving him the appearance of some kind of futuristic knight errant. Turning his head he caught sight of the reporter and headed towards her. As he came closer to the camera the position of the sun changed and you could see a bit more of the person behind the iconography and that person looked tired. There was a slight slump to his shoulders and his beard was a little wild as if he hadn't had time to groom it properly over the last few days.
"Ms. Hayes, I believe it's time for our interview." Armsmaster stated calmly as he waited off to the side of the reporter.
Suddenly Taylor's view of the tv was cut off by the torso of one Danny Hebert and more importantly by a sandwich piled high with ham and pepperoni and salami. Positively slathered in mustard and with a pickle on the side. Between this and the can of coke Danny silently offered to her this was the meal heartburn was made of and it was going to be so worth it. Danny sat down next to her and after turning off the television opened his own can and took a sip. The two sat in companionable silence as Taylor devoured (in a very lady like fashion) her sandwich finally once the beast had been satiated Taylor turned to her father.
"So, you listened to me complain, how'd your day go?" Taylor asked.
Danny took a contemplative sip of his coke before answering.
"Not too bad." He said slowly savouring the bit of good news he had to give. "We got the contract." Taylor stared at him with her eyes wide before a huge smile burst across her face.
"You got it!" She cried out in excitement.
"We got it." Danny said with satisfaction. "I actually just got home a bit before you did, spent the whole day getting things in order to hit the ground running. Things are finally starting to look up."
"It was bound to happen sooner or later." Taylor said idly.
"Damn right." Danny laughed before holding up his can for a toast. "To those of us who are too dumb to quit." With a laugh of her own Taylor banged her can against his.
"And too angry to die." Taylor finished the old refrain before she began to gather up her plate.
"I'd love to celebrate but I should probably turn in." Taylor said as she headed towards the kitchen.
"Won't be long behind you." Danny replied. "We're going to celebrate properly this weekend I think." He said idly almost too himself. "Maybe have some of the boys over for a barbeque. Live it up like the lower middle class to which we aspire. What do you think?"
"Sounds good." Taylor said as she dumped her plate in the sink and headed for the stairs. "I'll never turn down a good steak."
With the tentative plans made Taylor headed up the stairs with a smile on her face resolving to put all thoughts of Gallant, Kid Win and Glory Girl out of her mind. After all it's not like they'll be thinking of her at all.
Isn't anything too important here it's just kind of Taylor decompressing but I didn't want to cut it
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Wildcat of the Docks: Bout 2 - Vicky enters the ring
Guess who's back
Back Again
Taytay's back
Tell a friend
So yeah real life happened sorry about that but we're back with a new chapter in which there's action, gratuitous JSA cameos, and Amy possibly having been adopted once more. Now play the intro
The Dallon Household
The next morning
The bedroom of Victoria Dallon was far more normal than you would expect from a second generation superhero. There were no supercomputers or impressive and dramatic mementos of fights won and villains defeated. Instead there were clothes strewn about the floor waiting for a mother to demand they be picked up, books both academic and fiction flung about the place ready to be enjoyed, studied or suffered through as they may warrant and in the bed along the far wall was a teenage girl who had not had the most restful of nights.
After the blow up with he who was formally known as the boyfriend aka Gallant Vicky had spent a good hour or two just flying around the city trying to process everything. Both the degree to which Dean and apparently the Protectorate as a whole had just written off a bunch of innocent people as not worth helping and then there was the part that hurt worse. For all her moral outrage, all of her genuine horror at finding out about this she couldn't stop hearing Dean's accusation ringing through her head. What had New Wave ever done for the people in the Docks left out to dry? What had Vicky ever done for them? As she robotically went about her morning routine she couldn't come up with an answer that she could feel proud of. As Vicky made her way down to the kitchen to join her loving and supportive family for breakfast she hoped that she was a good enough actress to hide her troubled thoughts. As she entered the room her Dad who fully dressed and clean shaven met her with a broad smile and inquisitive alert eyes. Must have been a good day a part of Vicky's mind noticed as she tried to return the smile. Mark Dallon, the man known as Flashbang narrowed his eyes at this.
"Everything alright sweetie?" Mark asked. "You look exhausted."
Vicky tried to smile at him in such a way as to convey that everything was alright and there was no need for follow up questions. The concerned look refused to leave her Dad's faces and similar looks came upon the faces of her Mom and sister as they took in the state of her.
That's it, next semester I'm signing up for drama classes. Vicky thought as she took her seat next to Amy and prepared to face theinquisition concerned questioning from people who love her.
"I'm fine."
Vicky chirped aiming for happy and landing somewhere around trying to sound excited for terrible Christmas presents.
"You sure?" Carol asked. "I didn't hear you come in last night. Did something happen with Dean?"
Vicky frowned in thought maybe a bit of honesty would get her out of this conversation.
"We got into a fight last night." Vicky replied. "I flew around for a while afterwards to clear my head. Got in late and didn't sleep well afterwards."
Having said all she intended to say Vicky grabbed a muffin from the center of the table and began to feast. Assuming that basic social decorum would dissuade anyone from asking any follow up questions.
"What about?"
Amy asked sounding suspiciously uninterested. Mark leaned closer wanting to hear the answer as well.
"Yes, do I need to have a talk with him?"
Mark asked making a show of flexing his arms and at the sight of her husband's still powerful form Carol couldn't stop herself from letting out a small purr of appreciation which was dutifully ignored by the children at the table.
"No Dad, I promise you if anyone needs to kick Dean's ass I'll be the one to do it." Vicky promised. Amy let out a mock gasp of indignation. "And of course Amy can get some hits in as part of her sisterly duty."
Vicky sighed and ruffled her hands through her hair.
"We just met this new cape last night and Dean acted like a jerk is all."
Vicky said quickly as she got up from the table. She grabbed Amy by the arm and began marching the two of them towards the door.
"It's no big deal and I can handle it. Now Amy and I should really be getting to school. See you guys later."
Amy said nothing as Vicky took her from the kitchen and just made sad grasping attempts at her mug of black coffee which was sitting on the table. As they headed out Amy mourned the loss of her truest friend.
"That wasn't the whole story, was it?" Amy asked idly as they walked down the road. Making their way to Arcadia the school your tax dollars actually fund.
"Nope."
"You planning on telling me the whole story?"
Vicky came to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk and turned to stare Amy intently in the eyes. Amy tried desperately to suppress the blush that was coming across her face due to having Vicky's unwavering attention… She failed (stupid freckles).
"Do you think." Vicky asked hesitantly. "Do you think we do enough? New Wave I mean."
"New Wave plays a vital role in championing cape accountability."
Amy droned in a perfectly even voice. Vicky rolled her eyes and punched Amy lightly on the shoulder. Lightly for Vicky at least, Amy might disagree. In fact, judging by the way she was rubbing her shoulder and the pout on her lips Amy definitely disagreed.
"I was asking you not Mom." Vicky scoffed. "I'm serious here. That cape we met last night she said some things and then Dean." Vicky trailed off with a snarl. Amy put a gentle hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Hey I'm always up for a round of bash the boyfriend, you know that but I'm kind of coming in blind here." Amy snarked. "Maybe catch me up. What happened with the cape you met last night, what did Dean do?"
Vicky heaved out a breath and nodded her head to herself.
"Right, yeah okay. So, Gallant and Kid Win were doing a boardwalk patrol and I decided to join them right?" Vicky waited for Amy to give the sisterly nod of exasperated understanding before continuing.
"Anyways it was a typical PR patrol hand out some autographs, take some photos and maybe catch a pick pocket or three. Then we got an alert that Uber and Leet had been causing trouble at the other end of the boardwalk and we run off to do our thing but by the time we get there it had all been pretty much wrapped up. This new girl Wildcat had taken out Leet and was about two punches away from knocking Uber out cold. Win and Gallant wanted to talk to her so we agreed to meet on this rooftop nearby and the three of us flew off. She climbed up there a few… minutes… later."
Vicky trailed off with a frown as a realization hit her.
"She couldn't fly and I made her climb up there. I must've looked like such an ass."
"Probably." Amy giggled as the two of them walked through the gates to Arcadia.
"Thanks for the support sister of mine." Vicky glared as Amy shrugged with casual innocence.
"So, we're on the roof and we get to talking and it comes out that she'd mostly worked out of the Docks helping people out there and Gallant starts going on this tirade about how dealing with the Docks is a waste of time and the only people who matter are the people who put money in the cities pockets."
Amy put an arm around Vicky to try to calm her down, she hadn't quite been shouting but she was speaking loud enough that while people couldn't quite make out what she was saying, they wanted to and were about to come closer to try to do so.
"It's not really surprising. The Protectorate has been slowly pulling out of the Docks for a while now and the city has been cutting funding for longer." Amy whispered as they moved through the crowds.
"Wait you knew about this?" Vicky demanded as harshly as she could while still technically whispering.
"I mean." Amy said hesitantly. "I don't know for sure, for sure but I've healed enough people from there and heard their stories that I can make some guesses."
Vicky nodded in acknowledgement that made a certain horribly sad sense except for one thing.
"Wait, I thought Mom only had you working at the big hospitals. She said it was safer or something I wouldn't have thought they could afford to be treated there." Vicky inquired.
"Don't tell her but I'm not always working at the hospitals I tell Mom I'm working at." Vicky arched an eyebrow and waited for Amy to continue. "Doctor Cross at Central runs a free clinic out in the Docks down near the DWA headquarters and sometimes when I tell Mom I'm working at Central I'm actually down there."
"You rebel you!" Vicky laughed as they arrived at their lockers.
"Anyways." Vicky said as she put in her combination. "Long, long story short Win and I yelled at Gallant for being a jerk and he lost his temper and accused us of not doing anything to help out in the Docks either and… I think he might be right?" Vicky finished off in a sad almost lost voice. Amy held out her arms in offer and Vicky took her up on it sinking into her sisters embrace.
"I'm going to be going down to the clinic after school." Amy whispered into Vicky's hair. "If you wanna try to help out more than you could come with. Might be a good place to start."
Vicky nodded her head and turned the full force of her smile on to Amy.
"I'd like that."
With the plan finalized the two headed deeper into the bowels of the educational institution ready for a long day of boring lessons and avoiding contrite ex-boyfriends.
Brockton Bay: The Docks
3:57 pm
As the two of them walked through the Docks on the way to the clinic Vicky took in the sights of everything around her and idly realized that outside of the occasional fight she'd never really spent any time in this part of town. With a frown she noted that even on a first visit the signs of neglect were clear and obvious, the streets were cracked, grafitti and gang tags were sloppily painted over and a number of the stores and shops had damages that had been repaired with whatever was available. Windows simply boarded up instead of having glass replaced on one and another had a door that clearly didn't match with the rest of the building but it was what the owner could get apparently. It was a community barely managing to hold on.
Vicky took this all in and wondered not for the first time since she'd had her eyes opened to it how had she managed to miss this and what else could she be missing. She was jolted out of her musings by a scream coming from an alley. Without a second thought Vicky flew towards the sound but by the time she'd arrived it seemed she wasn't needed anymore. A boy about her age clad in the empire's colors was quivering on the ground at the feel of a large muscular man wearing a t-shirt bearing the logo of the dockworkers association. He gave her a nod and turned to help up the gangbangers would be victim a young Asian woman.
"You alright there?" The Dockworker asked in a gruff voice. The lady nodded.
"I think so, I was just heading home and he grabbed me." The lady was shaking and hugging herself.
"It's okay, you're safe now I promise. Do you want me to walk you home or do you have someone you'd like me to call maybe?"
"No, that's fine I've got a friend who works nearby. She has a car I think I'll just go wait with her and get a ride home." She said with her eyes darting nervously at her savior. "If that's alright?"
"Of course, I'll call the cops about this guy. Still early enough they should feel safe enough coming in and pretending to do their jobs."
The two shared a bitter sardonic laugh and Vicky decided it was time she made her leave and went back to Amy who greeted her with a grin.
"All good?" She asked.
"All good." Vicky replied. "By the time I got there some Dockworker had already dealt with the problem. That normal around here?"
"The mugging or the Dockworker stopping it?"
"Yes."
"Muggings happen although not normally this early in the day." Amy said as they made their way down the last few blocks to their destination. "That's weird… The dockworker stepping in isn't as normal as it should be but they try their best if you follow me."
Vicky just shook her head mutely.
"Okay, so the way it was explained to me is there's almost never a cop when you need one around here and they're hesitant to come in so the Dockworker's stepped up and do what they can to look after the people here. Whether it's beating up a mugger or repairing stuff that gets broken by the gangs they just kind of try to do what they can." Amy explained.
"So, it's like a neighborhood watch type of thing?" Vicky replied.
"Kinda sorta."
Amy said idly as they turned the last corner and arrived at the clinic. The two girls eyes widened as they took in the sight in front of them. A tall muscular black man was chasing away two more members of the Empire 88.
"Now stay the fuck out!!!"
He yelled after them as they limped away. He then turned and gave a small smile to Vicky and Amy.
"Amy-girl, how you doin today?" He asked warmly as he came up to the two of them.
"I'm doing alright Icepick." Amy smiled. "This is Vicky she wanted to help out today, is that cool?"
The now named Icepick nodded his head and looked at Vicky through his dark sunglasses.
"I got no problem with it. Just ask the Doc where he needs her."
"Sounds good." Amy said as she started to head in. "I'll see you inside Vicky."
With that she was through the doors and Vicky was left to rely on her own innate charm and charisma to make friends.
"You really sent those guys packing." Vicky said in as friendly a tone as she could manage. "Are you the security here?"
Icepick shook his head and turned so Vicky could see his chest. He pointed at his nametag (His legal name was Daryl apparently) and replied.
"Registered nurse."
Vicky gave an ah of acknowledgement and as the awkward silence grew between them she decided discretion was the better part of valor and it was time to head inside.
Perhaps I need to re-examine some personal biases.
In her few years as a hero Vicky had already seen a lot. She had stared down Lung as he spewed flame and death, watched as Hookwolf charged into the fray ready to cut down all he judged to be inferior and seen the terror on the face of a nazi as she flew at him at top speed. Yes, she had seen a lot in her time but nothing could prepare her for the sight that awaited her that day in the Pieter Cross free clinic. There was Amy, her loveable grumpy cat of a sister with a small beatific smile on her face as hugged the platonic ideal of a loving granny. At the two separated Vicky could see a small platter of brownies being placed into Amy's hands and caught the last words of their conversation.
"Thanks Ma these look fantastic but you really didn't have –"
Amy was cut off by a jolly laugh and a wave of the hand.
"It was no trouble at all dear." The short woman said sounding as if she was daring Amy to contradict her. "It was just so wonderful what you did for my Maxine and when Doctor Cross mentioned you'd be here today I just felt like whipping you up a little thank you treat is all."
"Well then thank you I really appreciate it."
Amy said slowly as she looked around awkwardly finally her eyes caught Vicky's and seeing the familiar terror in her sister's eyes Vicky strolled on over. Amy never seemed to know what to do when faced with positivity.
"Hey Ames who's your friend?" Vicky said cheerfully as she made her way over to join the two (making sure to grab a brownie as she did so).
"Hey Vicky, this is Abigail Hunkel."
Amy said gesturing to the probable grandmother who somehow managed to smile even brighter as she took in the sight of Vicky. She held out a hand for Vicky to shake.
"Oh, just call me Ma dear everybody does." Ma beamed as the two shook hands. "I'm sure you hear this all the time but your sister is just wonderful truly."
"She is, she is." Vicky beamed back. "But she could always stand to hear it more often, she gets so shy sometimes." With that the two of them shared a laugh. After a few moments passed Vicky decided to ask the most important question.
"So, what's with the brownies?"
A bit of the joy left Ma Hunkel's face and a slight frown came to her lips.
"My granddaughter Maxine, her heart wasn't so good."
She said slowly as she blinked back tears and fought off memories of long nights sitting by a bed side making deals with God so her Granddaughter would still be there come the morning.
"I'd been to the doctor's but all the treatments were so expensive and money was running low. Then we came here just for a check up and an update on the countdown."
"What countdown?" Vicky asked in confusion at the seeming non sequitur.
"The countdown to the funeral." Ma explained with a grim, morbid chuckle. "Anyways there we sat in the office waiting to hear the latest bad news and in walks this lovely young lady." She gestured to Amy who ducked her head to hide her blush.
"A few minutes later and my little Maxine is as healthy as a horse and happy as a clam." The constant smile became softer as she looked into Amy's eyes. "It's not much in way of a thank you for that but it's what I could put together. I hope you enjoy them."
"I'm sure I well." Amy replied. "It was nice talking to you Ma but I really should go see what Doctor Cross needs."
"Of course, of course. I'll get out of your hair and let you get to work." Ma chuckled as she turned to leave only to stop and turn around a few feet from the door.
"You be sure to eat those you hear." Ma instructed sharply. "You're too thin."
"Yes Ma."
Amy replied with a poorly hidden roll of the eyes. Ma laughed loudly as she walked the last few feet to the door and headed off into the afternoon. Amy looked down at her platter of brownies with a small smile on her face and without hesitation smacked Vicky's hand as it was attempting to oh so subtly take another gloriously gooey and chocolatey baked good.
"Mine, back off." Amy growled with a mock glare at her sister. Vicky held up her hands in exaggerated innocence and backed away slowly.
"That's better." Amy said with as haughty a tone as she could muster. "Now if Mom asks we bought these on the way home, got it."
"Sure." Vicky replied. "But why? I thought it was sweet."
Amy let out a bitter laugh and gestured for Vicky to follow her into the back and as they walked through the currently empty waiting room she explained.
"Mom has this thing about me taking gifts for healing people." Amy sneered. "A year ago someone sent a bouquet to the house and Mom threw it out immediately. A person shouldn't be rewarded for living up to their responsibilities she says."
Vicky stared in numb shock.
"Jesus." She muttered. "Where was I when this happened and why didn't you tell me?"
"You were out with Dean I think." Amy replied. "And I dunno you were in such a good mood when you got back that I didn't want to ruin it."
Vicky threw an arm around Amy's shoulder.
"Just for future reference if something like that happens again I want to know." Vicky's joking tightened her grip for a second. "Got it."
"Got it, now come on get serious." Amy said as she opened the door to the back offices.
"Doctor Cross, are you here!?"
Amy called out and as if he was just waiting for his cue to take center stage a tall dark haired man in his early thirties came in from a room on the side. He might have been handsome if it hadn't been for the exhaustion that was plain to see on his face. Still, he had the energy to smile as he took in the sight of both of them and half jogged over.
"Amy, glad you could come in." The presumable doctor Cross said cheerily. "I don't believe we've met Pieter Cross, how are you?" He said as he turned to Vicky and offered his hand.
"Fine thanks. I'm Vicky" Vicky replied with a grin. "Amy told me about this place and I wanted to see if I could help out. So, what jobs do you got for us boss?"
"I appreciate the enthusiasm but it's a pretty quiet day today I'm afraid." Doctor Cross replied. "If you're serious about wanting to help though I really need someone to do inventory. I never seem to have time to get around to it. Just go down this checklist and mark down the amount we have of everything and highlight anything that we don't have. After you get that done hand it off to Daryl and he'll order anything we need. Wait do you know who Daryl is?"
Somehow Doctor Cross managed to say that all in one breath. Vicky responded with a nod and a smile.
"Yeah, we ran into Daryl outside. So go down the list and hand it off to Daryl when I'm done, got it. Is that the inventory room?"
Vicky gestured to the room Doctor Cross had entered from and once she'd gotten a nod from him headed on her way.
"What do you need me to do?" Amy asked in an oddly dull tone of voice. Doctor Cross frowned and looked up in contemplation for a moment.
"There's not much going on today honestly. The only thing scheduled is a couple of checkups, barring any emergencies there's nothing going on today that ordinary medicine can't handle. Not much call for Panacea today I'm afraid."
Amy nodded and started to head out the door.
"Okay, I guess I'll check in with Central see if they need me."
Doctor Cross quickly darted in front of Amy and blocked her path to the door.
"Wait, I didn't say anything about not needing Amy's help." Doctor Cross said with a lop sided grin as he nodded towards the inventory room.
"I guess I could stay and help out for a little while." Amy said slowly.
"Wonderful." Doctor Cross cried clapping Amy on the shoulder. "I'm going to be with a patient for his checkup. That shouldn't take more than half an hour afterwards I'll be in my office catching up on some paperwork. Icepick is going to be handling the front desk if you need anything just ask either of us.
"Got it." Amy said as she made her way towards the inventory room. As soon as the door shut behind her doctor Cross let the smile fade from his lips and shook his head sadly.
"Poor kid." He murmured to himself. "Closest thing to a break she gets is doing a different kind of work." With a shake of his head he headed out the door to greet his patient
"Mr. Harris. How are you feeling today sir?"
Brockton Bay: The Docks
7:30 PM
The afternoon had passed peacefully for the two girls. It had taken a few hours to get through the inventory although admittedly it might have gone quicker if the two of them hadn't taken the time to catch each other up on their lives and just talk in a way they hadn't in quite a long time. Between Vicky's heroing, school and time with Dean and Amy's constant volunteering at any hospital that would take her (which was most of them) sisterly bonding time had become a thing of the best. As the two left the clinic and started to make their way home just out the corner of her eye Vicky caught sight of Doctor Cross in a heated argument with a muscular white man with a shaved head in an alley beside the clinic. As she crept closer she could hear what the stranger was saying.
"Listen Doc, me and the boys we appreciate what you do." The (probable) Empire member said. "I mean that helping out the little guy, covering peoples costs out of your own pocket. It's admirable truly it is."
"And your admiration is so very important to me."
Cross butted in with a truly impressive amount of sarcastic disdain. The thugs polite veneer cracked at this display of insolence and he snarled as forced the Doctor against the wall.
"Let me make this clear. You treat real Americans from now on. Not the spicks, not the spooks and not the fags. Or else you're gonna need a hospital and odds are you ain't gonna get one. Got?"
Cross spat in his face.
"That's not going to happen."
The thug pulled back to hit him and found for some reason he couldn't throw a punch. Slowly he turned his head and found a glowering Glory Girl staring at him with hatred in her eyes. He had time to gulp once in fear before she threw a punch of her own and everything went black. As he slumped to the ground Vicky let go of his hand and turned to Doctor Cross.
"Are you alright Doc?" Vicky asked gently. Doctor Cross gave her a smile and nodded his head.
"I'm fine. This isn't the first time one of these thugs has tried to threaten me into being more selective with my patients."
Vicky's eyes narrowed and she leaned in intently.
"This has happened before?"
"Yes."
Vicky frowned in contemplation and thought to herself for a moment.
"Might be best to stay away from the clinic tonight, Doctor." Vicky said as she pocked at the fallen thug with her foot. If word gets back to this guys bosses that you said no they probably won't be happy."
"No, I don't imagine they would." Cross said slowly. "I'm going to arrange to move some of our more vital equipment and medicines. Make sure they'll be safe should the worst happen."
"That sounds like a good idea." Vicky replied and then was silent as she thought about what to say next. "Listen, Doc you're the local here and I've kinda found out recently." Vicky trailed off as she wasn't sure how to finish her sentence.
"That the docks are a bit different from the rest of the city?" He asked in a gentle voice as Vicky stared at him in shock he let out a chuckle.
"Some footage of your meeting with our local Wildcat made its way onto PHO. I saw it before it was taken down. It wasn't hard to guess what you four were arguing about."
"Great." Vicky winced. "Still, what do you think I should do? If I take this guy in it might make things worse for you." Vicky frowned. "I don't want that it seems like this place does a lot of good for people.
Doctor Cross nodded his head seriously and gave the matter some serious thought. Finally, after moments that felt like hours passed he gave his answer.
"If you bring him in then they'll be angry that someone stood up for them but if you don't bring him in then they'll believe that no one outside of here will stand against them. The second option sounds more dangerous to me."
Vicky still looked hesitant.
"Are you sure?"
"No." Doctor Cross replied. "I can't be sure none of us can. All I know is that the right thing to do is for him to be punished for what he's done and I'm certain he's done worse than threaten me."
"It might not be the smart thing to do." Vicky retorted although she wasn't sure why exactly she was arguing after all he was saying what she usually wanted to hear.
"Maybe not, but sometimes it's more important to do the right thing than it is to do the smart thing… Least that's what my mother used to say."
Vicky finally accepted what he had to say and felt a weight she hadn't even noticed lift from her shoulders. She'd made mistakes, she'd ignored people in trouble even if only through ignorance but maybe not all of her instincts were bad. Maybe she could still do better.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you Doc." She said as she once more lifted up the fallen jackass (still out cold it's funny how the so-called master race had so many members with glass jaws). A polite cough echoed from behind her and she turned around to see Amy tapping her foot in irritation.
"Are you done with your little philosophical debates." She asked archly and both Vicky and Doctor Cross nodded their heads sheepishly. "Good, now are you hurt Doctor?"
"A few scrapes and bruises nothing serious."
"I'll be the judge of that. Hand please."
Amy held out her own and waited with as much patience as she could muster (not much) with an indulgent smile Doctor Cross placed his hand in hers. Amy frowned in concentration for just a moment and suddenly it was as if Pieter Cross MD had never been threatened by a neo-nazi at all.
"There you go." Amy muttered. "Also, you really should get some more sleep. It's not good to be burning the midnight oil so much."
"I'll see what I can do." The doctor replied with good humor. "Now am I free to go Panacea?"
"I suppose so."
With that final exchange Doctor Cross headed back to his clinic raising a hand in farewell as he did so. With that the two sisters stood alone and Vicky turned to look at Amy.
"Odds the Empire will just let this one slide?" She asked.
"Not great." Amy replied.
"Thought not. Okay, here's the plan you and I are going to drop this guy off at the nearest station, then I'll drop you off at home and come back here to keep an eye out on things."
Brockton Bay: The Docks
11:00 PM
Vicky yawned as she flew another loop around the docks. Thankfully if surprisingly there hadn't been much in the way of trouble tonight. A few muggings, a few attempted vandalisms but nothing Glory Girl couldn't handle. She was contemplating packing it in for the night when she ran across someone she had been hoping to see and dreading to find. Wildcat was fighting half a dozen Empire 88 members in front of a small corner store. Actually, fighting might be the wrong word Vicky contemplated as she watched Wildcat duck and weave her way around all of her opponents clumsy blows and connecting with all of her own. It was more of a beating and it would seem the last one standing turned to flee before Wildcat could turn her attention to him only to run into Glory Girl. She gave him a quick smile and then slapped him. The slap knocked him out cold.
As Wildcat turned and took in the sight of Glory Girl her pristine white dress seeming somehow out of place, she cocked her head and smirked.
"Decided to come slumming princess?" Wildcat drawled.
"No, I just." Vicky sputtered for a moment before regaining her composure. "Look I'm not here for a fight or an argument or whatever can we just talk for a minute?"
"Fine, say what you want to say." Wildcat said with complete disinterest.
"Look, you know the Cross Clinic over by the DWA?" Vicky asked. "Never mind of course you do you're the local." She said before Wildcat could respond.
"I was volunteering over there this afternoon and I saw an Empire goon threaten Doctor Cross. I stopped him but I think the Empire is going to retaliate maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow. I dunno when but I think we should keep an eye on it."
Over the course of Vicky's spiel Wildcat had gone from near total disinterest to being completely intent upon every word coming out of her mouth.
"I'd noticed more Empire than usual tonight but I figured they were just testing the recruits." Wildcat muttered to herself.
"Wait I'd hardly seen anyone and I've been here since like eight?" Vicky blurted out.
"They don't start coming out in force till around ten and they usually start out by the east end. Fewer witnesses over there it's mostly businesses they can mess up." Wildcat answered absently as she headed away.
"Thanks for the heads up Glory Girl." Wildcat paused and turned around to look her in the eyes once more. "I mean it. Thank you." She then continued into the night.
"You're welcome." Vicky replied softly. A moment passed and then another before Vicky realized she was being left behind.
"Hey wait up! I'm coming with you." Vicky Called as she flew after Wildcat.
Vicky contemplated Wildcat as the two raced across the rooftops side by side. From what she could tell Uber and Leet had been the only supervillains the girl had ever faced and yet there was no fear in her as she headed towards a potential confrontation with one of the most powerful villain organizations in Brockton Bay.
I really hope we can get past that bad first impression. Vicky thought to herself. Cause I think I could really get to like this girl.
Just as she finished this thought the Cross clinic came into view and Vicky's guess had been right. The empire was planning to make a statement. There was a few dozen of the rank and file gang members assembled in front of the building and in front of them were two of the Empire's capes. Crusader clad in armour and carrying an almost impractically large spear and next to him hovering on a piece of concrete was Rune in her red and black clock. Crusader was gesturing wildly as he seemed to be wrapping up a speech of some kind.
"And now my friends we shall root out this snake in our garden." He bellowed. "This place of evil offers aid and support to foreigners and inferiors while true Americans suffer disease and death. They waste resources on those who aren't a part of us while you are left to rot. But no more. It is time for this so-called place of healing to be destroyed. Rune would you like to strike the first blow?"
As he asked his final heinous question Crusader handled a bottle to Rune who nodded her head and lit the rag stuffed inside it before sending it flying towards a window. Without a word Glory Girl flew off at top speed to catch the Molotov cocktail before it could hit. Thankfully this time she was fast enough to catch it in the air and extinguish the flame before it could do any harm. She didn't have time to celebrate though as Rune sent a bunch of bricks flying at her.
Hardly a second passed before Wildcat followed Vicky into the fray. Leaping to the ground and charging into the crowd of thugs she lashed out with blow after blow. Fighting her way through the crowd she found herself wishing she had some way to attack more than one person at once before dismissing the thought as pointless. Work with what you got and don't worry about what you don't as her Dad used to say and what she had was a lot of dumb muscle.
A nasty sort of smile came across her face as a particularly large goon came charging at her swinging a tire iron. Moving out of the way Wildcat grabbed onto his arm and rolling with weight throw him into two more members of the Empire. A moment passed and all three of them stayed down. The fight continued thusly with Wildcat hitting hard and hitting fast before disengaging and whenever possible redirecting her enemies into each other until finally all of them were on the ground. Wildcat took a moment to catch her breath and paid the price as something slashed across her back. She rolled away from her attacker and turned to face her new foe with her hands up. A pale ghostly imitation of Crusader stood before her.
"Fuck."
Wildcat snarled as she charged in. The seeming ghost of Crusader tried to impale her with his spear but with deceptive ease Wildcat managed to roll out of the way and found herself within striking distance of the super powered nazis projection. As she lashed out with an uppercut she'd managed to hit it hard enough to cause the ghost to fade into the ether but as she turned she saw that Crusader was already generating more of them. Her eyes widened and a single thought ran through her mind.
I may be in trouble here.
Vicky held back a curse as she dodged another hunk of concrete from Rune. If she could just manage to get close enough she could knock Sabrina the teenage nazi out cold without any trouble, but every time she tried something would hit from some weird angle and the bitch would get some more distance while Vicky recovered.
Casting her eyes around for anything she could use Vicky noticed a manhole cover and darted down to grab it.
"Okay let's see how she likes it." Vicky grumbled to herself as she cast her gaze around her looking for her target and as soon as she saw her, she let the manhole fly. Throwing it as hard as she could at Rune who dived out of the way and hid in an alley. Smelling blood in the water Vicky charged in.
Note to self. Think up a more heroic sounding simile for when you retell this story.
Vicky thought as she came up to the alley way and got hit by a flying dumpster. As Vicky fell to the ground only thought went through her mind.
So that's how that feels. I'll never call those guys in the ABB wimps again.
As luck would have it, Vicky landed by Wildcat who was having troubles of her own. Thankfully she was quick and agile enough to usually avoid the spears of the Crusaders but they all kept her at a distance from the real one and she couldn't get past them. Glory Girl was still trying to get her bearing when one of the projections switched targets and tried to stab Glory Girl. Wildcat grabbed her… ally and pulled her out of the way.
"Tonight sucking for you too?" Wildcat panted as she leapt out of the way of an attack.
"Yup."
The two of them both dodged away from an attack and spent a few panicked moments trying to regroup and during that time Wildcat got a glimpse of Rune flying overhead. All she could do was move objects around. The only thing needed to take her out was a good solid hit she wouldn't see coming. A wild grin came across Wildcat's face and she redoubled her efforts to get back to Glory Girl. Finally with a jump over one projection and a somersault through the legs of another Wildcat was reunited with Glory Girl.
"What do ya say to changing dance partners?" Wildcat rasped.
Glory Girl's eyes widened as she realized what Wildcat had planned and nodded in determination. She quickly cast her eyes to the sky and cupped her hands in front of her.
"On three." Glory girl said quickly. "One, two, three."
With the count completed Wildcat was thrown into the air by Glory Girl and the fight continued.
As she flew through the air with the greatest of ease Wildcat managed to get a handhold on the piece of concrete Rune was flying around on. In a panic Rune began darting around the battlefield twisting and turning as fast as she could in an attempt to send Wildcat plummeting. When that didn't work, she sent the rocks and bricks she had marked with her power flying into Wildcat but Wildcat still held on and finally she began stamping on Wildcats hands but still Wildcat hung on. Finally, Wildcat began to swing back and forth to build up momentum until finally she let go and flew through the air landing behind Rune. Acting quickly Wildcat grabbed Rune's shoulder and spun her around in order to catch her with one of the hardest left hooks she'd ever thrown and with that Rune was down for the ten-count.
The good news is Rune was out of the fight, the bad news is that with her unconscious her powers were no longer active and her and Wildcat were plummeting towards the ground. Acting quickly Wildcat hefted Rune onto her shoulder and jumped to the nearest roof. Once the two were safely on solid ground Wildcat dropped the unconscious body of the junior Nazi and took stock of how Glory Girl's fight was going.
She was doing better than Wildcat had been at least. Thanks to the greater maneuverability flight offered she was better able to dodge around the projections but he was still managing to keep her away from his real body. But hopefully she'd be able to keep him focused on her and with that thought Wildcat ran back into the fray only stopping to grab a weapon that she spied out of the corner of her eye.
Glory Girl was panting as she made yet another attempt to close the gap and put Crusader out for good but she was blocked by yet another projection the master sent out to stop her. As she flew up out of range of the spears though she saw something rather odd. Wildcat was running towards them from behind Crusader's back and she was carrying a metal garbage can. Once she was close enough the brawler's plan became obvious with one jump she found herself high above Crusader's head and as she came down she slammed the trash can on top of him.
Somehow that cranial trauma was still not enough to put him down though so Wildcat punched the can again and again and again until finally the villain fell to the ground and his projections faded from sight. Wildcat bent over and took a few deep breaths to bring herself back to normal and then turned to Vicky with a grin.
"So princess, what do you wanna do on our next girls night?"
The laughter of the two teenage heroes rang out through the night.
There it's done. Roll credits (aka the other two songs I listened to on loop while writing this)
Ending theme one (encapsulates the story as a whole)
Ending theme two (my semi joking theme for Taylor)
So the next chapter is going to be the immediate aftermath of this
Back Again
Taytay's back
Tell a friend
So yeah real life happened sorry about that but we're back with a new chapter in which there's action, gratuitous JSA cameos, and Amy possibly having been adopted once more. Now play the intro
The Dallon Household
The next morning
The bedroom of Victoria Dallon was far more normal than you would expect from a second generation superhero. There were no supercomputers or impressive and dramatic mementos of fights won and villains defeated. Instead there were clothes strewn about the floor waiting for a mother to demand they be picked up, books both academic and fiction flung about the place ready to be enjoyed, studied or suffered through as they may warrant and in the bed along the far wall was a teenage girl who had not had the most restful of nights.
After the blow up with he who was formally known as the boyfriend aka Gallant Vicky had spent a good hour or two just flying around the city trying to process everything. Both the degree to which Dean and apparently the Protectorate as a whole had just written off a bunch of innocent people as not worth helping and then there was the part that hurt worse. For all her moral outrage, all of her genuine horror at finding out about this she couldn't stop hearing Dean's accusation ringing through her head. What had New Wave ever done for the people in the Docks left out to dry? What had Vicky ever done for them? As she robotically went about her morning routine she couldn't come up with an answer that she could feel proud of. As Vicky made her way down to the kitchen to join her loving and supportive family for breakfast she hoped that she was a good enough actress to hide her troubled thoughts. As she entered the room her Dad who fully dressed and clean shaven met her with a broad smile and inquisitive alert eyes. Must have been a good day a part of Vicky's mind noticed as she tried to return the smile. Mark Dallon, the man known as Flashbang narrowed his eyes at this.
"Everything alright sweetie?" Mark asked. "You look exhausted."
Vicky tried to smile at him in such a way as to convey that everything was alright and there was no need for follow up questions. The concerned look refused to leave her Dad's faces and similar looks came upon the faces of her Mom and sister as they took in the state of her.
That's it, next semester I'm signing up for drama classes. Vicky thought as she took her seat next to Amy and prepared to face the
"I'm fine."
Vicky chirped aiming for happy and landing somewhere around trying to sound excited for terrible Christmas presents.
"You sure?" Carol asked. "I didn't hear you come in last night. Did something happen with Dean?"
Vicky frowned in thought maybe a bit of honesty would get her out of this conversation.
"We got into a fight last night." Vicky replied. "I flew around for a while afterwards to clear my head. Got in late and didn't sleep well afterwards."
Having said all she intended to say Vicky grabbed a muffin from the center of the table and began to feast. Assuming that basic social decorum would dissuade anyone from asking any follow up questions.
"What about?"
Amy asked sounding suspiciously uninterested. Mark leaned closer wanting to hear the answer as well.
"Yes, do I need to have a talk with him?"
Mark asked making a show of flexing his arms and at the sight of her husband's still powerful form Carol couldn't stop herself from letting out a small purr of appreciation which was dutifully ignored by the children at the table.
"No Dad, I promise you if anyone needs to kick Dean's ass I'll be the one to do it." Vicky promised. Amy let out a mock gasp of indignation. "And of course Amy can get some hits in as part of her sisterly duty."
Vicky sighed and ruffled her hands through her hair.
"We just met this new cape last night and Dean acted like a jerk is all."
Vicky said quickly as she got up from the table. She grabbed Amy by the arm and began marching the two of them towards the door.
"It's no big deal and I can handle it. Now Amy and I should really be getting to school. See you guys later."
Amy said nothing as Vicky took her from the kitchen and just made sad grasping attempts at her mug of black coffee which was sitting on the table. As they headed out Amy mourned the loss of her truest friend.
"That wasn't the whole story, was it?" Amy asked idly as they walked down the road. Making their way to Arcadia the school your tax dollars actually fund.
"Nope."
"You planning on telling me the whole story?"
Vicky came to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk and turned to stare Amy intently in the eyes. Amy tried desperately to suppress the blush that was coming across her face due to having Vicky's unwavering attention… She failed (stupid freckles).
"Do you think." Vicky asked hesitantly. "Do you think we do enough? New Wave I mean."
"New Wave plays a vital role in championing cape accountability."
Amy droned in a perfectly even voice. Vicky rolled her eyes and punched Amy lightly on the shoulder. Lightly for Vicky at least, Amy might disagree. In fact, judging by the way she was rubbing her shoulder and the pout on her lips Amy definitely disagreed.
"I was asking you not Mom." Vicky scoffed. "I'm serious here. That cape we met last night she said some things and then Dean." Vicky trailed off with a snarl. Amy put a gentle hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Hey I'm always up for a round of bash the boyfriend, you know that but I'm kind of coming in blind here." Amy snarked. "Maybe catch me up. What happened with the cape you met last night, what did Dean do?"
Vicky heaved out a breath and nodded her head to herself.
"Right, yeah okay. So, Gallant and Kid Win were doing a boardwalk patrol and I decided to join them right?" Vicky waited for Amy to give the sisterly nod of exasperated understanding before continuing.
"Anyways it was a typical PR patrol hand out some autographs, take some photos and maybe catch a pick pocket or three. Then we got an alert that Uber and Leet had been causing trouble at the other end of the boardwalk and we run off to do our thing but by the time we get there it had all been pretty much wrapped up. This new girl Wildcat had taken out Leet and was about two punches away from knocking Uber out cold. Win and Gallant wanted to talk to her so we agreed to meet on this rooftop nearby and the three of us flew off. She climbed up there a few… minutes… later."
Vicky trailed off with a frown as a realization hit her.
"She couldn't fly and I made her climb up there. I must've looked like such an ass."
"Probably." Amy giggled as the two of them walked through the gates to Arcadia.
"Thanks for the support sister of mine." Vicky glared as Amy shrugged with casual innocence.
"So, we're on the roof and we get to talking and it comes out that she'd mostly worked out of the Docks helping people out there and Gallant starts going on this tirade about how dealing with the Docks is a waste of time and the only people who matter are the people who put money in the cities pockets."
Amy put an arm around Vicky to try to calm her down, she hadn't quite been shouting but she was speaking loud enough that while people couldn't quite make out what she was saying, they wanted to and were about to come closer to try to do so.
"It's not really surprising. The Protectorate has been slowly pulling out of the Docks for a while now and the city has been cutting funding for longer." Amy whispered as they moved through the crowds.
"Wait you knew about this?" Vicky demanded as harshly as she could while still technically whispering.
"I mean." Amy said hesitantly. "I don't know for sure, for sure but I've healed enough people from there and heard their stories that I can make some guesses."
Vicky nodded in acknowledgement that made a certain horribly sad sense except for one thing.
"Wait, I thought Mom only had you working at the big hospitals. She said it was safer or something I wouldn't have thought they could afford to be treated there." Vicky inquired.
"Don't tell her but I'm not always working at the hospitals I tell Mom I'm working at." Vicky arched an eyebrow and waited for Amy to continue. "Doctor Cross at Central runs a free clinic out in the Docks down near the DWA headquarters and sometimes when I tell Mom I'm working at Central I'm actually down there."
"You rebel you!" Vicky laughed as they arrived at their lockers.
"Anyways." Vicky said as she put in her combination. "Long, long story short Win and I yelled at Gallant for being a jerk and he lost his temper and accused us of not doing anything to help out in the Docks either and… I think he might be right?" Vicky finished off in a sad almost lost voice. Amy held out her arms in offer and Vicky took her up on it sinking into her sisters embrace.
"I'm going to be going down to the clinic after school." Amy whispered into Vicky's hair. "If you wanna try to help out more than you could come with. Might be a good place to start."
Vicky nodded her head and turned the full force of her smile on to Amy.
"I'd like that."
With the plan finalized the two headed deeper into the bowels of the educational institution ready for a long day of boring lessons and avoiding contrite ex-boyfriends.
Brockton Bay: The Docks
3:57 pm
As the two of them walked through the Docks on the way to the clinic Vicky took in the sights of everything around her and idly realized that outside of the occasional fight she'd never really spent any time in this part of town. With a frown she noted that even on a first visit the signs of neglect were clear and obvious, the streets were cracked, grafitti and gang tags were sloppily painted over and a number of the stores and shops had damages that had been repaired with whatever was available. Windows simply boarded up instead of having glass replaced on one and another had a door that clearly didn't match with the rest of the building but it was what the owner could get apparently. It was a community barely managing to hold on.
Vicky took this all in and wondered not for the first time since she'd had her eyes opened to it how had she managed to miss this and what else could she be missing. She was jolted out of her musings by a scream coming from an alley. Without a second thought Vicky flew towards the sound but by the time she'd arrived it seemed she wasn't needed anymore. A boy about her age clad in the empire's colors was quivering on the ground at the feel of a large muscular man wearing a t-shirt bearing the logo of the dockworkers association. He gave her a nod and turned to help up the gangbangers would be victim a young Asian woman.
"You alright there?" The Dockworker asked in a gruff voice. The lady nodded.
"I think so, I was just heading home and he grabbed me." The lady was shaking and hugging herself.
"It's okay, you're safe now I promise. Do you want me to walk you home or do you have someone you'd like me to call maybe?"
"No, that's fine I've got a friend who works nearby. She has a car I think I'll just go wait with her and get a ride home." She said with her eyes darting nervously at her savior. "If that's alright?"
"Of course, I'll call the cops about this guy. Still early enough they should feel safe enough coming in and pretending to do their jobs."
The two shared a bitter sardonic laugh and Vicky decided it was time she made her leave and went back to Amy who greeted her with a grin.
"All good?" She asked.
"All good." Vicky replied. "By the time I got there some Dockworker had already dealt with the problem. That normal around here?"
"The mugging or the Dockworker stopping it?"
"Yes."
"Muggings happen although not normally this early in the day." Amy said as they made their way down the last few blocks to their destination. "That's weird… The dockworker stepping in isn't as normal as it should be but they try their best if you follow me."
Vicky just shook her head mutely.
"Okay, so the way it was explained to me is there's almost never a cop when you need one around here and they're hesitant to come in so the Dockworker's stepped up and do what they can to look after the people here. Whether it's beating up a mugger or repairing stuff that gets broken by the gangs they just kind of try to do what they can." Amy explained.
"So, it's like a neighborhood watch type of thing?" Vicky replied.
"Kinda sorta."
Amy said idly as they turned the last corner and arrived at the clinic. The two girls eyes widened as they took in the sight in front of them. A tall muscular black man was chasing away two more members of the Empire 88.
"Now stay the fuck out!!!"
He yelled after them as they limped away. He then turned and gave a small smile to Vicky and Amy.
"Amy-girl, how you doin today?" He asked warmly as he came up to the two of them.
"I'm doing alright Icepick." Amy smiled. "This is Vicky she wanted to help out today, is that cool?"
The now named Icepick nodded his head and looked at Vicky through his dark sunglasses.
"I got no problem with it. Just ask the Doc where he needs her."
"Sounds good." Amy said as she started to head in. "I'll see you inside Vicky."
With that she was through the doors and Vicky was left to rely on her own innate charm and charisma to make friends.
"You really sent those guys packing." Vicky said in as friendly a tone as she could manage. "Are you the security here?"
Icepick shook his head and turned so Vicky could see his chest. He pointed at his nametag (His legal name was Daryl apparently) and replied.
"Registered nurse."
Vicky gave an ah of acknowledgement and as the awkward silence grew between them she decided discretion was the better part of valor and it was time to head inside.
Perhaps I need to re-examine some personal biases.
In her few years as a hero Vicky had already seen a lot. She had stared down Lung as he spewed flame and death, watched as Hookwolf charged into the fray ready to cut down all he judged to be inferior and seen the terror on the face of a nazi as she flew at him at top speed. Yes, she had seen a lot in her time but nothing could prepare her for the sight that awaited her that day in the Pieter Cross free clinic. There was Amy, her loveable grumpy cat of a sister with a small beatific smile on her face as hugged the platonic ideal of a loving granny. At the two separated Vicky could see a small platter of brownies being placed into Amy's hands and caught the last words of their conversation.
"Thanks Ma these look fantastic but you really didn't have –"
Amy was cut off by a jolly laugh and a wave of the hand.
"It was no trouble at all dear." The short woman said sounding as if she was daring Amy to contradict her. "It was just so wonderful what you did for my Maxine and when Doctor Cross mentioned you'd be here today I just felt like whipping you up a little thank you treat is all."
"Well then thank you I really appreciate it."
Amy said slowly as she looked around awkwardly finally her eyes caught Vicky's and seeing the familiar terror in her sister's eyes Vicky strolled on over. Amy never seemed to know what to do when faced with positivity.
"Hey Ames who's your friend?" Vicky said cheerfully as she made her way over to join the two (making sure to grab a brownie as she did so).
"Hey Vicky, this is Abigail Hunkel."
Amy said gesturing to the probable grandmother who somehow managed to smile even brighter as she took in the sight of Vicky. She held out a hand for Vicky to shake.
"Oh, just call me Ma dear everybody does." Ma beamed as the two shook hands. "I'm sure you hear this all the time but your sister is just wonderful truly."
"She is, she is." Vicky beamed back. "But she could always stand to hear it more often, she gets so shy sometimes." With that the two of them shared a laugh. After a few moments passed Vicky decided to ask the most important question.
"So, what's with the brownies?"
A bit of the joy left Ma Hunkel's face and a slight frown came to her lips.
"My granddaughter Maxine, her heart wasn't so good."
She said slowly as she blinked back tears and fought off memories of long nights sitting by a bed side making deals with God so her Granddaughter would still be there come the morning.
"I'd been to the doctor's but all the treatments were so expensive and money was running low. Then we came here just for a check up and an update on the countdown."
"What countdown?" Vicky asked in confusion at the seeming non sequitur.
"The countdown to the funeral." Ma explained with a grim, morbid chuckle. "Anyways there we sat in the office waiting to hear the latest bad news and in walks this lovely young lady." She gestured to Amy who ducked her head to hide her blush.
"A few minutes later and my little Maxine is as healthy as a horse and happy as a clam." The constant smile became softer as she looked into Amy's eyes. "It's not much in way of a thank you for that but it's what I could put together. I hope you enjoy them."
"I'm sure I well." Amy replied. "It was nice talking to you Ma but I really should go see what Doctor Cross needs."
"Of course, of course. I'll get out of your hair and let you get to work." Ma chuckled as she turned to leave only to stop and turn around a few feet from the door.
"You be sure to eat those you hear." Ma instructed sharply. "You're too thin."
"Yes Ma."
Amy replied with a poorly hidden roll of the eyes. Ma laughed loudly as she walked the last few feet to the door and headed off into the afternoon. Amy looked down at her platter of brownies with a small smile on her face and without hesitation smacked Vicky's hand as it was attempting to oh so subtly take another gloriously gooey and chocolatey baked good.
"Mine, back off." Amy growled with a mock glare at her sister. Vicky held up her hands in exaggerated innocence and backed away slowly.
"That's better." Amy said with as haughty a tone as she could muster. "Now if Mom asks we bought these on the way home, got it."
"Sure." Vicky replied. "But why? I thought it was sweet."
Amy let out a bitter laugh and gestured for Vicky to follow her into the back and as they walked through the currently empty waiting room she explained.
"Mom has this thing about me taking gifts for healing people." Amy sneered. "A year ago someone sent a bouquet to the house and Mom threw it out immediately. A person shouldn't be rewarded for living up to their responsibilities she says."
Vicky stared in numb shock.
"Jesus." She muttered. "Where was I when this happened and why didn't you tell me?"
"You were out with Dean I think." Amy replied. "And I dunno you were in such a good mood when you got back that I didn't want to ruin it."
Vicky threw an arm around Amy's shoulder.
"Just for future reference if something like that happens again I want to know." Vicky's joking tightened her grip for a second. "Got it."
"Got it, now come on get serious." Amy said as she opened the door to the back offices.
"Doctor Cross, are you here!?"
Amy called out and as if he was just waiting for his cue to take center stage a tall dark haired man in his early thirties came in from a room on the side. He might have been handsome if it hadn't been for the exhaustion that was plain to see on his face. Still, he had the energy to smile as he took in the sight of both of them and half jogged over.
"Amy, glad you could come in." The presumable doctor Cross said cheerily. "I don't believe we've met Pieter Cross, how are you?" He said as he turned to Vicky and offered his hand.
"Fine thanks. I'm Vicky" Vicky replied with a grin. "Amy told me about this place and I wanted to see if I could help out. So, what jobs do you got for us boss?"
"I appreciate the enthusiasm but it's a pretty quiet day today I'm afraid." Doctor Cross replied. "If you're serious about wanting to help though I really need someone to do inventory. I never seem to have time to get around to it. Just go down this checklist and mark down the amount we have of everything and highlight anything that we don't have. After you get that done hand it off to Daryl and he'll order anything we need. Wait do you know who Daryl is?"
Somehow Doctor Cross managed to say that all in one breath. Vicky responded with a nod and a smile.
"Yeah, we ran into Daryl outside. So go down the list and hand it off to Daryl when I'm done, got it. Is that the inventory room?"
Vicky gestured to the room Doctor Cross had entered from and once she'd gotten a nod from him headed on her way.
"What do you need me to do?" Amy asked in an oddly dull tone of voice. Doctor Cross frowned and looked up in contemplation for a moment.
"There's not much going on today honestly. The only thing scheduled is a couple of checkups, barring any emergencies there's nothing going on today that ordinary medicine can't handle. Not much call for Panacea today I'm afraid."
Amy nodded and started to head out the door.
"Okay, I guess I'll check in with Central see if they need me."
Doctor Cross quickly darted in front of Amy and blocked her path to the door.
"Wait, I didn't say anything about not needing Amy's help." Doctor Cross said with a lop sided grin as he nodded towards the inventory room.
"I guess I could stay and help out for a little while." Amy said slowly.
"Wonderful." Doctor Cross cried clapping Amy on the shoulder. "I'm going to be with a patient for his checkup. That shouldn't take more than half an hour afterwards I'll be in my office catching up on some paperwork. Icepick is going to be handling the front desk if you need anything just ask either of us.
"Got it." Amy said as she made her way towards the inventory room. As soon as the door shut behind her doctor Cross let the smile fade from his lips and shook his head sadly.
"Poor kid." He murmured to himself. "Closest thing to a break she gets is doing a different kind of work." With a shake of his head he headed out the door to greet his patient
"Mr. Harris. How are you feeling today sir?"
Brockton Bay: The Docks
7:30 PM
The afternoon had passed peacefully for the two girls. It had taken a few hours to get through the inventory although admittedly it might have gone quicker if the two of them hadn't taken the time to catch each other up on their lives and just talk in a way they hadn't in quite a long time. Between Vicky's heroing, school and time with Dean and Amy's constant volunteering at any hospital that would take her (which was most of them) sisterly bonding time had become a thing of the best. As the two left the clinic and started to make their way home just out the corner of her eye Vicky caught sight of Doctor Cross in a heated argument with a muscular white man with a shaved head in an alley beside the clinic. As she crept closer she could hear what the stranger was saying.
"Listen Doc, me and the boys we appreciate what you do." The (probable) Empire member said. "I mean that helping out the little guy, covering peoples costs out of your own pocket. It's admirable truly it is."
"And your admiration is so very important to me."
Cross butted in with a truly impressive amount of sarcastic disdain. The thugs polite veneer cracked at this display of insolence and he snarled as forced the Doctor against the wall.
"Let me make this clear. You treat real Americans from now on. Not the spicks, not the spooks and not the fags. Or else you're gonna need a hospital and odds are you ain't gonna get one. Got?"
Cross spat in his face.
"That's not going to happen."
The thug pulled back to hit him and found for some reason he couldn't throw a punch. Slowly he turned his head and found a glowering Glory Girl staring at him with hatred in her eyes. He had time to gulp once in fear before she threw a punch of her own and everything went black. As he slumped to the ground Vicky let go of his hand and turned to Doctor Cross.
"Are you alright Doc?" Vicky asked gently. Doctor Cross gave her a smile and nodded his head.
"I'm fine. This isn't the first time one of these thugs has tried to threaten me into being more selective with my patients."
Vicky's eyes narrowed and she leaned in intently.
"This has happened before?"
"Yes."
Vicky frowned in contemplation and thought to herself for a moment.
"Might be best to stay away from the clinic tonight, Doctor." Vicky said as she pocked at the fallen thug with her foot. If word gets back to this guys bosses that you said no they probably won't be happy."
"No, I don't imagine they would." Cross said slowly. "I'm going to arrange to move some of our more vital equipment and medicines. Make sure they'll be safe should the worst happen."
"That sounds like a good idea." Vicky replied and then was silent as she thought about what to say next. "Listen, Doc you're the local here and I've kinda found out recently." Vicky trailed off as she wasn't sure how to finish her sentence.
"That the docks are a bit different from the rest of the city?" He asked in a gentle voice as Vicky stared at him in shock he let out a chuckle.
"Some footage of your meeting with our local Wildcat made its way onto PHO. I saw it before it was taken down. It wasn't hard to guess what you four were arguing about."
"Great." Vicky winced. "Still, what do you think I should do? If I take this guy in it might make things worse for you." Vicky frowned. "I don't want that it seems like this place does a lot of good for people.
Doctor Cross nodded his head seriously and gave the matter some serious thought. Finally, after moments that felt like hours passed he gave his answer.
"If you bring him in then they'll be angry that someone stood up for them but if you don't bring him in then they'll believe that no one outside of here will stand against them. The second option sounds more dangerous to me."
Vicky still looked hesitant.
"Are you sure?"
"No." Doctor Cross replied. "I can't be sure none of us can. All I know is that the right thing to do is for him to be punished for what he's done and I'm certain he's done worse than threaten me."
"It might not be the smart thing to do." Vicky retorted although she wasn't sure why exactly she was arguing after all he was saying what she usually wanted to hear.
"Maybe not, but sometimes it's more important to do the right thing than it is to do the smart thing… Least that's what my mother used to say."
Vicky finally accepted what he had to say and felt a weight she hadn't even noticed lift from her shoulders. She'd made mistakes, she'd ignored people in trouble even if only through ignorance but maybe not all of her instincts were bad. Maybe she could still do better.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you Doc." She said as she once more lifted up the fallen jackass (still out cold it's funny how the so-called master race had so many members with glass jaws). A polite cough echoed from behind her and she turned around to see Amy tapping her foot in irritation.
"Are you done with your little philosophical debates." She asked archly and both Vicky and Doctor Cross nodded their heads sheepishly. "Good, now are you hurt Doctor?"
"A few scrapes and bruises nothing serious."
"I'll be the judge of that. Hand please."
Amy held out her own and waited with as much patience as she could muster (not much) with an indulgent smile Doctor Cross placed his hand in hers. Amy frowned in concentration for just a moment and suddenly it was as if Pieter Cross MD had never been threatened by a neo-nazi at all.
"There you go." Amy muttered. "Also, you really should get some more sleep. It's not good to be burning the midnight oil so much."
"I'll see what I can do." The doctor replied with good humor. "Now am I free to go Panacea?"
"I suppose so."
With that final exchange Doctor Cross headed back to his clinic raising a hand in farewell as he did so. With that the two sisters stood alone and Vicky turned to look at Amy.
"Odds the Empire will just let this one slide?" She asked.
"Not great." Amy replied.
"Thought not. Okay, here's the plan you and I are going to drop this guy off at the nearest station, then I'll drop you off at home and come back here to keep an eye out on things."
Brockton Bay: The Docks
11:00 PM
Vicky yawned as she flew another loop around the docks. Thankfully if surprisingly there hadn't been much in the way of trouble tonight. A few muggings, a few attempted vandalisms but nothing Glory Girl couldn't handle. She was contemplating packing it in for the night when she ran across someone she had been hoping to see and dreading to find. Wildcat was fighting half a dozen Empire 88 members in front of a small corner store. Actually, fighting might be the wrong word Vicky contemplated as she watched Wildcat duck and weave her way around all of her opponents clumsy blows and connecting with all of her own. It was more of a beating and it would seem the last one standing turned to flee before Wildcat could turn her attention to him only to run into Glory Girl. She gave him a quick smile and then slapped him. The slap knocked him out cold.
As Wildcat turned and took in the sight of Glory Girl her pristine white dress seeming somehow out of place, she cocked her head and smirked.
"Decided to come slumming princess?" Wildcat drawled.
"No, I just." Vicky sputtered for a moment before regaining her composure. "Look I'm not here for a fight or an argument or whatever can we just talk for a minute?"
"Fine, say what you want to say." Wildcat said with complete disinterest.
"Look, you know the Cross Clinic over by the DWA?" Vicky asked. "Never mind of course you do you're the local." She said before Wildcat could respond.
"I was volunteering over there this afternoon and I saw an Empire goon threaten Doctor Cross. I stopped him but I think the Empire is going to retaliate maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow. I dunno when but I think we should keep an eye on it."
Over the course of Vicky's spiel Wildcat had gone from near total disinterest to being completely intent upon every word coming out of her mouth.
"I'd noticed more Empire than usual tonight but I figured they were just testing the recruits." Wildcat muttered to herself.
"Wait I'd hardly seen anyone and I've been here since like eight?" Vicky blurted out.
"They don't start coming out in force till around ten and they usually start out by the east end. Fewer witnesses over there it's mostly businesses they can mess up." Wildcat answered absently as she headed away.
"Thanks for the heads up Glory Girl." Wildcat paused and turned around to look her in the eyes once more. "I mean it. Thank you." She then continued into the night.
"You're welcome." Vicky replied softly. A moment passed and then another before Vicky realized she was being left behind.
"Hey wait up! I'm coming with you." Vicky Called as she flew after Wildcat.
Vicky contemplated Wildcat as the two raced across the rooftops side by side. From what she could tell Uber and Leet had been the only supervillains the girl had ever faced and yet there was no fear in her as she headed towards a potential confrontation with one of the most powerful villain organizations in Brockton Bay.
I really hope we can get past that bad first impression. Vicky thought to herself. Cause I think I could really get to like this girl.
Just as she finished this thought the Cross clinic came into view and Vicky's guess had been right. The empire was planning to make a statement. There was a few dozen of the rank and file gang members assembled in front of the building and in front of them were two of the Empire's capes. Crusader clad in armour and carrying an almost impractically large spear and next to him hovering on a piece of concrete was Rune in her red and black clock. Crusader was gesturing wildly as he seemed to be wrapping up a speech of some kind.
"And now my friends we shall root out this snake in our garden." He bellowed. "This place of evil offers aid and support to foreigners and inferiors while true Americans suffer disease and death. They waste resources on those who aren't a part of us while you are left to rot. But no more. It is time for this so-called place of healing to be destroyed. Rune would you like to strike the first blow?"
As he asked his final heinous question Crusader handled a bottle to Rune who nodded her head and lit the rag stuffed inside it before sending it flying towards a window. Without a word Glory Girl flew off at top speed to catch the Molotov cocktail before it could hit. Thankfully this time she was fast enough to catch it in the air and extinguish the flame before it could do any harm. She didn't have time to celebrate though as Rune sent a bunch of bricks flying at her.
Hardly a second passed before Wildcat followed Vicky into the fray. Leaping to the ground and charging into the crowd of thugs she lashed out with blow after blow. Fighting her way through the crowd she found herself wishing she had some way to attack more than one person at once before dismissing the thought as pointless. Work with what you got and don't worry about what you don't as her Dad used to say and what she had was a lot of dumb muscle.
A nasty sort of smile came across her face as a particularly large goon came charging at her swinging a tire iron. Moving out of the way Wildcat grabbed onto his arm and rolling with weight throw him into two more members of the Empire. A moment passed and all three of them stayed down. The fight continued thusly with Wildcat hitting hard and hitting fast before disengaging and whenever possible redirecting her enemies into each other until finally all of them were on the ground. Wildcat took a moment to catch her breath and paid the price as something slashed across her back. She rolled away from her attacker and turned to face her new foe with her hands up. A pale ghostly imitation of Crusader stood before her.
"Fuck."
Wildcat snarled as she charged in. The seeming ghost of Crusader tried to impale her with his spear but with deceptive ease Wildcat managed to roll out of the way and found herself within striking distance of the super powered nazis projection. As she lashed out with an uppercut she'd managed to hit it hard enough to cause the ghost to fade into the ether but as she turned she saw that Crusader was already generating more of them. Her eyes widened and a single thought ran through her mind.
I may be in trouble here.
Vicky held back a curse as she dodged another hunk of concrete from Rune. If she could just manage to get close enough she could knock Sabrina the teenage nazi out cold without any trouble, but every time she tried something would hit from some weird angle and the bitch would get some more distance while Vicky recovered.
Casting her eyes around for anything she could use Vicky noticed a manhole cover and darted down to grab it.
"Okay let's see how she likes it." Vicky grumbled to herself as she cast her gaze around her looking for her target and as soon as she saw her, she let the manhole fly. Throwing it as hard as she could at Rune who dived out of the way and hid in an alley. Smelling blood in the water Vicky charged in.
Note to self. Think up a more heroic sounding simile for when you retell this story.
Vicky thought as she came up to the alley way and got hit by a flying dumpster. As Vicky fell to the ground only thought went through her mind.
So that's how that feels. I'll never call those guys in the ABB wimps again.
As luck would have it, Vicky landed by Wildcat who was having troubles of her own. Thankfully she was quick and agile enough to usually avoid the spears of the Crusaders but they all kept her at a distance from the real one and she couldn't get past them. Glory Girl was still trying to get her bearing when one of the projections switched targets and tried to stab Glory Girl. Wildcat grabbed her… ally and pulled her out of the way.
"Tonight sucking for you too?" Wildcat panted as she leapt out of the way of an attack.
"Yup."
The two of them both dodged away from an attack and spent a few panicked moments trying to regroup and during that time Wildcat got a glimpse of Rune flying overhead. All she could do was move objects around. The only thing needed to take her out was a good solid hit she wouldn't see coming. A wild grin came across Wildcat's face and she redoubled her efforts to get back to Glory Girl. Finally with a jump over one projection and a somersault through the legs of another Wildcat was reunited with Glory Girl.
"What do ya say to changing dance partners?" Wildcat rasped.
Glory Girl's eyes widened as she realized what Wildcat had planned and nodded in determination. She quickly cast her eyes to the sky and cupped her hands in front of her.
"On three." Glory girl said quickly. "One, two, three."
With the count completed Wildcat was thrown into the air by Glory Girl and the fight continued.
As she flew through the air with the greatest of ease Wildcat managed to get a handhold on the piece of concrete Rune was flying around on. In a panic Rune began darting around the battlefield twisting and turning as fast as she could in an attempt to send Wildcat plummeting. When that didn't work, she sent the rocks and bricks she had marked with her power flying into Wildcat but Wildcat still held on and finally she began stamping on Wildcats hands but still Wildcat hung on. Finally, Wildcat began to swing back and forth to build up momentum until finally she let go and flew through the air landing behind Rune. Acting quickly Wildcat grabbed Rune's shoulder and spun her around in order to catch her with one of the hardest left hooks she'd ever thrown and with that Rune was down for the ten-count.
The good news is Rune was out of the fight, the bad news is that with her unconscious her powers were no longer active and her and Wildcat were plummeting towards the ground. Acting quickly Wildcat hefted Rune onto her shoulder and jumped to the nearest roof. Once the two were safely on solid ground Wildcat dropped the unconscious body of the junior Nazi and took stock of how Glory Girl's fight was going.
She was doing better than Wildcat had been at least. Thanks to the greater maneuverability flight offered she was better able to dodge around the projections but he was still managing to keep her away from his real body. But hopefully she'd be able to keep him focused on her and with that thought Wildcat ran back into the fray only stopping to grab a weapon that she spied out of the corner of her eye.
Glory Girl was panting as she made yet another attempt to close the gap and put Crusader out for good but she was blocked by yet another projection the master sent out to stop her. As she flew up out of range of the spears though she saw something rather odd. Wildcat was running towards them from behind Crusader's back and she was carrying a metal garbage can. Once she was close enough the brawler's plan became obvious with one jump she found herself high above Crusader's head and as she came down she slammed the trash can on top of him.
Somehow that cranial trauma was still not enough to put him down though so Wildcat punched the can again and again and again until finally the villain fell to the ground and his projections faded from sight. Wildcat bent over and took a few deep breaths to bring herself back to normal and then turned to Vicky with a grin.
"So princess, what do you wanna do on our next girls night?"
The laughter of the two teenage heroes rang out through the night.
There it's done. Roll credits (aka the other two songs I listened to on loop while writing this)
Ending theme one (encapsulates the story as a whole)
Ending theme two (my semi joking theme for Taylor)
So the next chapter is going to be the immediate aftermath of this
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Wildcat's new home
I've got a decent start on the wrap up chapter for the intro arc so I decided to bite the bullet and give Wildcat its own thread. Time for this thread to resume it's rightful destiny as a repository for terrible one off ideas... Taylor as the protagonist of a sports manga...
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
Wildcat of the Docks (DC Fusion)
There are plenty of heroes to save the world, Legend, Alexandria, Eidolon. They've got it handled. There are heroes to save the city, Miss Militia, Dauntless and the like. It's covered. But the alleys and the side streets and the dark corners and the forgotten people. That's the responsibility...
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
The Winslow 9
I decided to take a quick break from Wildcat and do something silly and fun. You all thought I was kidding about the sports manga inspired story. Please enjoy this first chapter of serialization that may very well only appear in one issue of shonen jump
September 15th 2010
Baseball, the great American pastime. A game which has enchanted, enthralled and delighted countless generations of players, coaches, fans and armchair umpires. However, there is a dark side to this seemingly innocent fun for you see the sport has been twisted into a tool to torment the weak and unathletic. Yes, gym teachers all across the land have on occasion thrown a bat and glove at their students and left them to struggle, suffer and eventually fail. For so many students this has caused a hatred for the beautiful game and if you'd asked her before today Taylor Hebert would have said she would be one of them.
As Taylor bent low to nab the ball, she put her musings out of her mind and quickly rocketed it to first base and with that the runner was out. The game had ended and Taylor's team had won. Taylor breathed hard and sent Sophia Hess a smug smile as the girl just stood there stunned that the twiggy nerd had taken her out. It turned out that awkward and gangly Taylor Hebert did have some athletic talent after all and so for quite possibly the first time Taylor Hebert left her gym class feeling good about herself. This lasted until she reached the locker room where Sophia and Emma took great delight in pointing out every flaw with her body and as they poked and prodded at every insecurity that they could Taylor tried her best to remember the look on Sophia's face when she beat her. It provided some comfort but not much but it allowed her to keep her head up as she left the locker room to continue on with her day.
"Hey, Taylor wait up."
A boy's voice called out from behind her as she trudged down the hall. Taylor turned already half wincing in anticipation of whatever was to come and yet nothing happened. No mockery, no accidental shoving into a locker. The only thing that happened is a friendly looking athletic young man gave her a wave and an awkward smile.
"It is Taylor, right?"
Taylor just nodded dumbly and the boy's smile turned into a grin. A long-suppressed part of Taylor's mind noted that between the sandy blonde hair and the dimples this guy wasn't hard to look at.
"Great." He cheered enthusiastically. "I just wanted to say you were really great out there." He continued on. "Well pretty good you're definitely better in the field than you are at bat, it looked like you were kind of scared to swing but you made a heck of a short stop."
Taylor blinked dumbly as she processed his ramblings.
"Thank you." She replied hesitantly. "Did you want something?"
"Sorry got ahead of myself there." He replied rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly before putting his hand out. "I'm Will Kent and this is going to sound weird but do you wanna play baseball with me?"
Taylor shook his hand without thinking and replied with the first thing that came to mind.
"Yeah, sure I'll be on your team next time we play it I guess but I'm not sure it's up to us. Mr. Johnson usually just throws random people together."
Will shook his head frantically.
"No, no I don't want you to be on my team." Taylor frowned and looked vaguely hurt at this sudden reversal of his opinion of her. "I mean I do want you on my team but a real team." Will sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "Could I start over? I'd like to start over."
"Sure." Taylor said trying to hold back a laugh.
"Alright, Hi Taylor my names Will Kent and I've been working with Mr. Harris to get a school baseball team together. You were a pretty good shortstop in there and I was wondering if you'd want to join." His eyes grew wider and he clasped his hands in front of her beseechingly. "Please."
"I don't know I'd have to think about it." Taylor said slowly.
"Look we're running a practice after school today." Will said quickly. "Just come on by and give it one afternoon. It you hate it then you can just walk away and I'll never ask you about it again I promise."
Taylor chewed her lip and considered the offer and Will grew more and more anxious as the seconds ticked by.
"Fine. I'll give it a shot."
Will threw his arms in the air and whooped in excitement.
"Fantastic! You won't regret this Taylor I promise. The rest of the guys are great, trust me." Will cheered. The warning bell rang before he could say and more and his eyes widened in terror. "Shit, I got to run. We're meeting at 3:30 in the field behind the school alright. I'll see you then got to go."
With that he turned and jogged down the hall leaving Taylor standing there feeling vaguely befuddled.
"Wonder why he was so gung ho on getting me to join?" She muttered to herself as she headed down the hallway towards her next class.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of petty insults, meaningless information and a slowly growing sense of existential dread. So, all in all a pretty average day at Winslow High School until finally 3:00 PM arrived, the final bell rang and Taylor did not flee from the school as fast as humanly possible. Instead, Taylor returned to her locker and grabbed her gym clothes before heading to the girl's locker room to change.
Clad in the finest athletic attire that not much money could buy Taylor walked on to the field and caught her first glimpse of the team. Counting her there were only nine players on the team.
"Sure, hope nobody gets hurt."
Taylor muttered to herself as she walked over. On the pitcher's mound Will struck out his current batter with a slider and turned to greet Taylor with a grin.
"Taylor, you made it!" He yelled. "Guys come on over here. I told you I'd get us a shortstop."
The rest of the team quickly gathered around the pitcher's mound and Taylor walked over slowly. She couldn't help but notice that she was the only girl on the team. One of the players a handsome black boy just a bit shorter than Taylor looked at her with a frown.
"I don't know Will. You sure she can handle it?"
Taylor felt her spine stiffen and her blood begin to boil but before she could say anything Will beat her to it.
"Trust me Damon. I saw her play. She can handle it." The now named Damon continued to look unconvinced.
"Hey guys." Another player broke in. "Tell you what. Let's set up the infield, hit some balls and see how she handles it. If she can pull it off awesome if not she can head home and we'll find someone else by the end of the week." He turned to Taylor with a grin. "That work for you?"
"Works for me." Taylor stated still glaring daggers at Damon.
"If it gets her out of here let's do it." Damon grumbled as he headed towards second base.
"I'll get you out of here."
Taylor muttered to herself as she stalked towards her position in between second and third base. The boy walking next to her let out a small laugh.
"Don't worry. We'll teach you how to trash talk." He said in between chuckles. "I'm Chris by the way."
"Taylor." As she reached her position Taylor got ready and her eyes narrowed. "Now let's play ball."
The player who suggested this little contest was the first one up to bat and he must have wanted to take it easy on Taylor because he sent a slow pop fly almost directly to her. Taylor snagged it out of the air and stared back at him unimpressed.
"Come on Ray don't take it easy on her." Damon bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Ray just laughed and quickly flipped off Damon as he walked back to the dugout. The next one up to bat was a big guy and Taylor had to wonder just how much her hand was going to be hurting after this. Will threw out a fastball and the batter got all of it sending a hard line drive between second and third. The ball hit the ground and Taylor snagged it on the bounce quickly sending it to first before the batter could make it. Feeling pleased with herself Taylor sent a quick smug grin Damon's way who to her surprise returned it with one of his own.
This went on for a good forty five minutes with Taylor doing fairly well for herself. She caught more than she missed but alas no one is perfect and the situation that they found themselves in was rough. They had a runner on first and third and this was going to be their last shot. The batter managed to connect with Will's slider and sent a ground ball heading towards Taylor. Taylor shot forward to grab the ball and soon as she had it in her glove she threw it straight to the first baseman taking out the runner at bat. The first baseman then sent the ball to Damon who tagged the base before the runner could make it. That was two outs and it was time to try for three. Damon threw the ball as hard as he could towards home plate and it arrived seconds before the runner.
Taylor was feeling pretty damn pleased with herself and was getting ready to rub it in Damon's stupid face when he had the audacity to deny her that pleasure, because as she turned to deliver what would have no doubt been a devastating put down there he was standing in front of her offering a high five smiling ear to ear all the while.
"You were fantastic." He beamed.
Feeling completely non plussed Taylor returned the high five all the while staring at him in blatant confusion. He began to look awkward and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Hey so I might have come on a little strong earlier. It wasn't anything personal just wanna make sure everyone on the team can pull their weight y'know. Are we cool?"
The jock seemed to shrink in on himself as Taylor let him stew for a minute or two until finally she gave him her sweetest smile.
"We're cool." Taylor said in a friendly upbeat tone she hadn't needed to use in quite a long while.
"Awesome. The four of us are going to kick ass!"
An exuberant voice cheered from beside them. At some point the first baseman must have made his way over and decided that the best way to introduce himself was to grab Taylor into a bear hug.
"I'm Jay Bautista and you are fan-freaking-tastic. This is going to be great!"
He cheered as Taylor tried to survive the onslaught of physical affection. Thankfully the third baseman Chris reached out and extricated Taylor from his grip cementing his place as her favorite infielder. The rest of the team came running over and everything devolved into an unintelligible mess of shouting, laughing and cheering and Taylor found herself loving every minute of it. Suddenly a sharp whistle rang through the air calling an end to the merriment. A lean muscular man in his early thirties walked up to them.
"I see you guys got practice started early." He said blandly before turning his gaze towards Taylor. "I assume you're the shortstop Will found?"
Taylor nodded.
"Yes sir."
The stranger broke into a smile.
"Wonderful now we have enough players to be able to register." He turned towards the others. "Which means it's time to get serious. Our first game is in three weeks and we need to be ready. The name of the game is conditioning I want ten laps of the field. Let's get the lead out people!!!"
There were assorted yells of yes coach as the players all began to run. Taylor hesitated for a second before the man she guessed was the Mr. Harris (Coach Harris?) that Will had mentioned cleared his throat. When Taylor turned to look at him, he indicated that she was also expected to run.
The practice ran for another two hours after that and by the end of it all Taylor was exhausted, sore and happier than she'd been in a long time. The four infielders all lay on the grass and enjoyed the pleasure that came with not having to move. With a mighty groan Damon pushed himself up to a seating position and slowly the other three followed suit. The three guys all turned their attention to Taylor and finally Damon asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"So are you coming back tomorrow Tay?"
Taylor gifted them all with a tired grin.
"Yeah I think so."
"Yay." Chris attempted to cheer but only managed a slightly exuberant groan. "Someone else gets to suffer with us."
The four of them all burst into laughter and enjoyed the camaraderie created by complete and utter physical exhaustion when they were so rudely interrupted.
"Hey guys." Will said as he jogged over looking infuriatingly energetic.
"What's up Will?" Jay asked before his eyes widened in horror. "I am not going for a quick jog. No way, no how!!!! I learned my lesson."
"It wasn't that bad." Will said rolling his eyes.
"IT WAS TWENTY MILES!!!!"
"Exactly, it wasn't even a full marathon." Will blithely replied. "Anyway, that's not why I came over. Taylor do you want to join the team?"
"Yeah, I mean if you still want me too."
"Great." Will grinned. "The only thing is that since this is officially considered the boys team we need you to get your Dad to sign something saying it's cool for you to play." He ended Taylor a file folder. "Just get him to sign that tonight and give it to the coach at tomorrows practice."
With his task completed Will gave another annoyingly happy grin to all present and ran off.
"I should be going too." Taylor said as she undertook the slow laborious process of getting up on her feet. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Later Tay."
That night Taylor managed to corner her Dad as he walked in the house at 9:00 PM.
"Hey Dad."
Danny Hebert nearly jumped out of his skin as Taylor's voice came down the stairs.
"Jeez kiddo. You scared me there. What's up?" Danny asked as he pulled off his shoes.
"It's no big deal." Taylor replied. "I just need you to sign something for school."
Danny started walking towards the kitchen with Taylor following shortly after.
"What's it for are you guys doing a field trip or something?"
"No, we were playing baseball in gym today and it turns out I'm actually pretty good so this guy Will asked me to come to a practice after school and I did and like I said I was good. So they asked me to join the team and I want to but it's technically a boy's league so I need parental permission to play so can you sign this please?"
Taylor said all of this in one breath showing that her old motormouth tendencies hadn't fully faded away. Danny blinked as he processed all of this.
"You want to play baseball?"
"Yes."
"Baseball like the sport baseball?"
"Yes. Dad." Taylor said beginning to sound irritated.
Danny realizing that he was treading on thin ice decided to stop pursuing this line of questioning.
"Well of course I'll sign if that's what you want to do sweetheart. Where's the form?"
Taylor quickly placed the form on the table and as soon as Danny signed it she grabbed the paper and bolted for her room as if she was afraid he'd change her mind. Danny watched her go and grinned a small almost nostalgic grin.
"My daughter the athlete." He mused. "Annette's going to blame me for this."
Something innocent and wholesome to play around with when the mood strikes
September 15th 2010
Baseball, the great American pastime. A game which has enchanted, enthralled and delighted countless generations of players, coaches, fans and armchair umpires. However, there is a dark side to this seemingly innocent fun for you see the sport has been twisted into a tool to torment the weak and unathletic. Yes, gym teachers all across the land have on occasion thrown a bat and glove at their students and left them to struggle, suffer and eventually fail. For so many students this has caused a hatred for the beautiful game and if you'd asked her before today Taylor Hebert would have said she would be one of them.
As Taylor bent low to nab the ball, she put her musings out of her mind and quickly rocketed it to first base and with that the runner was out. The game had ended and Taylor's team had won. Taylor breathed hard and sent Sophia Hess a smug smile as the girl just stood there stunned that the twiggy nerd had taken her out. It turned out that awkward and gangly Taylor Hebert did have some athletic talent after all and so for quite possibly the first time Taylor Hebert left her gym class feeling good about herself. This lasted until she reached the locker room where Sophia and Emma took great delight in pointing out every flaw with her body and as they poked and prodded at every insecurity that they could Taylor tried her best to remember the look on Sophia's face when she beat her. It provided some comfort but not much but it allowed her to keep her head up as she left the locker room to continue on with her day.
"Hey, Taylor wait up."
A boy's voice called out from behind her as she trudged down the hall. Taylor turned already half wincing in anticipation of whatever was to come and yet nothing happened. No mockery, no accidental shoving into a locker. The only thing that happened is a friendly looking athletic young man gave her a wave and an awkward smile.
"It is Taylor, right?"
Taylor just nodded dumbly and the boy's smile turned into a grin. A long-suppressed part of Taylor's mind noted that between the sandy blonde hair and the dimples this guy wasn't hard to look at.
"Great." He cheered enthusiastically. "I just wanted to say you were really great out there." He continued on. "Well pretty good you're definitely better in the field than you are at bat, it looked like you were kind of scared to swing but you made a heck of a short stop."
Taylor blinked dumbly as she processed his ramblings.
"Thank you." She replied hesitantly. "Did you want something?"
"Sorry got ahead of myself there." He replied rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly before putting his hand out. "I'm Will Kent and this is going to sound weird but do you wanna play baseball with me?"
Taylor shook his hand without thinking and replied with the first thing that came to mind.
"Yeah, sure I'll be on your team next time we play it I guess but I'm not sure it's up to us. Mr. Johnson usually just throws random people together."
Will shook his head frantically.
"No, no I don't want you to be on my team." Taylor frowned and looked vaguely hurt at this sudden reversal of his opinion of her. "I mean I do want you on my team but a real team." Will sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "Could I start over? I'd like to start over."
"Sure." Taylor said trying to hold back a laugh.
"Alright, Hi Taylor my names Will Kent and I've been working with Mr. Harris to get a school baseball team together. You were a pretty good shortstop in there and I was wondering if you'd want to join." His eyes grew wider and he clasped his hands in front of her beseechingly. "Please."
"I don't know I'd have to think about it." Taylor said slowly.
"Look we're running a practice after school today." Will said quickly. "Just come on by and give it one afternoon. It you hate it then you can just walk away and I'll never ask you about it again I promise."
Taylor chewed her lip and considered the offer and Will grew more and more anxious as the seconds ticked by.
"Fine. I'll give it a shot."
Will threw his arms in the air and whooped in excitement.
"Fantastic! You won't regret this Taylor I promise. The rest of the guys are great, trust me." Will cheered. The warning bell rang before he could say and more and his eyes widened in terror. "Shit, I got to run. We're meeting at 3:30 in the field behind the school alright. I'll see you then got to go."
With that he turned and jogged down the hall leaving Taylor standing there feeling vaguely befuddled.
"Wonder why he was so gung ho on getting me to join?" She muttered to herself as she headed down the hallway towards her next class.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of petty insults, meaningless information and a slowly growing sense of existential dread. So, all in all a pretty average day at Winslow High School until finally 3:00 PM arrived, the final bell rang and Taylor did not flee from the school as fast as humanly possible. Instead, Taylor returned to her locker and grabbed her gym clothes before heading to the girl's locker room to change.
Clad in the finest athletic attire that not much money could buy Taylor walked on to the field and caught her first glimpse of the team. Counting her there were only nine players on the team.
"Sure, hope nobody gets hurt."
Taylor muttered to herself as she walked over. On the pitcher's mound Will struck out his current batter with a slider and turned to greet Taylor with a grin.
"Taylor, you made it!" He yelled. "Guys come on over here. I told you I'd get us a shortstop."
The rest of the team quickly gathered around the pitcher's mound and Taylor walked over slowly. She couldn't help but notice that she was the only girl on the team. One of the players a handsome black boy just a bit shorter than Taylor looked at her with a frown.
"I don't know Will. You sure she can handle it?"
Taylor felt her spine stiffen and her blood begin to boil but before she could say anything Will beat her to it.
"Trust me Damon. I saw her play. She can handle it." The now named Damon continued to look unconvinced.
"Hey guys." Another player broke in. "Tell you what. Let's set up the infield, hit some balls and see how she handles it. If she can pull it off awesome if not she can head home and we'll find someone else by the end of the week." He turned to Taylor with a grin. "That work for you?"
"Works for me." Taylor stated still glaring daggers at Damon.
"If it gets her out of here let's do it." Damon grumbled as he headed towards second base.
"I'll get you out of here."
Taylor muttered to herself as she stalked towards her position in between second and third base. The boy walking next to her let out a small laugh.
"Don't worry. We'll teach you how to trash talk." He said in between chuckles. "I'm Chris by the way."
"Taylor." As she reached her position Taylor got ready and her eyes narrowed. "Now let's play ball."
The player who suggested this little contest was the first one up to bat and he must have wanted to take it easy on Taylor because he sent a slow pop fly almost directly to her. Taylor snagged it out of the air and stared back at him unimpressed.
"Come on Ray don't take it easy on her." Damon bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Ray just laughed and quickly flipped off Damon as he walked back to the dugout. The next one up to bat was a big guy and Taylor had to wonder just how much her hand was going to be hurting after this. Will threw out a fastball and the batter got all of it sending a hard line drive between second and third. The ball hit the ground and Taylor snagged it on the bounce quickly sending it to first before the batter could make it. Feeling pleased with herself Taylor sent a quick smug grin Damon's way who to her surprise returned it with one of his own.
This went on for a good forty five minutes with Taylor doing fairly well for herself. She caught more than she missed but alas no one is perfect and the situation that they found themselves in was rough. They had a runner on first and third and this was going to be their last shot. The batter managed to connect with Will's slider and sent a ground ball heading towards Taylor. Taylor shot forward to grab the ball and soon as she had it in her glove she threw it straight to the first baseman taking out the runner at bat. The first baseman then sent the ball to Damon who tagged the base before the runner could make it. That was two outs and it was time to try for three. Damon threw the ball as hard as he could towards home plate and it arrived seconds before the runner.
Taylor was feeling pretty damn pleased with herself and was getting ready to rub it in Damon's stupid face when he had the audacity to deny her that pleasure, because as she turned to deliver what would have no doubt been a devastating put down there he was standing in front of her offering a high five smiling ear to ear all the while.
"You were fantastic." He beamed.
Feeling completely non plussed Taylor returned the high five all the while staring at him in blatant confusion. He began to look awkward and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Hey so I might have come on a little strong earlier. It wasn't anything personal just wanna make sure everyone on the team can pull their weight y'know. Are we cool?"
The jock seemed to shrink in on himself as Taylor let him stew for a minute or two until finally she gave him her sweetest smile.
"We're cool." Taylor said in a friendly upbeat tone she hadn't needed to use in quite a long while.
"Awesome. The four of us are going to kick ass!"
An exuberant voice cheered from beside them. At some point the first baseman must have made his way over and decided that the best way to introduce himself was to grab Taylor into a bear hug.
"I'm Jay Bautista and you are fan-freaking-tastic. This is going to be great!"
He cheered as Taylor tried to survive the onslaught of physical affection. Thankfully the third baseman Chris reached out and extricated Taylor from his grip cementing his place as her favorite infielder. The rest of the team came running over and everything devolved into an unintelligible mess of shouting, laughing and cheering and Taylor found herself loving every minute of it. Suddenly a sharp whistle rang through the air calling an end to the merriment. A lean muscular man in his early thirties walked up to them.
"I see you guys got practice started early." He said blandly before turning his gaze towards Taylor. "I assume you're the shortstop Will found?"
Taylor nodded.
"Yes sir."
The stranger broke into a smile.
"Wonderful now we have enough players to be able to register." He turned towards the others. "Which means it's time to get serious. Our first game is in three weeks and we need to be ready. The name of the game is conditioning I want ten laps of the field. Let's get the lead out people!!!"
There were assorted yells of yes coach as the players all began to run. Taylor hesitated for a second before the man she guessed was the Mr. Harris (Coach Harris?) that Will had mentioned cleared his throat. When Taylor turned to look at him, he indicated that she was also expected to run.
The practice ran for another two hours after that and by the end of it all Taylor was exhausted, sore and happier than she'd been in a long time. The four infielders all lay on the grass and enjoyed the pleasure that came with not having to move. With a mighty groan Damon pushed himself up to a seating position and slowly the other three followed suit. The three guys all turned their attention to Taylor and finally Damon asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"So are you coming back tomorrow Tay?"
Taylor gifted them all with a tired grin.
"Yeah I think so."
"Yay." Chris attempted to cheer but only managed a slightly exuberant groan. "Someone else gets to suffer with us."
The four of them all burst into laughter and enjoyed the camaraderie created by complete and utter physical exhaustion when they were so rudely interrupted.
"Hey guys." Will said as he jogged over looking infuriatingly energetic.
"What's up Will?" Jay asked before his eyes widened in horror. "I am not going for a quick jog. No way, no how!!!! I learned my lesson."
"It wasn't that bad." Will said rolling his eyes.
"IT WAS TWENTY MILES!!!!"
"Exactly, it wasn't even a full marathon." Will blithely replied. "Anyway, that's not why I came over. Taylor do you want to join the team?"
"Yeah, I mean if you still want me too."
"Great." Will grinned. "The only thing is that since this is officially considered the boys team we need you to get your Dad to sign something saying it's cool for you to play." He ended Taylor a file folder. "Just get him to sign that tonight and give it to the coach at tomorrows practice."
With his task completed Will gave another annoyingly happy grin to all present and ran off.
"I should be going too." Taylor said as she undertook the slow laborious process of getting up on her feet. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Later Tay."
That night Taylor managed to corner her Dad as he walked in the house at 9:00 PM.
"Hey Dad."
Danny Hebert nearly jumped out of his skin as Taylor's voice came down the stairs.
"Jeez kiddo. You scared me there. What's up?" Danny asked as he pulled off his shoes.
"It's no big deal." Taylor replied. "I just need you to sign something for school."
Danny started walking towards the kitchen with Taylor following shortly after.
"What's it for are you guys doing a field trip or something?"
"No, we were playing baseball in gym today and it turns out I'm actually pretty good so this guy Will asked me to come to a practice after school and I did and like I said I was good. So they asked me to join the team and I want to but it's technically a boy's league so I need parental permission to play so can you sign this please?"
Taylor said all of this in one breath showing that her old motormouth tendencies hadn't fully faded away. Danny blinked as he processed all of this.
"You want to play baseball?"
"Yes."
"Baseball like the sport baseball?"
"Yes. Dad." Taylor said beginning to sound irritated.
Danny realizing that he was treading on thin ice decided to stop pursuing this line of questioning.
"Well of course I'll sign if that's what you want to do sweetheart. Where's the form?"
Taylor quickly placed the form on the table and as soon as Danny signed it she grabbed the paper and bolted for her room as if she was afraid he'd change her mind. Danny watched her go and grinned a small almost nostalgic grin.
"My daughter the athlete." He mused. "Annette's going to blame me for this."
Something innocent and wholesome to play around with when the mood strikes
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The Winslow 9: Chapter 2
So after some spirited back and forth in the spacebattles thread I'm making the decision that this is a complete alternate universe. No Parahumans, no wards, no undersiders and no eldritch abominations that take over the whole plot. We're going to go all in on the idea that this is a story that's running on the rules of fun and friendship... So yeah this is Taylor as a sports manga protagonist.
September 16th 2010
Taylor awoke to pain and suffering. As she slowly rolled herself out of bed and fought through the agony to gather up her clothes and make for the shower, she was forced to ask herself a single, burning question. Is it worth it?
Thankfully by the time she'd finished her shower and the hot water had eased the pain in her poor underutilized muscles Taylor was able to answer that question with a firm probably. If she survived her second practice then she would upgrade that answer to a yes. So it was that with her decision mostly made Taylor decided to head downstairs and join her loving and supportive Father for breakfast.
"Morning kiddo. Breakfast is on the counter. Gotta run. Love you."
With those hastily spoken words a blur that vaguely resembled Danny Hebert flew out the door and accompanied by the customary swearing he started up the truck and drove away. Taylor just blinked in confusion at this before letting out a sigh.
"Morning to you too Dad." She muttered as she wandered in to the kitchen. She stopped for a moment to contemplate a picture on the wall that was taken a year before- well it was taken a while ago. A soft smile came to Taylor's lips as she looked at a woman with hair almost identical to her own.
"Morning Mom."
Taylor whispered before making an effort to turn away from the photo and the memories it brought on. Her eyes widened as she saw what awaited her at the kitchen table. Bacon, scrambled eggs and sausages told a tale of a Father who made the effort to get up early enough to ensure his child ate well even if he couldn't join her for it. With a smile Taylor sat down and tucked in. After the eggs were finished and she was just finishing off the last of the protein Taylor engaged in the last part of her morning alone routine, catching Mom up on everything that was happening in her life.
"So, there's some crazy rumors flying around that you might have heard." Taylor began. "I figure it's best if I just come right out and say it so here it goes. I joined the baseball team." Taylor paused for a moment before continuing. "Look, I know it's weird and not what any of us would have thought I'd do but I'm actually pretty good and the guys are pretty nice actually. I know you were never big on school sports but I think this could be a good thing. I just hope you're happy for me"
Taylor got up from the table and quickly loaded the plates and cutlery in the dishwasher as she left the room she paused in front of the photo once more.
"This is ridiculous." She scoffed to herself as she left the room. "Miss you Mom." She murmured.
Her morning ritual completed Taylor quickly finished off the rest of her daily hygiene routine, gathered up her books and made her way to school feeling oddly excited. Not about her classes of course, but there was another practice after school that day.
Taylor suppressed a groan as she took a seat at her desk and prepared to wait for the unrelenting boredom that was world affairs to begin. With a poorly suppressed whimper Taylor let her face fall to rest on the cool comforting plastic that made up her school board issued confinement device. As she fell there was a slight whoosh of air blowing by her as a spitball failed to hit its target.
"Rough first day?"
A warm voice chuckled from behind her. Turning her head Taylor locked eyes with Chris the third baseman she'd been working with yesterday. She gave him a rueful smile and tried to nod her head without actually moving her head. He seemed to understand as he gave her a gentle smile of his own before digging something out of his backpack and offering it to her.
"Here put this on any part of you that hurts." He instructed as Taylor took the offered can of coke and shivered at the coldness. "I swear it works wonders and then once you're done, you've got a tasty drink. It's a win-win."
Taylor pushed herself back up into a proper sitting position so he could face the full power of her sardonic stare. Sadly, it was no match against the power of Chris's friendly grin, so Taylor began to rest the can on her right shoulder and let out a sigh as the tension left. Chris's grin got even wider.
"See, it works right?"
"Yes." Taylor muttered.
"Good and hey the practices are going to get easier I promise." Chris swore. "Just stick with it for a week or two and you'll be feeling great."
"I'd settle for being to raise my arms without hurting."
Taylor snarked back and smiled as Chris let out a burst of laughter. She joined in with a few chuckles of her own but alas as is so often the case this moment of joy and frivolity was ruined by the American public education system, as Mr. Gladly walked in and began the class.
Today had been different Taylor reflected as she made her way through the halls of Winslow high school on the way to lunch. It wasn't any kind of dramatic shift or anything like that. Emma hadn't run over and apologized for everything and begged for things to go back to the way they were. Sophia hadn't been expelled for the crime of being a heinous bitch (Taylor sent a silent apology to her mother for using that term even if it was accurate) and Madison continued to somehow endear herself to every single adult by acting like a child half her age. The last of which was something Taylor refused to think on any further because given the age of some of the male teachers, it led to some disturbing possibilities. Taylor shuddered as she decided to suppress that thought and move on.
No, there wasn't any major change but there was just kind of a consistent kindness throughout her day that hadn't been there before. The other guys on the team would make a point of saying hi if they passed her in the hallways, if they shared a class they'd try to sit and work with her. It turned out that Ray, the left fielder who convinced the team to give her a shot had some really rather insightful things to say about Romeo and Juliet. Almost without her realizing it a small gentle smile came to Taylor's face as she contemplated all that had happened in the last day.
"Tay! Tay! Wait up!!!!"
A loud exuberant voice called out from behind her. As Taylor turned, she saw six feet of tanned muscle barrelling down the highway as people tried to avoid his path. He ignored this and merrily continued on his way only stopping when he came to a stop in front of Taylor and flashed her a wide friendly grin.
"Hi Jay. Did you need something?"
Taylor asked hesitantly and in response Jay Bautista, the first baseman for the Winslow Wildcats tossed an arm around Taylor's shoulders and laughed before guiding her away.
"No, I don't need anything, me and the guys just wanted to see if you'd have lunch with us. What do ya say?"
"Yeah, that'd be good I guess."
With that the two of them continued their way down the halls and one really rather pretty red head was left staring after the two of them in confusion.
"What the hell!?"
Thankfully for Taylor's poor socially awkward self the guy's Jay was referring too wasn't the entirety of the team. Instead as Jay led her over to a small table off to the side of the cafeteria she found that it was just her fellow infielders. Chris and Damon both greeted her with close mouthed smiles as they chewed down on their meal. Taylor smiled back awkwardly and sat down across from them.
"Alright." Jay cheered. "You just relax Tay. I'll go grab us both something to eat."
Without waiting for a response Jay turned and dashed off and Taylor was left alone. Taylor drummed her nails on the table for lack of anything else to do while she waited for someone to break the silence. Eventually the slightly awkward peace was broken by Damon forcing down a piece of cafeteria meatloaf and desperately grabbing for his water bottle. After a few gulps he pushed away his tray.
"God, that's fucking terrible." He grumbled to himself before looking back to Taylor and giving her a brief grin. "Look, Taylor I wanted to say sorry about yesterday I've been told that I may have come off-"
"Like a total dick."
Chris slipped in casually, the only acknowledgement that Damon gave him was a brief glare before continuing on like nothing had happened.
"I've been informed that I may have been a bit… abrasive. I just wanted to make sure you knew it had nothing to do with you."
"Okay." Taylor began. "If it didn't have anything to do with me. What was it about?"
Damon and Chris simultaneously rubbed the back of their necks and looked awkward.
"Alright, here's the thing we weren't able to field a team last year. We just couldn't get enough players before the deadline and Coach has been working real hard to make sure that didn't happen again. He contacted all of us over the summer to see if we were wanting to play but we haven't been able to find a ninth player."
Chris took a sip out of his water bottle and Damon took over the story.
"The cutoff date is this Friday and so when Will brought in someone who has never been on the team before, who as far as I know has never been on any team before." Damon gave a quick questioning glance at Taylor who shook her head in response. "Will brought in someone who as far as I could tell never played baseball before and wanted her to be our shortstop. I didn't want us to be fielding someone who couldn't keep up is all."
"And then Tay showed us all that she could keep up no problem." Jay burst in cheerily as he placed a tray in front of Taylor. "I gotcha the burger, it was a choice between that and the meatloaf and I think that's been sitting out for a couple days. Hope that's okay."
"It's fine." Taylor replied before digging in which was clearly the only thing Jay had been waiting on because he demolished his own burger in seconds.
"Wait, the meatloaf's been sitting out there for days." Damon asked tightly.
"Yup."
"And you didn't tell me."
"Nope."
Damon contemplated this for a second while Jay tried his best to engage Taylor in conversation.
"Is this because I broke your bat that one time?"
Jay looked at him all wide eyed and placed his hand on his chest. Then in a voice filled with as much exaggerated innocence as he could muster he responded.
"No, not at all."
On the sidelines of this confrontation Taylor and Chris rolled their eyes in unison and snickered to themselves. After a moment Damon and Jay joined them after the sounds of their laughter finished echoing through the dismal halls of Winslow the four sat in a companionable silence.
"So, Tay." Jay began as he threw an arm around Taylor's shoulders. "I gotta ask where you've been playing because man, we could have used you last year girl!"
As was his custom Jay said this at a volume that just barely avoided being categorized as shouting. Unused to praise Taylor tried (and failed) to hide her blush from the three boys at the table. Thankfully for her comfort they were better able to suppress the awwwwsss that wanted to escape at the sight.
"I um, never actually really played before yesterday." Taylor said shyly. "We were playing it in gym when Will saw me and I guess he thought I had some potential or something."
All three of them stared at her wide eyed and as the silence stretched on Taylor felt herself shrinking in her seat.
Great job Taylor. You just had to brag and now they are all going to hate you. When the hell are you going to learn to shut-
"Potential's definitely one word for it." Damon laughed. "Not to brag or anythin, but we've all been playing for a while and we're pretty damn good." A wicked grin grew across his face. "I think we're going to surprise some people this year."
"I can get behind that." Taylor said matching his grin, malicious intent for malicious intent.
Jay and Chris looked back and forth between the two of them and had two simultaneous but very different thoughts. Chris thought that these two should never be left alone under any circumstances. Jay thought it was nice that they were making friends after the awkwardness of yesterday.
The rest of the day flew by in a happy blur until finally it was time for Taylor's second day of practice. After a quick trip to the equipment room to grab herself a bat and glove Taylor was ready to take the field but first Coach Harris wanted a team meeting. As they all took a knee in the outfield Harris paced back and forth in front of them for a moment.
"Alright." He said clapping his hands together to get their attention. "I got good news and bad news folks. The good news is Jamison couldn't put a team together and have officially withdrawn from the league for this year. So, we've got one less team to worry about. The bad news is they've moved our first game up. We're playing on the 23rd. So, I'm going to be working you all twice as hard. Are you ready!!!!"
He finished on a scream and the eight original players responded with a resounding. "YES COACH!!!!!" Taylor missed her cue sadly but joined in with gusto half a second late.
The first hour of practice went well for Taylor. The focus was on fielding and she was on fire, not a ball went past her. There were double plays to spare. She was truly in her element and the joyous smiles on all the members of the infield couldn't have been removed by any force in the universe. Sadly, the rules that Taylor had lived under for the past few years returned in force and her joy was quickly shattered.
"Okay, Taylor you got this all right."
Christian's still lingering Texas drawl said from behind her where he crouched ready to catch whatever pitch Will was going to send her way. There was the wind up and the pitch. The fast ball was coming straight down the middle, it would be an easy hit for any half decent batter. Taylor gritted her teeth and swung as hard as she could. The bat connected and the ball flew. The ball flew and landed outside the first base line. It was a foul ball. The fifth consecutive foul ball Taylor had hit.
"You'll get it next time Tay."
Jay called out as she walked back to the dugout and as she passed Chris on his way to the plate, he gave her a sympathetic smile. Even Damon gave her a pat on the back and some consoling words. Taylor heaved out a sigh as she sunk down on the bench. It would have been so much easier to stomach the fact that her apparent natural talent for the game disappeared as soon as she was at bat, if everyone wasn't so God damn nice about it.
"So, what if you aren't great at bat?" Jay said in as consoling a tone as he could muster. "We got plenty of people who can handle that. You're still a damn good short stop."
"I guess, I just wish I could figure out what I was doing wrong." Taylor huffed as she slumped back. "I can't help feeling like I should be better at it then this."
"How horrible." Damon chuckled next to them. "You're not great at everything at your second practice. You'll figure it out I got no doubt about that." He stood up and stretched before grabbing his bat and heading out for his turn at bat.
Damon managed to get the ball sent to shallow center field after a single strike and then Jay hit a home run right off the bat. As Taylor trudged her way to home plate for her turn, she just wanted to get it over with. The first pitch came and it was a strike, the second came and the curve ball went a little wide and Taylor got a ball. On the third pitch Taylor connected and it was a foul ball once again. From where he was standing and observing all of this Coach Harris's eyes went wide and he jogged over.
"Hold up Taylor." He called out as she started to walk away. "Let's do a few more pitches alright I wanna try something."
With a shrug Taylor returned to the plate and got ready for yet another exercise in failure. However, things went a little different this time Christian stood up and moved so he was standing across from her.
"Okay, show me your swing." He said "Nice and slow." Taylor did just that two or three times and he nodded to himself. "Okay, you're a bit close to the plate, try taking it back half a step."
Taylor did so and he gave her as encouraging a smile as he could.
"Will just give us something nice and easy."
With a shrug Will did just that and things went a bit different. This time when Taylor connected the ball managed to stay in play but there was still work to be done. It was nothing more than a pop fly to first base, if this had been a game it would have been an easy out.
"Okay, now we're making some progress." Coach Harris cheered. "It looks like you're keeping the bat a bit low. Let's try raising your swing bout an inch, inch and a half."
With a smirk that was slowly growing more confident Taylor took her coaches advice and glared daggers at Will on the mound. This time she'd get a decent hit damn it. Will fought the urge to bag for mercy as he got ready to pitch.
"Give us something with a bit of heat this time Will." Harris instructed
Will sent his fastball rocketing towards Taylor. Taylor swung as hard and as fast as she could. She connected and this time, this time it was a not quite beautiful line drive right up the middle. She turned to beam at Coach Harris and he was waiting for her with a smile of his own.
"Now, that's more like. Now you just gotta keep practicing till you can do that consistently. Now hit the bench, it's time we let Chris get a swing in."
With that said he strode over to the outfield where he was prepared to offer encouragement and criticism as needed to Robbie, Alan and Ray. Taylor headed back to the dugout where her boys were waiting with congratulations and advice.
By the end of practice Taylor could get herself a decent hit every couple of at bats. She wasn't likely to hit a game winning homer anytime soon but she had a chance of at least getting on base, maybe, perhaps. As she left the girls locker room with an exhausted smile on her face, she found herself running into Chris, Damon and Jay who must have been waiting for her judging by how Damon kept glancing at his watch.
"Hey, what're you all waiting around for."
Taylor asked as she tried to juggle her bat and glove so she could get her back pack on properly. Without being asked Jay marched over and took the sports equipment from her.
"We were going to grab something at Fugly Bobs." Jay said as he took a look at the school provided glove with a frown. "Figured we'd ask if you wanted to come along."
Taylor narrowed her eyes and finally a question that had been burning in the back of her mind all day finally demanded to be asked.
"Why?"
All three of them looked confused and after a brief silent consultation between the three of them Jay answered for the group.
"You seem cool and we're all on the same team so why shouldn't we hang out." Jay replied sounding confused. "If you don't want to that's fine but there's no need to make it sound like it's so awful to spend time with us."
Taylor looked at the ground awkwardly and made a few faltering attempts to respond to a seemingly sincere offer of friendship.
"It's not like that, you guys have been great really. It's just not a lot of people have wanted to hang out with me for the past few… years."
Taylor trailed off as this conversation was veering dangerously close to the realm of emotional honesty and she just was not ready for that.
"Then people are idiots." Damon said dismissively.
"Now you coming or what?" Chris asked with a friendly grin.
"Yeah, I'm coming. I just need to drop this stuff back at the gym." Taylor answered as she grabbed the bat and glove from Jay. I'll meet you guys in front okay."
The walk to Fugly Bob's had been remarkably pleasant, the four of them just passed the time talking about random things. It turned out that Chris had a mind for literature. He and Taylor had a lovely time confusing Damon and Jay as they had an in-depth discussion about The Canterbury Tales. By the time they arrived at the restaurant both Jay and Damon were ready to fall to their knees and beg the nerds of the group to stop. As soon as the waiter came to their table Jay immediately demanded the challenger while Taylor and the other got food slightly more suitable for human consumption. The four ate in companionable silence until the majority of the table was approaching the ends of their meals and it was then that conversation resumed.
"I noticed you were using the school's equipment." Damon stated before taking a bite out of his double cheeseburger. With the aid of her diet coke Taylor was able to swallow her tasty morsel and reply.
"Yeah, like I told you guys I hadn't really played baseball before yesterday so you know no glove."
Taylor shrugged and returned to her meal.
"Any plans on getting one of your own?" Chris asked casually. Taylor looked down at her fries as if they were the most interesting thing in the world and answered without looking up.
"Eventually but things are kind of tight at home. So y'know the school's stuff is good enough for now."
With that answer Taylor continued slowly eating the remainder of her fries. Chris and Damon shared a look and a nod as they silently confirmed their plans. A sickly groan came from Jay as he placed his face on the table. Once again, he'd failed in his personal quest. The challenger still sat on his plate with about a quarter of it left to go. Chris reached out and patted him on his back.
"One day buddy. One day."
September 20th 2010.
As Taylor left the girls locker room, she was whistling a happy tune and was ready for another day of practice. She made her way down the halls not really paying attention to what was going on around her when she was suddenly stopped.
"Taylor, hold on a second." Coach Harris called from behind her. "We're having a team meeting in the men's locker room would you join us for a moment." Taylor turned around and looked clearly hesitant. "Don't worry everyone's decent it'll just be a few minutes."
Still looking hesitant Taylor slowly made her way to that most forbidden of places. Although she found herself somewhat disappointed by what was revealed. It looked pretty much identical to the women's locker room and as Coach Harris had promised everyone was fully dressed. Taylor quickly took a seat on a bench next to Jay who gave her a small smile. Coach Harris strolled to the center of the room and immediately drew the attention of the entire team who started to wonder what he was holding behind his back.
"Thanks for bearing with me all of you." He began. "I know you're all raring to get out there and work yourselves to the bone but there's just a bit of housekeeping to take care of first. Taylor, would you come up here please."
Taylor and Jay shared a confused look before she got up to join her coach.
"What's this about?" Taylor whispered once she was next to him.
"Don't worry it's nothing bad." Coach Harris said out of the corner of his mouth. "Now I had to put a bit of a rush on this but it's finally ready. Taylor you are now officially part of the team."
With that pronouncement he placed a baseball cap on Taylor's head and handed her a jersey.
"Everyone let's have a round of applause for Taylor Hebert number 9 on the Winslow Wildcat's!!!!"
The room burst into cheers and without missing a beat the outfielders immediately burst into song.
"OH, FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! WHICH NOBODY CAN DENY!"
The rest of the team joined in for a few verses until Coach Harris decided that was enough frivolity for the day and ordered them out to the field.
"Hey wait up a sec Taylor." Chris said before once the four infielders were the last players in the locker room. "We got you something."
With that pronouncement Jay reached out offered Taylor a bat. Damon followed suit with a glove.
"We figured a damn good short stop deserved some damn good equipment." Chris declared.
Taylor just stood there looking at the bat and glove in her hands. As the silence grew the boys became nervous.
"If you don't like them, we kept the receipts." Jay began nervously. "No need to worry about hurting our feelings or anything. We want you to have stuff you like."
Taylor mutely shook her head before surprising everyone by turning and wrapping Jay up in a hug. Acting on instinct Jay hugged her back although he looked confused all the while.
"I love it. Thank you." Taylor said to the room at large before looking over her shoulder at Chris and Damon. "Now you two get over here. I'm only doing this once."
"Yes ma'am." The two laughed as they walked over and joined the group hug.
September 23rd 2010.
Taylor stood in the hallway of Immaculata's baseball field waiting for the rest of her team to join her. She was so focused on suppressing her nerves that she nearly jumped out of her skin when Jay's loud voice startled her.
"You ready to kick some ass?"
Taylor turned and looked at her comrades in the fine art of the double play and grinned.
"Let's show them what we got."
So just some quick notes on how this is going to work. I'm not going to be covering every game they play just cause I think that would get kind of boring so we're mostly going to be doing the ones that have plot significance and any other wins or losses are going to be just kind of mentioned. The Winslow 9 was always planned to be a nickname as opposed to the actual team name a bit of a plot point is going to be that they only have enough players to field a team. There's no relief pitcher, there's no one who can be subbed in if someone's starting to flag in the later innings and god forbid someone's injured.
On another note Jay is kind of dancing on the line of himbo-dom and I sort of love him.
September 16th 2010
Taylor awoke to pain and suffering. As she slowly rolled herself out of bed and fought through the agony to gather up her clothes and make for the shower, she was forced to ask herself a single, burning question. Is it worth it?
Thankfully by the time she'd finished her shower and the hot water had eased the pain in her poor underutilized muscles Taylor was able to answer that question with a firm probably. If she survived her second practice then she would upgrade that answer to a yes. So it was that with her decision mostly made Taylor decided to head downstairs and join her loving and supportive Father for breakfast.
"Morning kiddo. Breakfast is on the counter. Gotta run. Love you."
With those hastily spoken words a blur that vaguely resembled Danny Hebert flew out the door and accompanied by the customary swearing he started up the truck and drove away. Taylor just blinked in confusion at this before letting out a sigh.
"Morning to you too Dad." She muttered as she wandered in to the kitchen. She stopped for a moment to contemplate a picture on the wall that was taken a year before- well it was taken a while ago. A soft smile came to Taylor's lips as she looked at a woman with hair almost identical to her own.
"Morning Mom."
Taylor whispered before making an effort to turn away from the photo and the memories it brought on. Her eyes widened as she saw what awaited her at the kitchen table. Bacon, scrambled eggs and sausages told a tale of a Father who made the effort to get up early enough to ensure his child ate well even if he couldn't join her for it. With a smile Taylor sat down and tucked in. After the eggs were finished and she was just finishing off the last of the protein Taylor engaged in the last part of her morning alone routine, catching Mom up on everything that was happening in her life.
"So, there's some crazy rumors flying around that you might have heard." Taylor began. "I figure it's best if I just come right out and say it so here it goes. I joined the baseball team." Taylor paused for a moment before continuing. "Look, I know it's weird and not what any of us would have thought I'd do but I'm actually pretty good and the guys are pretty nice actually. I know you were never big on school sports but I think this could be a good thing. I just hope you're happy for me"
Taylor got up from the table and quickly loaded the plates and cutlery in the dishwasher as she left the room she paused in front of the photo once more.
"This is ridiculous." She scoffed to herself as she left the room. "Miss you Mom." She murmured.
Her morning ritual completed Taylor quickly finished off the rest of her daily hygiene routine, gathered up her books and made her way to school feeling oddly excited. Not about her classes of course, but there was another practice after school that day.
Taylor suppressed a groan as she took a seat at her desk and prepared to wait for the unrelenting boredom that was world affairs to begin. With a poorly suppressed whimper Taylor let her face fall to rest on the cool comforting plastic that made up her school board issued confinement device. As she fell there was a slight whoosh of air blowing by her as a spitball failed to hit its target.
"Rough first day?"
A warm voice chuckled from behind her. Turning her head Taylor locked eyes with Chris the third baseman she'd been working with yesterday. She gave him a rueful smile and tried to nod her head without actually moving her head. He seemed to understand as he gave her a gentle smile of his own before digging something out of his backpack and offering it to her.
"Here put this on any part of you that hurts." He instructed as Taylor took the offered can of coke and shivered at the coldness. "I swear it works wonders and then once you're done, you've got a tasty drink. It's a win-win."
Taylor pushed herself back up into a proper sitting position so he could face the full power of her sardonic stare. Sadly, it was no match against the power of Chris's friendly grin, so Taylor began to rest the can on her right shoulder and let out a sigh as the tension left. Chris's grin got even wider.
"See, it works right?"
"Yes." Taylor muttered.
"Good and hey the practices are going to get easier I promise." Chris swore. "Just stick with it for a week or two and you'll be feeling great."
"I'd settle for being to raise my arms without hurting."
Taylor snarked back and smiled as Chris let out a burst of laughter. She joined in with a few chuckles of her own but alas as is so often the case this moment of joy and frivolity was ruined by the American public education system, as Mr. Gladly walked in and began the class.
Today had been different Taylor reflected as she made her way through the halls of Winslow high school on the way to lunch. It wasn't any kind of dramatic shift or anything like that. Emma hadn't run over and apologized for everything and begged for things to go back to the way they were. Sophia hadn't been expelled for the crime of being a heinous bitch (Taylor sent a silent apology to her mother for using that term even if it was accurate) and Madison continued to somehow endear herself to every single adult by acting like a child half her age. The last of which was something Taylor refused to think on any further because given the age of some of the male teachers, it led to some disturbing possibilities. Taylor shuddered as she decided to suppress that thought and move on.
No, there wasn't any major change but there was just kind of a consistent kindness throughout her day that hadn't been there before. The other guys on the team would make a point of saying hi if they passed her in the hallways, if they shared a class they'd try to sit and work with her. It turned out that Ray, the left fielder who convinced the team to give her a shot had some really rather insightful things to say about Romeo and Juliet. Almost without her realizing it a small gentle smile came to Taylor's face as she contemplated all that had happened in the last day.
"Tay! Tay! Wait up!!!!"
A loud exuberant voice called out from behind her. As Taylor turned, she saw six feet of tanned muscle barrelling down the highway as people tried to avoid his path. He ignored this and merrily continued on his way only stopping when he came to a stop in front of Taylor and flashed her a wide friendly grin.
"Hi Jay. Did you need something?"
Taylor asked hesitantly and in response Jay Bautista, the first baseman for the Winslow Wildcats tossed an arm around Taylor's shoulders and laughed before guiding her away.
"No, I don't need anything, me and the guys just wanted to see if you'd have lunch with us. What do ya say?"
"Yeah, that'd be good I guess."
With that the two of them continued their way down the halls and one really rather pretty red head was left staring after the two of them in confusion.
"What the hell!?"
Thankfully for Taylor's poor socially awkward self the guy's Jay was referring too wasn't the entirety of the team. Instead as Jay led her over to a small table off to the side of the cafeteria she found that it was just her fellow infielders. Chris and Damon both greeted her with close mouthed smiles as they chewed down on their meal. Taylor smiled back awkwardly and sat down across from them.
"Alright." Jay cheered. "You just relax Tay. I'll go grab us both something to eat."
Without waiting for a response Jay turned and dashed off and Taylor was left alone. Taylor drummed her nails on the table for lack of anything else to do while she waited for someone to break the silence. Eventually the slightly awkward peace was broken by Damon forcing down a piece of cafeteria meatloaf and desperately grabbing for his water bottle. After a few gulps he pushed away his tray.
"God, that's fucking terrible." He grumbled to himself before looking back to Taylor and giving her a brief grin. "Look, Taylor I wanted to say sorry about yesterday I've been told that I may have come off-"
"Like a total dick."
Chris slipped in casually, the only acknowledgement that Damon gave him was a brief glare before continuing on like nothing had happened.
"I've been informed that I may have been a bit… abrasive. I just wanted to make sure you knew it had nothing to do with you."
"Okay." Taylor began. "If it didn't have anything to do with me. What was it about?"
Damon and Chris simultaneously rubbed the back of their necks and looked awkward.
"Alright, here's the thing we weren't able to field a team last year. We just couldn't get enough players before the deadline and Coach has been working real hard to make sure that didn't happen again. He contacted all of us over the summer to see if we were wanting to play but we haven't been able to find a ninth player."
Chris took a sip out of his water bottle and Damon took over the story.
"The cutoff date is this Friday and so when Will brought in someone who has never been on the team before, who as far as I know has never been on any team before." Damon gave a quick questioning glance at Taylor who shook her head in response. "Will brought in someone who as far as I could tell never played baseball before and wanted her to be our shortstop. I didn't want us to be fielding someone who couldn't keep up is all."
"And then Tay showed us all that she could keep up no problem." Jay burst in cheerily as he placed a tray in front of Taylor. "I gotcha the burger, it was a choice between that and the meatloaf and I think that's been sitting out for a couple days. Hope that's okay."
"It's fine." Taylor replied before digging in which was clearly the only thing Jay had been waiting on because he demolished his own burger in seconds.
"Wait, the meatloaf's been sitting out there for days." Damon asked tightly.
"Yup."
"And you didn't tell me."
"Nope."
Damon contemplated this for a second while Jay tried his best to engage Taylor in conversation.
"Is this because I broke your bat that one time?"
Jay looked at him all wide eyed and placed his hand on his chest. Then in a voice filled with as much exaggerated innocence as he could muster he responded.
"No, not at all."
On the sidelines of this confrontation Taylor and Chris rolled their eyes in unison and snickered to themselves. After a moment Damon and Jay joined them after the sounds of their laughter finished echoing through the dismal halls of Winslow the four sat in a companionable silence.
"So, Tay." Jay began as he threw an arm around Taylor's shoulders. "I gotta ask where you've been playing because man, we could have used you last year girl!"
As was his custom Jay said this at a volume that just barely avoided being categorized as shouting. Unused to praise Taylor tried (and failed) to hide her blush from the three boys at the table. Thankfully for her comfort they were better able to suppress the awwwwsss that wanted to escape at the sight.
"I um, never actually really played before yesterday." Taylor said shyly. "We were playing it in gym when Will saw me and I guess he thought I had some potential or something."
All three of them stared at her wide eyed and as the silence stretched on Taylor felt herself shrinking in her seat.
Great job Taylor. You just had to brag and now they are all going to hate you. When the hell are you going to learn to shut-
"Potential's definitely one word for it." Damon laughed. "Not to brag or anythin, but we've all been playing for a while and we're pretty damn good." A wicked grin grew across his face. "I think we're going to surprise some people this year."
"I can get behind that." Taylor said matching his grin, malicious intent for malicious intent.
Jay and Chris looked back and forth between the two of them and had two simultaneous but very different thoughts. Chris thought that these two should never be left alone under any circumstances. Jay thought it was nice that they were making friends after the awkwardness of yesterday.
The rest of the day flew by in a happy blur until finally it was time for Taylor's second day of practice. After a quick trip to the equipment room to grab herself a bat and glove Taylor was ready to take the field but first Coach Harris wanted a team meeting. As they all took a knee in the outfield Harris paced back and forth in front of them for a moment.
"Alright." He said clapping his hands together to get their attention. "I got good news and bad news folks. The good news is Jamison couldn't put a team together and have officially withdrawn from the league for this year. So, we've got one less team to worry about. The bad news is they've moved our first game up. We're playing on the 23rd. So, I'm going to be working you all twice as hard. Are you ready!!!!"
He finished on a scream and the eight original players responded with a resounding. "YES COACH!!!!!" Taylor missed her cue sadly but joined in with gusto half a second late.
The first hour of practice went well for Taylor. The focus was on fielding and she was on fire, not a ball went past her. There were double plays to spare. She was truly in her element and the joyous smiles on all the members of the infield couldn't have been removed by any force in the universe. Sadly, the rules that Taylor had lived under for the past few years returned in force and her joy was quickly shattered.
"Okay, Taylor you got this all right."
Christian's still lingering Texas drawl said from behind her where he crouched ready to catch whatever pitch Will was going to send her way. There was the wind up and the pitch. The fast ball was coming straight down the middle, it would be an easy hit for any half decent batter. Taylor gritted her teeth and swung as hard as she could. The bat connected and the ball flew. The ball flew and landed outside the first base line. It was a foul ball. The fifth consecutive foul ball Taylor had hit.
"You'll get it next time Tay."
Jay called out as she walked back to the dugout and as she passed Chris on his way to the plate, he gave her a sympathetic smile. Even Damon gave her a pat on the back and some consoling words. Taylor heaved out a sigh as she sunk down on the bench. It would have been so much easier to stomach the fact that her apparent natural talent for the game disappeared as soon as she was at bat, if everyone wasn't so God damn nice about it.
"So, what if you aren't great at bat?" Jay said in as consoling a tone as he could muster. "We got plenty of people who can handle that. You're still a damn good short stop."
"I guess, I just wish I could figure out what I was doing wrong." Taylor huffed as she slumped back. "I can't help feeling like I should be better at it then this."
"How horrible." Damon chuckled next to them. "You're not great at everything at your second practice. You'll figure it out I got no doubt about that." He stood up and stretched before grabbing his bat and heading out for his turn at bat.
Damon managed to get the ball sent to shallow center field after a single strike and then Jay hit a home run right off the bat. As Taylor trudged her way to home plate for her turn, she just wanted to get it over with. The first pitch came and it was a strike, the second came and the curve ball went a little wide and Taylor got a ball. On the third pitch Taylor connected and it was a foul ball once again. From where he was standing and observing all of this Coach Harris's eyes went wide and he jogged over.
"Hold up Taylor." He called out as she started to walk away. "Let's do a few more pitches alright I wanna try something."
With a shrug Taylor returned to the plate and got ready for yet another exercise in failure. However, things went a little different this time Christian stood up and moved so he was standing across from her.
"Okay, show me your swing." He said "Nice and slow." Taylor did just that two or three times and he nodded to himself. "Okay, you're a bit close to the plate, try taking it back half a step."
Taylor did so and he gave her as encouraging a smile as he could.
"Will just give us something nice and easy."
With a shrug Will did just that and things went a bit different. This time when Taylor connected the ball managed to stay in play but there was still work to be done. It was nothing more than a pop fly to first base, if this had been a game it would have been an easy out.
"Okay, now we're making some progress." Coach Harris cheered. "It looks like you're keeping the bat a bit low. Let's try raising your swing bout an inch, inch and a half."
With a smirk that was slowly growing more confident Taylor took her coaches advice and glared daggers at Will on the mound. This time she'd get a decent hit damn it. Will fought the urge to bag for mercy as he got ready to pitch.
"Give us something with a bit of heat this time Will." Harris instructed
Will sent his fastball rocketing towards Taylor. Taylor swung as hard and as fast as she could. She connected and this time, this time it was a not quite beautiful line drive right up the middle. She turned to beam at Coach Harris and he was waiting for her with a smile of his own.
"Now, that's more like. Now you just gotta keep practicing till you can do that consistently. Now hit the bench, it's time we let Chris get a swing in."
With that said he strode over to the outfield where he was prepared to offer encouragement and criticism as needed to Robbie, Alan and Ray. Taylor headed back to the dugout where her boys were waiting with congratulations and advice.
By the end of practice Taylor could get herself a decent hit every couple of at bats. She wasn't likely to hit a game winning homer anytime soon but she had a chance of at least getting on base, maybe, perhaps. As she left the girls locker room with an exhausted smile on her face, she found herself running into Chris, Damon and Jay who must have been waiting for her judging by how Damon kept glancing at his watch.
"Hey, what're you all waiting around for."
Taylor asked as she tried to juggle her bat and glove so she could get her back pack on properly. Without being asked Jay marched over and took the sports equipment from her.
"We were going to grab something at Fugly Bobs." Jay said as he took a look at the school provided glove with a frown. "Figured we'd ask if you wanted to come along."
Taylor narrowed her eyes and finally a question that had been burning in the back of her mind all day finally demanded to be asked.
"Why?"
All three of them looked confused and after a brief silent consultation between the three of them Jay answered for the group.
"You seem cool and we're all on the same team so why shouldn't we hang out." Jay replied sounding confused. "If you don't want to that's fine but there's no need to make it sound like it's so awful to spend time with us."
Taylor looked at the ground awkwardly and made a few faltering attempts to respond to a seemingly sincere offer of friendship.
"It's not like that, you guys have been great really. It's just not a lot of people have wanted to hang out with me for the past few… years."
Taylor trailed off as this conversation was veering dangerously close to the realm of emotional honesty and she just was not ready for that.
"Then people are idiots." Damon said dismissively.
"Now you coming or what?" Chris asked with a friendly grin.
"Yeah, I'm coming. I just need to drop this stuff back at the gym." Taylor answered as she grabbed the bat and glove from Jay. I'll meet you guys in front okay."
The walk to Fugly Bob's had been remarkably pleasant, the four of them just passed the time talking about random things. It turned out that Chris had a mind for literature. He and Taylor had a lovely time confusing Damon and Jay as they had an in-depth discussion about The Canterbury Tales. By the time they arrived at the restaurant both Jay and Damon were ready to fall to their knees and beg the nerds of the group to stop. As soon as the waiter came to their table Jay immediately demanded the challenger while Taylor and the other got food slightly more suitable for human consumption. The four ate in companionable silence until the majority of the table was approaching the ends of their meals and it was then that conversation resumed.
"I noticed you were using the school's equipment." Damon stated before taking a bite out of his double cheeseburger. With the aid of her diet coke Taylor was able to swallow her tasty morsel and reply.
"Yeah, like I told you guys I hadn't really played baseball before yesterday so you know no glove."
Taylor shrugged and returned to her meal.
"Any plans on getting one of your own?" Chris asked casually. Taylor looked down at her fries as if they were the most interesting thing in the world and answered without looking up.
"Eventually but things are kind of tight at home. So y'know the school's stuff is good enough for now."
With that answer Taylor continued slowly eating the remainder of her fries. Chris and Damon shared a look and a nod as they silently confirmed their plans. A sickly groan came from Jay as he placed his face on the table. Once again, he'd failed in his personal quest. The challenger still sat on his plate with about a quarter of it left to go. Chris reached out and patted him on his back.
"One day buddy. One day."
September 20th 2010.
As Taylor left the girls locker room, she was whistling a happy tune and was ready for another day of practice. She made her way down the halls not really paying attention to what was going on around her when she was suddenly stopped.
"Taylor, hold on a second." Coach Harris called from behind her. "We're having a team meeting in the men's locker room would you join us for a moment." Taylor turned around and looked clearly hesitant. "Don't worry everyone's decent it'll just be a few minutes."
Still looking hesitant Taylor slowly made her way to that most forbidden of places. Although she found herself somewhat disappointed by what was revealed. It looked pretty much identical to the women's locker room and as Coach Harris had promised everyone was fully dressed. Taylor quickly took a seat on a bench next to Jay who gave her a small smile. Coach Harris strolled to the center of the room and immediately drew the attention of the entire team who started to wonder what he was holding behind his back.
"Thanks for bearing with me all of you." He began. "I know you're all raring to get out there and work yourselves to the bone but there's just a bit of housekeeping to take care of first. Taylor, would you come up here please."
Taylor and Jay shared a confused look before she got up to join her coach.
"What's this about?" Taylor whispered once she was next to him.
"Don't worry it's nothing bad." Coach Harris said out of the corner of his mouth. "Now I had to put a bit of a rush on this but it's finally ready. Taylor you are now officially part of the team."
With that pronouncement he placed a baseball cap on Taylor's head and handed her a jersey.
"Everyone let's have a round of applause for Taylor Hebert number 9 on the Winslow Wildcat's!!!!"
The room burst into cheers and without missing a beat the outfielders immediately burst into song.
"OH, FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! FOR SHE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW! WHICH NOBODY CAN DENY!"
The rest of the team joined in for a few verses until Coach Harris decided that was enough frivolity for the day and ordered them out to the field.
"Hey wait up a sec Taylor." Chris said before once the four infielders were the last players in the locker room. "We got you something."
With that pronouncement Jay reached out offered Taylor a bat. Damon followed suit with a glove.
"We figured a damn good short stop deserved some damn good equipment." Chris declared.
Taylor just stood there looking at the bat and glove in her hands. As the silence grew the boys became nervous.
"If you don't like them, we kept the receipts." Jay began nervously. "No need to worry about hurting our feelings or anything. We want you to have stuff you like."
Taylor mutely shook her head before surprising everyone by turning and wrapping Jay up in a hug. Acting on instinct Jay hugged her back although he looked confused all the while.
"I love it. Thank you." Taylor said to the room at large before looking over her shoulder at Chris and Damon. "Now you two get over here. I'm only doing this once."
"Yes ma'am." The two laughed as they walked over and joined the group hug.
September 23rd 2010.
Taylor stood in the hallway of Immaculata's baseball field waiting for the rest of her team to join her. She was so focused on suppressing her nerves that she nearly jumped out of her skin when Jay's loud voice startled her.
"You ready to kick some ass?"
Taylor turned and looked at her comrades in the fine art of the double play and grinned.
"Let's show them what we got."
So just some quick notes on how this is going to work. I'm not going to be covering every game they play just cause I think that would get kind of boring so we're mostly going to be doing the ones that have plot significance and any other wins or losses are going to be just kind of mentioned. The Winslow 9 was always planned to be a nickname as opposed to the actual team name a bit of a plot point is going to be that they only have enough players to field a team. There's no relief pitcher, there's no one who can be subbed in if someone's starting to flag in the later innings and god forbid someone's injured.
On another note Jay is kind of dancing on the line of himbo-dom and I sort of love him.
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