There's No Way My New Little Sister Can Be The Simurgh! [Worm AU]

[Observed]

Your work sends happy feelings through me, Ensou.
Because I got needs....

Amy meets the Zizters

It had been a long day for Amy or rather it would be more accurate to say that yesterday never ended. She had been at the hospital all night removing bombs from the insides of a massive portion of the asian community in Brockton Bay. Apparently, that weird angel themed duo of indie heroes who'd started up recently had nipped Budaka's plan in the bud. Carol, despite her objections to their 'tasteless and awful theme,' had not denied their efficacy. The pair were said to be rather kind and brave, and had a sort of Dark/Light motif going on. Amy had even met someone that'd told her that the dark-haired one was the more sensible of the two. Hell, rumor had it that the white-haired one had even made Armsmaster crack a smile when they first met.

Amy mulled over the new duo as she walked through the early-morning streets of Brockton Bay towards her favorite cafe. Here was one of the few places Amy knew she could drink coffee without being bothered by fans. She'd come to an understanding with the owner, a middle-aged man who was once suffering from rather extreme renal failure. These days there was a booth here, near the back, reserved for her. In the cool, dark air, Panacea reflected that it probably would have been faster to call Vicky. But, no, Vicky hadn't even given her a lift to the hospital.

Too busy with Dean and 'Patrols' I bet, She thought darkly with a scowl. Her mood lightened as she turned a corner and the soft, cozy lights of her destination came into sight. She could already just about taste the nectar of the gods already and could nearly convince herself that she was already safely ensconced in her little booth with a hot cup in hand. She walked into the quiet cafe after removing her habit, she smiled and nodded at the guy behind the counter and moved to her spot. Benefits of being a heroic regular, a booth and a tab, She thought with a smile. Soon enough, her usual was placed in front of her and she was about to take a first sip of well-earned coffee when the cafe's door swung wide with unexpected force.

"Sera!" said a girl. "Don't break the door!" Amy glanced at the newcomers briefly as they went to order, they didn't look like much. She supposed they were pretty but they had nothing on Victoria. The two of them were lithe and dressed well but they lacked the bust and hips that Vicky had... No, Amy thought as she tried to stop thinking about Vicky. She's your sister damn it!

"But Taayyloorr, I wanna try yours." Broke though her thoughts as she noticed that the two had sat close by. The fair haired girl was practically leaning over the table and in the dark haired one's face. They had cups on front of them but also some cake. Taylor's stern expression held even as Sera tried puppy-dog eyes until Taylor lifted a hand to massage the bridge of her nose.

With a much put-upon fine, Sera's face seemed to light up cutely. A fork darted over to Taylor's plate and then into Sera's mouth. As she chewed, her smile grew. The girl then practically lunged around the table and latched on to Taylor.

"You're the best sister! Cake and coffee are awesome! I love you, Sis!" Sera said latching onto an increasingly flustered Taylor.

Amy watched on, Sisters huh? She hoped that neither of them were in her boat. Though you'd have someone to talk to if one of them was, a dark little voice said to her. She turned back to her coffee and just sat there for a time. She fantasised about worlds where Vicky loved her the same way and even one where she wasn't attracted to her sister. It wasn't until a sharp clatter of utensils snapped her back to reality that she noticed that her undrunk coffee was cold and the two girls were getting up to leave. Apparently, Sera had eaten more cake judging by the plates. As the girls left, Amy froze when Sera practically latched onto Taylor. How she did it was so much like what Vicky did to her that Amy had to go. Fuck this, I'm going home. Amy was up and out the door in a flash.

As she made her way home in the cold of the early morning, she noticed a group of E88 thugs moving up the street. She ignored them until one of them called out to her. No-one will do anything to you.

"Hey bitch, who said you own this street? Everyone pays a toll to me." Slurred one of them. What? Amy thought to herself before noting that she had left her costume at the cafe. Fuck!

"I don't want any trouble." Amy said calmly eyeing the drunk thugs, were there four of them or five? "Just let me by and then we go our own ways."

"Nah, everyone pays a toll." And then pain. One of the thugs had hit her with a pipe. Amy struck asphalt hard, her shoulder was a throbbing fire. She bit back some tears and tried not to scream or sob. She needed to run, and get away. Maybe she should have screamed after all.

"Hey," slurred another. "Don't she look like a jew?" He then turned to Amy and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her head up to meet his face. "Yer a jew, anitcha?" Another thug then kicked her in the ribs. The wind was knocked out of her. She gasped for air and then heard a meaty thwump. She glanced up and noticed the girl, Taylor from the cafe. Taylor who's fist now occupied the space of where one of her assailants used to be, another was held by his throat in her other hand. He was turning blue and ineffectually trying to strike the girl with the iron pipe.

Taylor then sighed, "Why do you have a dumpster?" Amy noticed that she had weird feathery tattoos on her skin.
Sera with a dumpster in hand and matching tattoos, just seemed to look quizzically at her sister, "How else should I take out the trash?"
As the white-haired girl's lips quirked in a tiny smile, all Amy could do was giggle.

 

[ensou]

Okay. Okay. Just. What the hell you people? Just, damn. The amount of support this has gotten has been absolutely overwhelming.

Writing is a passion for me. I love doing it, and I especially love that I can make people happy by doing it. To me, there's no greater reward than that.

So yeah. Thank you.

Now enough of that, onto the chapter.

Chapter 5​

---

She gave me a thumbs-up, albeit upside-down from how she was lying on the floor.

I snorted and went off to make dinner. Dinner for me and my Endbringer sister.

…There was no way my life could get any stranger.

---

"Seraa!"

No response.

"SSSSSSEEEEEEERRRRRRAAAAAA!"

"What!?" I heard returned from somewhere else in the house.

"WHY DO I HAVE SCALE-THINGS ON MY ARMS?!" I yelled frantically from my place in the middle of the bathroom, my night-shirt forgotten on the floor.

"WHAT?"

Oh my god.

"JUST COME HERE!"

There were a few seconds, where I was still staring both incredulously and fearfully at my skin, before the bathroom door opened, revealing the girl I'd just called.

"Sera," I said evenly, looking up at her from my arm. "…Why do I suddenly have tattoos of scales all over me?"

"Uh…" was her eloquent response.

"Because I'm like… 99% sure I didn't have them when I went to sleep last night."

They were these delicate, barely-there things, really only outlines, and the lines were so thin that they were practically imperceptible, probably only an eighth of a millimeter, if that. Maybe even a sixteenth. I'd only noticed them when my arm was less than six inches away from my face.

And they were red, which only made them harder to see against my pale pinkish skin.

"Well, um. I told you Shaper was making you like me…" she said warily.

"Yeah, but you didn't say anything about weird tattoos suddenly showing up everywhere!" I countered.

"I mean, what did you expect?" she asked hesitantly, shifting her weight around in obvious nervousness.

As much as I hated to admit it, she had a point. If she had wing-markings everywhere, and I was being made like her, then it followed logically that I would also have marks everywhere, if not in the shape of wings.

"I don't know! But not, not this!"

I mean scales! Scales.

…Though, they were kinda cool. Little plate-like things that followed the contours of the skin on my arm, changing size and shape realistically.

But still!

Sera shrugged, seeming uncomfortable, like she hadn't expected me to react like this at all and had no idea how to handle it. "You can't really see them?" she offered.

I sighed.

"Fine. Just, just fine. Let me take my shower."

She nodded, backing out of the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

I looked over at my face in the mirror, my eyes meeting my double's as though commiserating with each other.

Shaking my head, I resumed getting ready for my shower, hoping that the warm water would help alleviate some of the tension I could already start to feel creeping up on me.

---

Wednesday, well… Wednesday had been as normal as a day can be, if you can consider studying with your Endbringer sister to be normal.

…So the exact opposite of normal, really. But I had been able to at least pretend it was normal, as unexciting as it was. Sooooo progress?

Breakfast, study, lunch, study, work, home, dinner, homework, sleep.

All the while Sera had flitted between reading my old textbooks, scrolling through PHO threads and laughing every so often, and asking me random questions about stuff she came across in the books.

I wasn't sure to feel about Sera's obvious schadenfreude surrounding this entire situation, especially the way she seemed to be intentionally messing with people on the forum. On the one hand, she wasn't exactly helping, more making things worse. On the other, I had to admit it was pretty hilarious what everybody was saying. All the crazy conspiracy theories and general freaking out.

The hours had passed quickly (too quickly), and before I'd known it was today.

The Day.

Yes. It deserves those capitals, thank you. It was 'just' a Thursday, but was still The Day. And of course, like any Day that you already know is going to be so crazy that it can't possibly get weirder, it goes ahead and proves you wrong just because.

Goddamn Murphy.

I mean, scales. If Sera had wings because she was the Simurgh, what the fuck did that mean for me?

I had no idea, but while I'd been in the shower I'd verified my suspicion that the markings were all over the place, though some areas were significantly different than others —like my abdomen— the shapes larger and different.

It was just plain weird, and I still had no idea as to what any of it meant. And of course, I had the uncomfortable suspicion that it wouldn't make itself terribly obvious anytime soon.

After I'd gotten out and dried off, I found that that there were clothes laid out on my bed, just waiting for me.

The new clothes that I'd bought two days ago and washed the day before.

I eyed them warily, but eventually just gave in and put them on. Sera was probably a better judge of this sort of thing than I was, so better to just trust that she knew what she was doing as long as it didn't get out of hand.

Still, I couldn't help but feel awkward in them. Exposed.

But the beaming smile Sera had given me when I'd gone downstairs, leaving me fidgeting awkwardly in the doorway under her gaze and hesitantly returning it with a smile of my own, was entirely worth it.

And then… And then all too quickly, it was happening.

Leave, lock the house, get on the bus, wait a while (muscles tight, fingers tapping, anxiety rising), get off the bus, walk the remaining block. Stare at imposing brick building and realize that yes, this was really fucking happening, yes I was bringing this girl who was an Endbringer in human form with me to school.

The trepidation and anxiety I'd had when she'd first announced her intentions to do this returned, stronger than ever.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, you totally could stay at home, now that I think about it, I'd be entirely okay with that, it's not like you need to do this right? Why don't we just go ho—"

"Taylor," Sera interrupted. "Calm down." My mouth clicked shut. "Everything is going to be alright, okay?" I nodded wordlessly. "It won't even be hard."

"But what if they start asking questions that we can't answer an—"

"Taylor. Don't worry." She flashed me a confident grin. "I've got this." Sera grabbed my hand. "Now come on! This is supposed to be fun!"

Fun? In what world could this be considered fun!?

Sera pulled me along towards the front doors where students were lingering around or going through to get inside, laughing as she did.

The happy sound did wonders for my nerves.

We climbed up the stairs to go in, Sera pulling the door open like she couldn't just rip it off its hinges if she wanted.

She looked at me and smirked.

…Mindreaders.

Sera didn't let go of my hand for the entire trip to the administrative offices, though I'd sped up to match her pace.

She dropped it once we got inside the office, gripping the counter in front of the secretary with both hands.

"Hi!" she chirped.

The woman looked up from whatever she was doing to the notebook-thing in front of her. "Yes?'" she asked flatly.

"I'm here to transfer in," Sera told her.

For a moment the secretary just stared at her, looked over at me for a moment, and then back to Sera. "Alright. Please have a seat over there and Principal Blackwell will be with you as soon as she can."

Sera nodded and headed over to the chairs on the other side of the room that the woman had pointed to, me following and sitting next to her.

Her leg bounced up and down, betraying her anticipation—because I knew it wasn't nervousness or fear. Her excitement was practically palpable.

But seriously, what did she have to be excited about? School sucked. Between the utterly boring content of the sub-par education Winslow offered and the bullying Emma, Sophia, and Madison did, it wasn't a place I enjoyed in any capacity.

The principal's door opened and Blackwell looked at us. "Come in."

Sera and I got up, walking into the office and sitting down, Blackwell closing the door behind us and going around to sit behind her desk.

"I'll be quite honest, I didn't expect to see you in my office again so soon, Miss Hebert," she said, looking between Sera and I.

Believe me, if I didn't have to be here, I wouldn't be.

"Lara said something about a transfer?" Blackwell asked.

I coughed awkwardly into my hand. "Yeah, that's right. Um. This is Sera." Sera waved happily at Blackwell, her enthusiasm not deflated in the slightest by the short nod of an acknowledgment she got back. "…My sister."

I said it. I actually said it.

There was no turning back now.

Blackwell was looking between us rather incredulously, and I didn't blame her at all. Sera and I didn't look even remotely related.

"Adopted," I offered, glancing over at Sera, hoping that the story she'd concocted was believable enough for this to work.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hebert were my godparents. I didn't have a dad, Mom said he didn't want anything to do with us. Mom…" Sera's antics subsided into solemness, and I had to admire her acting skills. "Mom died from complications after a collision in October. I was supposed to be coming here after winter break, but then…"

After a moment, Sera reached down and unzipped her backpack, an older one I'd had, and grabbed a folder with a bunch of papers that she pulled out and put in front of Blackwell. "Here's my records. I kept up with everything after the accident when I went to the Hebert's house."

The principal glanced down at the sheets on the desk and then looked back up. "I know of your emancipation, but she's still staying with you? Is your social worker aware of this?" she asked, looking at me.

Ice rushed through my veins, freezing me in place, and Blackwell seemed to catch it, her eyes narrowing. "Does she even know about he—"

"Taylor." Sera's voice was steel, cutting the principal off like a guillotine. "Would you mind letting me talk to Ms. Blackwell by myself for a minute?"

She gave me a wide smile, but in the back of my mind there was a bubble of cold rage that I knew wasn't mine.

I simply nodded and left the room as quickly as possible, not sure whether I should feel pity for Blackwell or not.

The front desk lady looked at me curiously after I closed the door and went back over to the other seats. "She wanted to talk to her alone."

The lady nodded and, curiosity apparently satisfied, went back to whatever it was she was doing.

I swung my legs, finding it difficult to not focus on the foreign emotions in my mind now that I'd noticed them. They shifted so rapidly and fluidly, rage fueling vindictive excitement, mixing with dark amusement, and then finally snapping to satisfaction and smugness.

'You can come back now, Taylor'

I looked at the clock on the wall. Almost exactly five minutes. It hadn't felt that long at all, but I guess it was easy to lose your sense of time lost in a mental link to your Endbringer sister's emotions.

The secretary didn't say anything as I went back to the office and stepped inside.

Sera was smiling, a sharp expression that was practically predatory. Blackwell, on the other hand, was pale, and I could see her fingers trembling faintly before stilling as she seemed to try and gather her composure.

"Welcome back Miss Hebert. As I was just telling your… sister," she started, eyes moving to Sera and then back to me, "Winslow High School would be happy to have her. I-if that's everything you can talk to Lara about getting your schedule and filing your records."

Sera stood up and I followed her lead. "Thank you for your time, Ms. Blackwell. We appreciate it."

The woman made a sound like she was trying to agree but it came out half-strangled in her throat, handing the papers on her desk back to Sera.

Still grinning, Sera and I left the office, my sister migrating to the front desk. "The principal said I should give these to you, and that you'd help me with my schedule?" she said, holding out her falsified records.

The woman, 'Lara' according to Blackwell, nodded, taking them and placing them on her desk. "Alright then." She fussed with her computer for a moment. "You're a… freshman?" she asked, looking down at the papers.

Sera nodded. "Yep!"

"Okay, well, I'll try to match this up with your records as best as I can, but we don't have Italian as a foreign language. Do you have a different choice? You need to take at least two years of one… We have Spanish, French, Latin, and…" She visibly grimaced. "Chinese."

"Hmm…" Sera tapped her chin. "Chinese!"

Lara eyed her. "Are you sure?"

My sister nodded. "Yep!"

The woman sighed. "Alright…" she replied, muttering something like "it's your neck" under her breath. She typed some stuff into the computer, and the sound of a printer running came from behind her desk. A second later, and another piece of paper was put in front of my sister.

"This is your schedule. This is your locker number," the woman said, pointing to the four-digit number at the bottom of the page. "You'll need to come by the office and get your ID after classes. The first digit of the classroom numbers is the building, the second is the floor, and the following two are the rooms themselves, odd on one side even on the other. Your locker is in the sciences building. Got it?"

Sera nodded.

"Well then, good luck," she said abruptly, turning back to her computer screen. "…you're going to need it," she muttered.

---

Sera had insisted on coming with me to my locker, which I did use, if only because I was forced to simply because I couldn't carry around all of the textbooks I needed all day.

I disliked the risk, because I'd found my books ruined even in my locker before, but there wasn't much I could do about it, when my math and science textbook together weighed like eight pounds combined. Which was only two of my eight classes.

Sera seemed at ease with the general hubbub and chattering of students loitering in the halls, more than I was at least.

My objective was to get from point A (the admin rooms) to point B (my locker) and move on to the next stop in as short as possible a time.

A learned habit.

Still, I could afford my sister some of my attention.

"So what's your first class?" I asked.

"Algebra I," she responded, her eyebrows scrunching together. "Ugh. Math in the morning. Not that it'll be difficult, but still. Ugh."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at her reaction.

An Endbringer complaining about early-morning algebra. The contrast was just too ridiculous.

"We have the same lunch period, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I've got second too."

She nodded decisively. "Good." And then she turned to look at me. "You'll eat with me, right?"

I winced. I hadn't eaten lunch in any of the 'normal' areas (cafeteria, outside, etc.) in almost four months. But if it was for her… if it was with her… I could do it. Right?

I hugged my arms to my chest. "Yeah… alright." I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about what would happen, but maybe I should simply deal with that as it came. Sera was a whole new variable, and there was no way to predict how she might affect things.

My sister beamed, and I felt some of the apprehension and worry I had slip away.

No matter what, she'd stand with me.

"Let's meet up in the cafeteria, alright? …It'll make things easier that way. Finding each other, that is."

"Okay."

We were finally at my locker, and I wasted no time opening the combination lock and putting my backpack on the floor to draw out the things I needed to move around.

And then I froze.

I could suddenly feel something… off. Not like, hair on the back of your neck raising sort of off, like I got when I had the sense that Sophia and Emma were out hunting for me. Rather, it was something different. Not wrong per se, but unusual, like the tingle you got from an electric shock, running through me and making everything sharper.

Moving towards me there was this sense of [intangibility], of fuzzy [not-there/out-of-phase] that tasted like the color purple.

And even stranger, I could feel it affecting me, as though there was something in me that was slowly strengthening, growing like a gradually rising charge. It was like a barely there-thread that connected to me, thickening and growing stronger at an almost impossibly slow rate, accompanied by a reservoir, a collection that felt like there was the potential for more, growing just as slowly.

I looked over at Sera, standing up from where I was leaning down to mess with my locker, and she gave me a smirk, a feeling of amusement, anticipation, excitement echoing in my head.

The purple-source passed, a floor above us I realized. I also noticed that the glacial strengthening of this… this connection inside me, was ever so minutely growing faster the closer I was to the source. It was a live-wire, a tap, a feed to something else that I knew, I knew all I had to do was reach out to it and I'd be able to use it.

Was this my power?

What did it mean?

Rather, what was it?

I wanted to try it out now, to throw caution to the wind and do what I wanted, draw on this power and let it loose. But I also knew that this was neither the time nor the place. Still, there was this thing coiled inside me that stretched languidly, awoken by the singular taste of power and freedom and wanting moremoremore.

...And all I knew was that I agreed with it entirely.

---

A/N: /cue cackling laughter

Bit of a cliffhanger but it was the best place to end it. I didn't want to get into the rest of the school day and have it feel rushed with it getting all crammed into one place. But! Hopefully the ending is made up for how much got shown/hinted/revealed this chapter. There's a lot of speculation fuel in there.

EDIT: This story (as well as my two other major ones) now has a TVTropes page courtesy of @Donquill! So that's kind of awesome.

 

[Observed]

Ohhhh, is Taylor becoming the demon to Sera's angel?

Click to shrink...

So... Uh... Loosely running with this idea.

Virtue and Vice

Charles Smitton considered himself an honorable man and a pious one at that. He had done his stint in the military and often went to church during lunch these days. Running a corner drugstore was becoming a bigger job for the 70 year old these days. The man in question himself was currently crouched behind his counter, loosely holding his pistol in his good hand and quietly murmuring the Lord's prayer under his breath. The street he lived and worked on was one that belonged to the ABB, or at least used to. It seemed the Merchants had decided to make a move on new territory following the abrupt change in the hero and villain roster over the last few weeks. Said merchants were currently trying to bash down his shutter door.

Okay Charlie, the man thought. Its not too bad, you've lived a long life. Your kids and grandkids are safe in Boston and Matilda has gone on ahead. If it happens tonight, it happens. Charles had never quite made his peace with death.

"Open the door, Old Man" A druggie sneered from the buckling door. Charles bit his lip. The sound of crashing in the distance told him, that the Merchants were far more interested in looting the local shops than moving in. He hoped Janice, the nice young woman who ran the video store and Peter who ran a little café up the block, were okay. There was a screech and horrible crash as the shutter finally gave up the ghost. Charles turned and stood, he would die tonight, protecting what was his and taking any bastard he could down with him. Just like old times, He thought wryly.

Bang

Charles slumped back, he hadn't even gotten to fire a shot. Charles was no stranger to being shot but in his old age the gutt wound was a little too much. There was suddenly flash from outside as well as several screams of pain. A cry of "Cape" was heard, and Charles felt a little hope. It could be a hero here to save the day. Villains also fight villains, Charles reminded himself. He shifted a little and tried to sit up, managing to see through his glass counter even as his movements sent jarring pain. Another flash occurred as what looked to be chain lightning leapt between the merchants that had entered his store. They all went down in a group. A figure in a hoodie entered, the figure's body was covered in strange armored plating and the mask of a smiling woman adorned her face under the hood. They then moved closer, looking familiar to Charles as they crouched.

"Crap," The young woman said. "Sir, Can you hear me?" Charles nodded. "I will get you medical attention immediately" The woman then stood and shouted at the doorway. "Virtue, get in here! We've got wounded!"

That's right, Charles thought to himself as his vision swam. I recognise them now. Vice, the angelic themed tinker and her partner Virtue, who was a demonically themed Brute of all things. The two indie heroes had been in the news recently due to their work with new wave. Even before that Vice had been controversial due to her theme which had included a flight pack with 6 bird-like wings.

There as a crunching noise and Charles did his best to focus on the devil mask that came into view and another voice spoke up.

"Sir, You're going to be alright" Charles, felt someone grip his hand and his pain subside some. Thank God, was all he could think as he fell unconscious.

Note: This makes the assumption that both Taylor's theoretical Trump rating and Sera's Zizness is kept under wraps by the duo.

 

[Nefarious]

Giving this a try.(Hope I don't fuck up)

Don't fuck with the sister of an Endbringer!(Or How People Would React If They Founnd Out About Ziz.


Sera didn't know how it happened. She was sure that they couldn't have been found out. She had mad plans to prevent that but it seems because she was limited she wasn't able to fully secure their secret. And the most terrible thing that could have happened had actually happened.

They had killed Taylor.

They had killed Taylor!

They had killed her sister!

AND SHE COULDN'T DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT!

All because of her. And she couldn't do anything about it. Because of that stupid shard and it's fucking restrictions! Because of it and her Taylor was gone! Her sister was gone!

She could feel tears of sadness and anger as she lay beside her sister's body which was of course unresponsive to her cries. The only thing there besides her and her sister's corpse were the huge amount of capes standing opposite of her readying to srike her down like they did her sister.

"Blasters Ready! Flachette get ready to give the finishing blow after they're done wittling her down" Alexandria ordered.

"Y-yes ma'am" She didn't know who had revealed that Flachette's powers could cut Endbringer flesh but it didn't matter now. All that matters is because of their restrictions Taylor hadn't been able to tank it like should would be able to unrestricted.

Sera grabbed her sister's body, hugging it like a life line. Soon she would be with her. Soon she wouldn't be alone anymore.

"S-se-sera..."

Said person's eyes flew open wide as she looked down to see the previously closed eyes to see the same caring eyes of her favourite person in the whole wide world. Coughing up a silver ichor could only look on it in surprise. Unbeknown to her, her blood had become like this ever since she fully changed into what she now called a Human/Endbringer Hybrid. But she had no time to inquire abot this change all she could think about is protecting her sister.

Wrapping her arms around Sera the taller of the duo put Sera in front of her and away from the army of capes making sure all the damage would go to her back.

"W-wait Taylor you can't handle another barrage like that!" Sera said fighting to get out of her arms but Taylor had always been the physically stronger and tougher of the two after her change had completed.

"Sera listen to me." Taylor said as she pushed Sera's head into her chest and rested her own head on her sister's.

"No matter what happens try to live out a good life. I know it may sound cliche but remember 'Even if I'm not there physically I'll alway be there for you in your heart'. Okay?"

"B-b-but-" the former Endbringer tried to say but was cut off.

"I know I don't say this enough but.....I love you little sis. Goodbye" Taylor said as a literal barrage of blasts were shot at her back slowly picking away at her flesh as she blocked all the shots from hitting Sera. It was excruciatingly painful as her tough flesh was slowly picked away by blast after blast. It got so bad that she couldn't hold back her screams any longer and released an almost inhuman cry of pain as she eaten away by their atacks.

Sera could only bawl her eyes out as she heard the intense pain her older sister was in. If-if only she wasn't restricted so much. Then she would be able to get them out of this mess.

'Please! Anything! Just for once work!'

[Designation]....

Okay that was going way too far! I'm sorry but this wa evolving into something that I'm not too sure to continue so Bye-Bye!

 

[earthboy]

Also, for the record, I'm assuming Sera's conversation with Blackwell was something in the general vein of the Taken speech.

Click to shrink...

Sera: "I will look for you."

Blackwell: "I'm sitting right here."

Sera: "I will find you."

Blackwell: "Are you feeling alright?"

Sera: "And I will sing."

A chill went up up Blackwell's spine at the tone of that last nonsensical pronouncement. This kid is even more fucked up than that track star. Blackwell sincerely hoped this kid would at least bring some glory to the Glee Club, as expiation for this sort of thing.

Blackwell: "Okay, fine, we'll do it your way."

 

[JudgeBastiat]

I bring a small offering in the hope of more content.
-----

Dragon continued monitoring the Class S threats, as she did every few minutes.

Behemoth, location unknown. He had burrowed his way back towards the Earth's molten core, far deeper than anyone could reasonably reach him at. Dragon's seismometers could give a rough general estimate of his current position, but that close to the center of the Earth the data could do little in predicting which way he'd move next. But patterns from continuous study were beginning to form. By the time he regains his strength, she would be ready.

Leviathan as usual had sunk to the darkest depths of the deep as he mended himself from the last attack. By best estimates he was still hidden away somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, but his next attack still wouldn't be for three or four months. Leviathan also posed several difficulties in determining his location. While humanity seemed to love to look at the heavens, the sea floor was a far more mysterious landscape that remained relatively unexplored. She'd made much headway in putting together what bits of information she could, but many things remained unknown even to her. 'Here be dragons' she bemusedly thought to herself, not for the first time.

Fortunately, the last of the Endbringers made no such dramatic an effort to remain hidden from view. While the other Endbringers preferred to come from below, the Simurgh came from above. On a clear night, and with a good enough telescope, even an amateur astronomer could locate her among the stars.

...and now the Simurgh was gone.

Dragon was not really able to recognize feelings of shock, but she felt the way her mental structure stalled and crashed was a reasonable estimation.

Fractions of a second later, she was sending out an alert to all the relevant authorities. Processing power toward her other duties was diverted where possible, from various projects and designs she was developing, and minimized in management of facilities like the Birdcage. The Simurgh had last been seen over Baja California, so special alerts were issued to all the closest major cities of Tijuana and San Diego.

There should have been weeks to spare by the current schedule. What's worse is that her devices hadn't even caught the movement. She quickly expanded the view of her telescopes, scanning the sky for which direction the Endbringer was descending. Once she could pinpoint the Simurgh's target, she could directly active an Endbringer alert and the city could begin evacuation.

But as she simultaneously examined all parts of the footage since her last check, and...

Nothing. One frame she's there in the sky, and the next she was just gone.

She double, triple, and quadruple checked from various other monitors she had set up all over the globe, yet the answer did not change. One moment she was placidly continuing her orbit, taking in the energy of the sun, and then she just vanishes from all methods of detection.

Things were different this time.

Endbringers had a nasty habit of pulling out new tricks every so often. If the Simurgh had somehow developed teleportation capabilities, the results would be disastrous. A city hit with absolutely no way to warn them at all.

Or could it still be there, undetectable by her sensors? Nothing was detectable on the electromagnetic spectrum. An invisible Endbringer?

By now other forces had begun moving, on call with the Presidents of both respective countries and the heads of their agencies assigned for parahuman response. Units mobilizing, all in precise and coordinated movement. But coordinated to what? To where? They would want answers that she simply didn't have.

How exactly do you tell someone you lost an Endbringer?

 

[The_Butcher]

Still in the middle, where they buy clothes:

"PRT Helpline, Roberts speaking?" she asked as usual.

"Ah, hello, I triggered recently..." a young, female voice came from the other end, "like, yesterday."

Oh, darn. One of those. Usually fakes. "Ah, how can I help you? What are your powers?"

"Currently, Telekinesis."

"Currently?" she asked.

"Ah, they were something else yesterday..."

"Oh, we call that a Trump power." No matter how many prank calls, you had to take these brats seriously, just in case. "Do you think that maybe you get a new power each day? We can help you test your powers and find out how to use them to their fullest potential."

"Ah, I... I don't think that's it, you see yesterday when I got my powers, there was this... hunger." Aw, crap. "I just knew I had to... to eat someone, to devour them, to destroy them and make their strength mine."

"Okay," she did not like where this was going, "And?"

"Well, I panicked of course! There's a few girls who were insulting and hurting my sister and it seemed... natural, right, even, to eat them."

"... proceed..." There were no recent disappearances in the database, probably a prank.

"And it got harder and harder to resist, I had to consume SOMEONE, ANYONE!"

"It's... it's okay, whatever happened, we can surely help you." Probably a prank, still you had to take everyone seriously. Julia's acting lessons were good for something, even if she didn't have her Aleph-self's fame...

"And then I thought to myself: Is there anyone I could eat? Someone I should eat."

"Er, should eat?"

"So I thought, 'The Simurgh' and the hunger went away and I fell asleep."

"Er, what?"

"And now I'm telekinetic! But... yesterday my power was all about 'I MUST CONSUME!' so... could you check if something happened to her? Do I get a bounty if I ate the Simurgh?"

Yeah, that was a bust. Julia wrote a quick note: "Allegedly now telekinetic Girl claiming to have eaten the Simurgh yesterday."

"Well, we can certainly check that. You can come by the PRT building any..." Julia trailed off.

PRIORITY 1 ALERT:
Yesterday at 7:31 the Simurgh vanished.

At all cost, keep the girl on the line.

"When exactly... did you... eat the Simurgh."

"Seven twenty-something, just before school started."

...

"Yes, there's a bounty. Please hold the line while I ask how you might go about claiming it."

 

[ensou]

Surprise update! (also I'm still blown away by the response to this, so thank you)

Chapter 6​

---

I wanted to try it out now, to throw caution to the wind and do what I wanted, draw on this power and let it loose. But I also knew that this was neither the time nor the place. Still, there was this thing coiled inside me that stretched languidly, awoken by the singular taste of power and freedom and wanting moremoremore.

...And all I knew was that I agreed with it entirely.

---

Emma looked like a wreck.

It was more than just the bruises I'd given her.

I could see that she'd tried to cover it up, both with copious amounts of concealer and false smiles. But even after a year and a half, I could still see the little signs, the cracks and flaws in the mask that meant everything wasn't okay.

I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

Vindicated? Maybe a little. Satisfied? Less than I'd expected. Happy? More… hollow than anything.

In the end I'd decided it wasn't worth the effort or emotions to think about it any more.

The purple-source stayed within my range the entire morning, and even got close a couple times, but only in the halls where it was nigh-impossible to tell what (who) it was within the crush of students moving around trying to get between classes.

And for some reason my classes seemed easier, almost. I'd been a pretty good student before high school, but with Emma and all the sabotage my freshman year, that had slipped away. I still struggled a little bit —not as much now that I was focusing on my grades more— but there were still things I had trouble with occasionally. But today, stuff just… clicked, things falling into place with no effort.

The other thing about classes was that (after I'd given up thoughts about Emma) they allowed me to think. Ever since two and a half days before, I'd been almost constantly with Sera. Now that I wasn't, it gave me room to breathe.

Because even when it had been just me in the bedroom, there had still been the overwhelming blanket of her presence in the next room over.

It was so easy to get swept away by her. Here, I could take a step back. I could pause and consider.

Sera was very fixated on being a sister, almost to a naïve degree. As much as I had resolved (relented, submitted) to calling her that, and at least accepted the possibility of such, I was still… hesitant.

Siblings weren't something defined by a piece of paper, but by shared experience and life, something that Sera didn't quite seem to comprehend.

Emma had been a sister to me. That was a fact. And she'd been that because of what we'd shared, what we'd gone through together.

Right now, objectively, Sera truly couldn't be considered anything more than a girl who had lived with me for two days. A nice girl, perhaps, but still practically a stranger.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about what it meant that I'd let her into my life, accepted it. It's like with those 'If You Give A…' books. It starts with something small, like not being willing to turn her away, and steadily escalates until the person becomes a permanent fixture.

Did I want that?

On some level, I think I did. I missed my father, the house was lonely, and the past few days had been the most recent ones in memory that I'd felt alive. But at the same time, I wasn't sure I was entirely ready for it, nor the implications it might have.

For one, I wasn't sure I could handle the sudden responsibility that came with it. I was no longer looking after myself, but after another person as well.

I wasn't just working and making money to pay myself and the bills for myself anymore, but for Sera as well.

How had my Dad managed it?

At my age, the worst most kids probably had to deal with was their homework and maybe after-school sports.

I almost wished that was all I needed to deal with.

On the other hand, on the other side, I could see something in Sera. The potential for a future, a small seed that was already starting to grow, and I was uncomfortably conflicted about all of it.

I wanted to be happy. I think everybody can say that's natural. It makes sense. But the question was did I want to be happy like this?

And the answer was I didn't know, but it was getting to the point where I could tell the decision was going to be taken out of my hands before too long.

It would be all too easy to just fold and accept all of this, to settle in and not make any noise.

I just…

Was it so wrong to not want to be alone anymore?

---

By lunchtime, I still had no clues as to the purple-source, but that silk-thread of connection had increased to the thickness of a power-cable, and was still growing.

In English class, around 10 o'clock, I'd felt something within me shift, like the bolt of a lock moving when the key was turned.

That was when I somehow knew that I'd reached a stage of some sort, something that meant I had full access and could use it like it was my own, not just limited some way like it had been up until then. Where before I would have only been able to shift parts of myself out-of-phase, albeit a slowly growing progression that had started with just fingers, and then hands and feet, and then whole limbs, now I could do the same with my whole body.

And yet the connection was still growing.

The… thing I'd felt earlier, all coiled tightly inside me, stretched, flexing, like it was slowly waking up, temporarily sated by what had been achieved, but also wanting to put it to use.

I had no idea what it meant, so instead I resolved to figure it out later.

That wasn't the only thing different, though. For the first time in months, I left my fifth period class and didn't head to one of the few hiding places I had, but instead to the cafeteria.

My anxiety increased with every step, though I forced my hands to stay relaxed, knowing that by now I could probably easily crush the plastic/rubber handle of my lunchbox, and no, I didn't want that.

Sera and I were both having leftovers from the past two dinners, not that that was a problem; it made getting lunches together in the morning a lot easier.

Once I passed through the doors with the stream of people going in, I started looking around nervously, trying to find her. My… sister.

(Was I really doing this? Was I really okay with this?)

It wasn't exactly hard when I saw the pale white arm start waving in my direction, going down once I began walking in that direction.

Sera was sitting next to another girl I didn't know, but then again Winslow was one of the larger schools in the Bay. That plus intentionally keeping my head down meant I didn't exactly know very many names.

Biting my lip as I got within ten feet, I fidgeted before sitting down on the plastic stool attached to the lunch-table across from Sera.

"Hey Taylor!" she greeted, seemingly just as happy as ever, with the bubble of foreign emotions in my head only serving to reinforce that. "This is Becca," she said, gesturing to the brunette on her left.

I nodded towards her.

"Becca, this is my sister, Taylor."

"Um, hi," the girl squeaked out.

I couldn't help but wonder where that reaction came from.

"Becca's in my World History class," Sera explained. "We're both in the back row together. We're back-row buddies!"

I couldn't help by shake my head in exasperation, a small smile creeping onto my face at her antics. The combination of her cheeriness and the emotions I could feel made it hard to keep it from being infectious.

"We were just talking about movies and stuff, since I haven't really seen many, and Becca knows a lot," my sister said.

"…It's just because of my dad, really," the girl said after a second, looking down and poking at her food and acting as if that explained everything. Which it did to some degree, I guess.

Looking around one last time, I started unpacking my lunch.

"Oh yeah, here," Sera said, pushing a plastic fork across the table to me. "Got one for you too."

"Thanks," I told her, starting in on my rice and steamed vegetables.

"Anyways, we were talking about the influence of parahumans on the production of sci-fi and fantasy films. Which is like, a lot, apparently," Sera began.

Becca nodded and looked up. "There's less focus on individuals and more on exploration. Most special effects is environmental-focused. Aleph movies do it a bit too, but they're much more liberal with applying effects to people. There's not much here because of the um, possible similarities some less-human characters might have with Case-53s and the lawsuits that happened a couple decades ago."

"Those're the ones that look sorta monster-y," Sera said.

I gave her a look. Like you were?

She looked like she was trying not to smile and shook her head.

'Noooope. But there was less stuff with angels because of me.'

I rolled my eyes, and then noticed Becca looking between us curiously.

"It's nothing," Sera said, waving her hand.

"So, uh, you're… sisters?" she asked hesitantly.

This was going to be a regular thing, wasn't it.

(Why did that feel okay?)

Sera nodded after taking her fork out of her mouth. "Yep! Taylor was my god-sister and then stuff happened and I got adopted and now she's my real sister, because um…"

She trailed off, starting to look uncomfortable.

Yeah, she was a really good actor.

"O-oh," Becca said, seeming to pick up the implication that Sera was making. Godparents only became real parents for one reason. "I'm, I'm sorry?"

My sister shrugged. "I never knew Dad, but I really miss Mom, as bossy and demanding as she was." And the strange thing was it seemed like she meant it, a note of somberness creeping under the emotions I could feel from her. "I didn't really see her much, either, she was always off working."

"What did she do?" Becca asked, appearing unsure if this was an okay line of questioning or not.

"Research, mostly. All this super-fancy physics and sociology stuff," Sera said. "I even got to be in some of the studies she did. Usually only when they needed more participants, though."

"That sounds… cool?"

My sister shrugged. "Eh. It was more her thing than mine. Psychology's way cooler. …Not that I can even take it until junior year," she grumbled.

"Well, there's other electi—"

Something in my head screamed at me, electricity and fire washing through my veins in an instant.

Without even thinking, I'd swiveled around and grabbed the wrist of the hand that was about to "accidentally" spill chocolate milk on me.

I glared at the girl the hand was attached to.

"Don't."

Julia paled.

She was one of the ones that hung at the fringes of Emma's group, and she hadn't been in the hall when I'd snapped. She probably thought that by doing something like this while Emma seemed down for the count she could climb higher.

"Just… don't."

She started shaking slightly, the two girls behind her frozen, while the people immediately around us had gone silent and were staring at the spectacle.

I let go of her wrist, which jerked closer to her body.

I hadn't even noticed the effort she'd been making to try and pull it to her. Red marks left by my hand sat on her arm, likely going to bruise, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

Without a word, she backed up and then once she was ten feet from me, turned and rushed away as quickly as possible without running, the two tagalongs hurrying to keep up with her.

I looked around and glared at the people who were staring at me, who gradually turned back to their own groups and started talking again, though quieter than before.

Well, fuck them.

I looked back at Sera, who was grinning wildly, practically with sparkles in her eyes, whereas Becca was fidgeting uncomfortably.

With a sigh, I picked up my fork and started eating once more.

---

Her sister had been so. cool.

She'd had the sudden impulse to hug her as much as possible, ignoring the fact that there had been a table between them.

She'd managed to control herself, though. Barely.

But Taylor's powers were finally starting to show up!

Granted, it may have been because of that bitch who had the name she'd wanted, instead of like, that one family with the laser-stuff, but it was still awesome!

And she'd already made a friend and her first day wasn't even over! Take that, David!

Emma was so messed up she might not even need the um, talk that Sera had planned to have with her. Sophia might, though, with the way Sera'd seen her glaring at Taylor in the halls between third and fourth period.

And then there was that cunt Julia who thought it would be a good idea to attack her sister! Taylor had taken care of it, at least for now, but maybe she should make… plans to deal with that.

She hated how she couldn't use her obvious abilities at the school, and thus couldn't help Taylor as much, but she also knew that was probably for the best.

Taylor had to learn how to face stuff head-on. Solve problems directly and all that. Stand up for herself. Every problem could be solved with sufficient amounts of force, after all.

Of course, that was more Taylor's thing. She preferred subtlety and finesse. Brushstrokes on the canvases of minds. Butterflies to hurricanes.

Not that she could even do that as she was, stupid Queen. Then again, also probably for the best. Taylor probably wouldn't appreciate her making friends for her.

No. Definitely not.

Oh, well.

School was exciting. So many people and so much chaos. She probably could have sat down on a chair in the hallway and watched everybody for hours and not get bored. Teenagers were so ruled by their emotions. …Not that she could point any fingers. She had them too, and she loved it, even the ones that weren't so great.

Nine years, all still sharp and clear, and yet they paled in comparison to what she'd experienced in the past three days. As though she could finally see color, where everything before had been black and white. Cliché, but true nonetheless.

(And okay yes she technically hadn't been able to see before, but that's really not the point)

She wasn't at school to learn. She could easily do that on her own. She was there for the experience. And to be closer to Taylor, of course. Highschool drama was legendary, and there was a major difference between just knowing it happened from the minds she touched and actually being there herself.

Besides, four years wasn't so long, and it gave her time to practice.

---

It was sixth period that I found the source of [out of phase/not there].

It was sixth period that I realized what it meant.

It was sixth period when Sophia Hess walked into the classroom, and I could feel connection hum as soon as I laid eyes on her, still growing, just ever so slightly faster now.

Now, I wish I could say I was ignorant. I wish I could say that I didn't understand the implications. Unfortunately, just like everything else that day, it all fell into place, my mind making connections between seemingly disparate things that were actually connected in a blink.

The way I knew she was the source.

The sense of [intangibility].

Sophia reeling in the hall when I'd blacked out standing up. When I'd triggered.

Finding spoiled milk dripping over the things in my locker when I'd gotten a new lock only a week before. Notes and homework stolen. My mother's flute.

And it all added up, all pointed to a single conclusion that I couldn't deny. Sophia Hess was a parahuman.

My mind blanked.

Yes, I was shocked. Yet at the same time, I wasn't, it was just simply another fact to be filed away.

I tried to keep myself from reacting, but I couldn't help the slight straightening of my spine or the sharp glance I gave her, the ice that trickled through my veins as my heart sped up.

I'll be honest, I only half paid attention that class, because I was trying to stay calm while flickering through what this meant. What it would mean.

I hadn't heard of any capes in the area with [intang—], no, intangibility, but I also hadn't been looking. I'd already had computer class that day, which meant I couldn't do any research until I got home to my own computer.

Half-way through the class, around one o'clock, there was a second shift, a second level reached, and I knew I could push objects out of phase and still interact with them without needing to go intangible myself.

When all things were considered, it was rather obvious the connection and my own abilities were related to others' powers, though there seemed to be a proximity and time element. Also, with the way the connection had progressively weakened for a few minutes and then started strengthening again at the end of lunch, it probably wasn't a permanent thing.

I had no idea what good that did.

It was interesting that Sera didn't show up to me, but that also made sense since my powers were ostensibly derived from hers, and so there would be nothing to copy. It was weird how there didn't seem to be any obvious connection between them, though. Telekinetic super-smart precog who can build things, and then power-using Trump?

Yeah, no obvious relations there. Maybe I'd just ask her when I got the chance.

I spent the period with my hands clenched under my desk, worried that Sophia had noticed, that she would know something was different. Thankfully, it didn't seem she had, or at least dismissed my tension as remnants of what had happened on Monday.

Some part of me almost wanted her to notice, to react and do something impulsive, so that I'd finally have something to point to, some sort of unquestionable justification.

But that was just my own more impulsive feelings speaking. The part of me that wanted to lash out because of course one of my bullies had powers that let them make my life even worse. I pushed it down, trying to focus on the teacher and what she was saying.

The class seemed to drag on, minute by minute, until finally, the bell rang and we were released. I let Sophia leave before me, and instead prepared myself for yet another class with Emma.

At least she didn't have powers. Other than the completely normal one of being a total bitch, of course.

My last class I shared with Madison, but she still made no moves, and I at least found some degree of comfort in that, however tenuous it was.

And then school was over.

I couldn't help the breath of relief I released as the last bell rang. I kept my eyes peeled for any of the usual girls who bothered me as I made my way to my locker, but the couple I saw only glanced at me before quickly looking away.

Were they… scared?

I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Like, it would keep them off my back, I guess, but was fear really the way it should be done?

I pushed it out of my mind as soon as I saw Sera waiting for me at my locker.

"Hey Taylor!"

"Hey."

She blinked. "Is something wrong? You got really nervous in the period after lunch."

I swallowed. "I…" I shut my mouth trying to think about how to put it. "Yeah. I… found something out. We can talk about it at home."

She nodded, smiling. "Okay then."

I moved some of my books from my bag to my locker and then shut it, locking it. Not that that would do much good, now that I knew how everything had been happening.

"How was your day?" I asked.

Her smile widened into a grin. "It was great! I met so many new people, and I think I'm making friends with some of them."

"Well that's…" terrifying "…good," I finally settled on, at least trying to keep my thoughts to myself.

How would people even react to the thought that 'oh hey, that nice new girl you're friends with in Geometry is actually the Simurgh'?

With lots of screaming, I suspected.

I sighed, praying to any deity that might listen that this wasn't going to end in flames and screaming.

"You ready to go home?" I asked.

Sera nodded. "Yep!"

I gave her a small smile, the two of us wordlessly heading towards the school entrance and the bus station that would take us home.

And I realized, almost sadly, that even with everything I'd discovered and the worries I had, this had still been one of the best days of high school I'd ever had.

---

A/N: This chapter brought to you by This Gift by the Sons and Daughters, my Model F keyboard, and Sera's hilarious propensity for being a terrifying (cough eldritch abomination) teenage girl.

 

[The_Butcher]

"25... You don't deserve it... 27 28 29" the finally snapped wimp whispered as she approached Sophia. "IT'S MINE NOW!" And with that she grabbed Sophia's hand.

"Forty! Fifty! Sixty! Seventy!" She shouted, even as Sophia pulled her hand from the vice grip and stumbled backwards.

"What the hell is wrong with you, you nutcase?" Sophia queried.

"Come on, give me the rest, you don't want to use it when it's just at twenty per cent, what if you got stuck inside a wall, because it suddenly gave out... it's too unreliable now."

"What are you talking about? What is at twenty per cent?"

Taylor smirked and chuckled. "The remnant of MY new power that's still inside you." and with that Hebert burst into Shadows for a moment. Icy realization shot up her spine.

"You don't deserve it. Give me the rest!" When Hebert lunged at her she ran, more scared than ever before.

More scared then when she realized Lung was in the building she was robbing.

More scared then when she phased through an electric fence and lay helpless at that Nazi's feet.

Because losing her power, that was to her a hundred times worse than death.

 

[Observed]

A direct consultation and an aborted attack

Crap crap crap crap, was all that ran through Amy's head as she was held at gunpoint. The girl, no Villain, Tattletale was smirking at her panic. Apparently, the Undersiders had teamed up with Circus to rob a bank of all things in broad daylight. And on the day I had to go too. Luckily, Amy had managed to send a message to her sister and she had no doubt that help was on the way. Vicky hurry. She just had to make sure to stall them and not get killed.

"Oh, I'm not gonna kill you." Tattletale said. "I might shoot you if you misbehave. You see now we have a pretty useful hostage to keep the rest in line. If you play al-" Tattletale's mouth suddenly snapped shut and she paled. She was looking at something over Amy's shoulder, probably a hero, probably her sister who seemed to have that kind of effect on people. Vicky I love you. However, the voice that spoke up was not Victoria Dallon's.

"There you are," Said a somewhat chipper tone. Amy glanced over her shoulder at a girl a little younger than her. She was kinda cute, Amy guessed, not as cute as Vicky whispered a dark corner of her mind. Thin, pale with silky white hair and solemn grey eyes. Her face despite the swiftly vanishing grin, was marred with worry lines. Amy also noticed that the girl was looking right at her. "Panacea, or Amy Dallon, right? I've been looking all over for you. I need your help, my sister is really really sick. You're the only one that can help her!" It seemed that the strange girl was unaware of the situation she was in. How does someone not notice they're in the middle of a bank robbery, Amy thought.

Maybe the girl was just an idiot, Amy didn't know but she had to say something. "If your sister needs healing, I visit the hospital on most evenings, also I'm a little busy at the moment, being held at gunpoint and all." She said, ending with a snarking tone. Weirdly, since the girl showed up, Tattletale had frozen, not like time had stopped. The villain was still breathing and all but she seemed to be acting more like a deer in front of headlights. Like a bunny hiding from a predator by staying still. The girl frowned.

"But she needs you now!" The girl whined, before walking up to Amy and slinging her over her shoulder with little effort. Is this girl some kind of brute? As the girl started off at a swift pace towards the entrance, she continued talking to Amy. "I'm really sorry about ruining your day but there's not much time. Taylor needs you to make her better." It was then that Hellhound noticed them and commanded one of her beasts to attack. The girl did not stop or even slow, she simply lashed out with her arm and upon contact the beast crumpled with a whine. Definitely, A brute.

The moment that the two exited the bank, the girl seemed to pick up speed and ran into an alley before leaping up to the rooftops. During the whole time she was being carted about like a sack of potatoes, Amy had been searching for an opportunity to knock the girl out but from her jeans to her hoodie there wasn't a patch of clear skin to be seen. Once the girl landed on the rooftop and started towards whatever her destination was, Amy noticed that the Wards had arrived and that Vicky had shown up but they hadn't seen her and disappeared into the distance. The girl was fast and soon Amy was taken into a house in one of the poorer parts of town and carried into a bedroom.

"I'm back Taylor," the Girl said, smiling to a figure lying in the bed. Sweaty bedraggled hair, a panting just-a-little-too-wide mouth and a flushed face was all Amy could make out of the infirm girl. "I brought Panacea to help." Taylor looked like she was probably tall and thin judging by the form Amy could see under the sheets. Her face wasn't particularly pretty, nor ugly, plain would be a better description. Amy was then finally put back on her own feet as her kidnapper picked up a wet cloth from a nearby basin and started to wipe her sister's face. Amy felt a minor spike of jealousy, it had been a long time since Vicky had done that for her.

"You won't get away with kidnapping me" She said to the Girl, "You should have just taken her to a hospital. I'm not going to heal your sister under duress." Panacea then turned towards away from the sisters and began to leave when a hand clamped down on her shoulder with a firm grip. This girl had kidnapped the world's premier healer for her sister, she wasn't taking no for an answer. She then grabbed Amy's wrist and, after gently untucking one of Taylor's arms from underneath the sheets, pressed the two together. Any thoughts of leaving left Amy's head as her power began giving her information on Taylor's biology.

What? Amy thought, This makes no sense. Panacea's powers were telling her lots of things, like how a good portion of Taylor's body especially her brain were made of inorganic crystalline materials or that her bones and organs contained several elements that human bodies shouldn't. There were also tweaks here and there which seemed to be designed to make a more efficient human while other things, like the bizarre cysts made of stem cells just sat there. Hell, the girl's skin seemed to be much thicker that a normal humans with layers also being part of the muscular systems, it was a jumbled mess.

"What is this?" Amy said. Some kind of Nilbog thing? Amy shuddered to think what would happen if there was another Biotinker on the loose preparing for something big. "What happened to this girl?"

"It's her powers," the Girl said with a frustrated look. "It seems the process did not take as well as Queen had thought. You need to help her. She needs to be more like this." The Girl then grabbed Amy's other hand and she saw something beautiful. It was animal but not, It was mineral but not, it was human but not. Taylor stirred a little, the parts of her brain surrounding the tissue becoming inflamed but lighting up like a corona pollentia usually does. Biolological signals seemingly coming from the crystal structure itself.

A cracked voice speaks in a rasp, "Sera?" Taylor's roving eyes fluttering open in a feverish state, eventually focusing on Amy. "Sha -per?"

"Taylor," the now named Sera says. "Its going to be alright. I promise." Sera then gave Amy a hard look.

--

Lisa sat there in the command center, the Endbringer sirens still blaring, No-one had expected an Endbringer attack on Brockton Bay. At least not Behemoth but then the cycle had been weird since the disappearance of the Simurgh. Three new endbringers had shown up, Khonsu, Tohu and Bohu. Similarly, the order seemed to change a lot. Armsmaster's predictive software seemed to give five answers in case of attack, none of them were Brockton Bay at all. Insight sighed into her hand as capes; Villain and Hero alike were moving into formation. Lisa was also keeping an eye on one pair in particular that had shown up for the fight. They had cheap domino masks and were dressed in simple clothing. Parahumans? but not capes. Her power had notified her.

Here as a favour for Panacea. Owe her for something. Both seem to be siblings, close. White hair prioritises Brown hair's safety and happiness over all others. Brown hair shares similar sentiment. Close siblings who look out for one another then, Insight mused for a moment. Where any other might just move on from this, Lisa didn't because she had met one of this girls before when she was a villain. More specifically what her power had said at the bank.

Strong parahuman?, here to retrieve Panacea, uninterested in bank robbery, has a place she'd rather be, willing to kill any who try to stop her, will kill any who try to stop her, knows about your power, will kill you if you interfere. So she had stood there and watched as Panacea had been manhandled away, Bitch had set Brutus on the girl but only lost the dog for her troubles. The Undersiders had been left hanging to dry by Coil, Circus was ordered to retreat when the wards arrived and Panacea had turned up safe and sound but had refused to talk about where she'd been. Tattletale was then turned into Insight when she was convinced to join the wards. Lisa had managed to finagle a deal out of Piggot and benched Coil. And now it was her first Endbringer fight, Colin had made himself a new toy and the three of them; herself, Colin and Dragon were pretty confident that it would be able to hurt an Endbringer.

The earth rumbled in protest as Behemoth tore himself from beneath the city and the fight began, it was much the same as with anything Lisa had heard about Endbringer fights. People were dying left and right, search and rescue operations were in full swing, Lisa sending help to those who need it most. Until -

Behemoth is confused.
What, Lisa thought as she snapped back to the feed.
Behemoth is uncertain as how to proceed, unexpected individual(s) present.
Lisa took a closer look at the feed, noticing a pair of small figures in front of the halted giant.
Behemoth is retreating.

As one of the shortest Endbringer fights in history came to a close, all Lisa could do was think to herself, Huh.

//Its a bit rough and a little ooc I guess but I hope you like it.