Tornado of Taylor (Worm / One Punch Man)

[DoorAlarm]

Taylor could still remember that day with perfect clarity. The day when she lost any hope that people would help her, that someone would stand up and defend her from her oppressors.

The day when she lost faith in heroes.

It had been only a little over a week since she'd returned to school after her hospitalization. Things had been going fairly good by her standards then, with Emma seemingly content to leave her alone. At the time, she'd hoped that it was because she was done with her. That she'd done the worst she could do.

In hindsight, that was a foolish assumption. She'd just been laying low, waiting for the heat to die down a bit, for the very limited well of sympathy reserved for ugly little Taylor to dry up.

Nonetheless, she'd enjoyed the break as best she could. For her, who had grown so used to having to eat her lunch while hidden in the bathrooms, always dreading the possibility of Emma's cohort showing up, suddenly being able to enjoy lunch in one of the teacher's rooms was a rare luxury.

But... With everything that happened next, perhaps she really should have stuck to the bathrooms.

One day, she'd been eating in one of the said classrooms. The only other student who ate there had left only minutes beforehand, and Taylor had been about to do so as well so that she could arrive at her next class early.

And yet, just as she was about to do so, she'd felt her skin crawl, and every single alarm bell in her head had gone off simultaneously. To this day, she still wouldn't have been able to explain where that feeling had come from, but back then, she'd been so unbelievably sure that Emma was coming.

So, she did the only logical and rational thing that had come to mind at that moment. She'd grabbed her backpack and shuffled to hide under the teacher's desk, where she would only be visible if someone specifically walked between it and the whiteboard behind it.

And then, sure enough, she'd heard the door opening, and two hauntingly familiar voices stepping inside the room.

"-Anyways, want to go to the mall together this Saturday? There's a sale going on at my favorite shop there, and I bet I can convince my dad to give me a bigger budget if I tell him that." Emma's voice rang through the empty room, her tittering voice immediately causing Taylor's pressure to skyrocket even as she did everything she could to keep her breathing even and stay as still as she could.

"Nah, sorry, not Saturday. I have afterschool stuff after that." Sophia replied. "Could you push it to Sunday? I'll be free then."

"Oh?" Emma asked curiously. "You got a patrol or something then? I thought they only did that on weekdays?"

'A patrol?' Taylor wondered to herself, and despite everything, she couldn't help but feel a reluctant sense of spiteful curiosity.

"Emma!" Sophia growled. "Fuck, we talked about this! Not in school!"

Taylor could practically hear the way Emma rolled her eyes, despite it obviously being impossible. "Chill, Soph. No one ever comes here during lunch break. Now come on, spill."

"Ugh, you're impossible..." Sophia groaned in annoyance. "Fine, I have to go and do a stupid PR thing because I called that fucking failure of a Tinker a weak pussy during the last PR event I went to." She grumbled some more. "You'd think they'd make me do less PR shit after that, but nooo, can't ever have nice things."

"Heh, nice." Emma giggled, her voice jokingly mocking in that way that Taylor could still remember from all those years ago. Could still remember the first time it hadn't been so joking. "Look at you, the mighty Shadow Stalker, slayer of evil and hunter in the night... Reduced to going out and prancing about like a little pony."

"Oh my god, fuck off. Also, can you not fucking say that? What if someone hears? Seriously, Emma, what's gotten into you? We're not supposed to talk about this in school." Sophia snarled back, sounding genuinely pissed off now, something Emma must have seen too because she was quick to backtrack.

"Jeez, who pissed in your cereal today? Again, nobody's here, but if it bothers you so much I'll stop talking." She said with an unapologetic sniff, only to then pause for reasons unknown to Taylor. "... Fuck, where's my phone?"

Sophia snorted. "Seriously Ems? That's the weakest topic change I've ever seen."

"No, I'm serious. Where's my phone? I thought I had it in my pocket..." Emma shot back, a trace of panic in her voice.

"Wait, you're serious?" Sophia hesitantly asked, clearly surprised.

"Of course I am! Ugh, I must've left it back at the mess hall... Fuck me. I hope someone didn't steal it, or my dad will seriously kill me..." Emma moaned. "Damn it, I'm gonna go check if it's still there." She said, and with that, Taylor could hear rapid footsteps, and the door opening almost immediately after.

"Hey, wait up! I'm coming with!" Sophia said, and with that, a second set of footsteps, and before Taylor even knew it, their voices quickly faded away.

Not that Taylor was in any state to appreciate this fact.

Her hands were trembling, her body felt cold and numb, and it was like there was a waterfall rushing by right next to her ears. Staggering to her feet, Taylor picked up her backpack, and after taking a quick peek at both sides of the hallway outside, she made a break for it.

She didn't stop until she was well outside the school, only stopping once she was at the bus stop.

Something must've shown on her face because despite it being the middle of the day and thus quite busy, nobody sat next to her as she took a seat.

Time flew by, and before she even knew it, she was home.

By the time her father finally came back from work almost six hours later, Taylor had mostly managed to come up with a convincing argument as to why she suddenly didn't want to go to school anymore.

"Dad, I don't want to go to school anymore," Taylor said, her voice feeling empty even to her own ears as she stared at her father at the entrance door, who hadn't even managed to take his shoes and jacket off.

"Uh..." He responded intelligently. "Why?"

"Because I don't want to anymore." Taylor answered.

Danny, being the sensible and responsible parent that he was, sighed. "Taylor, you have to go to school. You can't just quit. That's not happening." He said firmly even as he tried to hide his confusion.

Taylor, being the sensible and responsible teenager that she was, answered that by bursting into tears and running back to her room, refusing all requests to come out.

---

In the end, Taylor didn't explain what had triggered her outburst, but she did end up being forced to confess about the bullying. And, just as she'd feared, her father did not take it well. At all.

It was a long and painful struggle to stop him from doing something stupid, like marching over to the Barnes' house and punching Alan in the face or storming his way to Winslow's principal office, but in the end, Taylor succeeded.

Or, more accurately, she yelled at him a lot, the dam holding her emotions back finally breaking as she screamed and ranted at him, and he screamed right back. She screamed at him that he couldn't do anything even if he wanted to, and he yelled back that he could've done something if she'd just told him.

It was a hard night for the both of them, and it was only the next morning when tempers had cooled and minds had rested that they talked things out once again, this time with a lot more crying and hugging instead of screaming.

Her dad agreed that, at least until they found a better solution, she could do homeschool through online classes, but only if she managed to keep her grades reasonably high, and that as soon as they could, she'd transfer to another school.

Taylor hadn't wanted to do that last part at all, but in the end, was forced to compromise and agree. Anything to get out of Winslow, to get away from Emma's and Sophia's seemingly ever-present reach.

She must've surprised Danny quite a lot when she blew her fuse out of nowhere from his suggestion about trying to apply to Arcadia, as well as her subsequent refusal to explain, but ultimately let that particular matter rest to deal with another day.

And so, just like that, Taylor had finally left Winslow behind, finally managed to escape from the living nightmare that had haunted her for around two years by this point.

All it had cost her was her faith and her pride. She did not consider it a worthy trade.

---

Life went on. Soon enough, Taylor had found herself establishing a new routine.

Breakfast with her dad. Then, from morning to the middle of the afternoon, she would work on schoolwork with her father's old computer. Then, once she was done, she'd either spend the rest of the day in her room with a book in hand, or sometimes, she'd gather up the courage to go out to the library and hang out there.

And yet, as each day passed, Taylor found herself shying away from doing even that last part, and by the time a month had passed, she soon found herself only barely ever leaving the house, and only doing so reluctantly.

It was fine though, no matter what her dad said. Yes, she was home alone for most of the time now, but so what? It was leagues better than being trapped with her so-called peers in that hell of a school, and besides, she wasn't lonely.

She was just fine. Her grades were up, she'd finally lost a little of the ugly paunch on her belly (along with quite a bit of the meat in her arms and legs, and her cheeks were now just a bit gaunter), and her dad just really needed to stop bothering her.

Things became tenser around the house. After their heart-to-heart, her dad had tried to reconnect with her. He'd tentatively offered a couple of times to bring her out to eat or to go and see a movie together, but soon enough, that burst of determination had faded away. By the time two months had passed since she quit school, things had returned to the status quo.

She and her dad barely talked, and once again, he started returning late from work and leaving early. Breakfast and dinner once again returned to being the stilted, quiet affairs that they'd been for so long.

The days suddenly began to feel so much longer than they'd been before, so much heavier, and Taylor had to force herself to go through each day one by one, feeling lost, confused, and so very, very alone.

And then, all of a sudden, the city went to fucking hell.

Taylor hadn't kept up with the news as of late, with her only reliable news source to the outside world being her occasional overhearing of her dad's TV late at night, and more often than not, she purposefully locked the door so that she couldn't hear even that.

So, it came as quite a surprise to her when a citywide alert went out, telling people to stay in their homes due to terrorist attacks, and to keep calm and not panic.

That was fine. It wasn't like she was going out anyway, and as a bonus, her father was forced to stay home for a lot more days too.

Then the electricity went out, and suddenly things weren't as fine, but they still made do, with her dad having to bring out a backup generator that only barely worked but nonetheless kept their lights on.

And then Leviathan came, and nothing was even remotely fine anymore.

She could remember the stark, chest-crushing terror that had sprouted inside her when the sirens had gone off. Could remember her father's panicked shouts as the two of them had made a rush out of their house and into the street, running like mad and leaving Taylor wheezing like a fish as she struggled to keep up, her very sedentary lifestyle suddenly coming to bite her in the ass.

The streets had been packed. Cars honked as they tried to push past those on foot, sometimes not even bothering to do so and simply running over the people in their way.

Of those, the lucky ones received help from their families. The unlucky ones were left out to die as the rain got progressively more and more intense.

She remembered the feeling of relief that had overcome her as they'd made their way into the shelter. Her dad had smiled at her, then, still holding her hand that had become even bonier over the past few months, and told her "We're safe now."

He should have stayed silent, because only an hour later, there was a massive banging noise from behind them, and everyone present was startled enough to quickly turn and look at what had caused the noise.

Leviathan was often mocked as the weakest of the three Endbringers. The middle child that wasn't as deadly as the first, or as viscerally terrifying as the third. Despite herself, even Taylor had somewhat believed this narrative, if only in that detached, clinical way only someone who had never had and likely never would encounter the subject in question could.

However, as the towering four-eyed monstrosity stood there for a split second, just staring down at the frozen and helpless civilians before him, Taylor hysterically thought that she really should have known better.

And then the massacre began.

There was no other word for it. There was no possible resistance that could be meaningfully offered to stop the Endbringer as it swung through civilians like a scythe cutting through wheat, his long tail killing a dozen civilians before sweeping back to kill another dozen more, even as he sent his water shadow to crush God knows how many more, all the while moving so fast he was became an only barely visible blur.

Screams filled the shelter as people rushed every which way in a bid to escape the monster in their midst, but it was pointless. Taylor herself couldn't even find the energy to scream as she was trampled and stomped upon, although she did manage a pained whimper as she tried huddling to the floor, cradling her face as she was accidentally stomped on and kicked.

She looked up. Blood and corpses littered the shelter, and she could see Leviathan turning toward her direction, where most of the remaining survivors lay. There was an almost sadistic attitude to the way he was now moving so slowly, giving them time to truly savor the terror of their coming deaths.

And it was that idle thought that truly shocked Taylor out of her stupor.

She... She was going to die. Right here, right now, she was going to die, and there was nothing she could do about it.

She would die without ever having gotten the chance to ask Emma why. Without the chance to slap her father for giving up on her again, only to then beg him for a third chance.

She was going to die alongside thousands of other people, but in truth, she would die alone and forgotten. She doubted that her death would be remembered by anyone. She would be nothing but a single number on an already oversaturated statistic.

Because she, useless, friendless, ugly little Taylor, whose only thing of worth had been being her school's premiere punching bag and who didn't even have that anymore, meant nothing.

She was nothing, and she would die as an insignificant nothing.

And in that exact moment of realization, her third eye opened, and suddenly, she wasn't so insignificant anymore.

 

[meloa789]

So, did she gain the powers of Tatsumaki, or of Psykos here?

 

[PoopyheadPiero]

Im assuming tatsumaki due to the title but Both are still very overpowered... atleast according ro the manga

 

[C.H.A.D]

We will watch your career with great interest

 

[DoorAlarm]

Leviathan was moving, one of its feet only just beginning to move in front of the other even as it crouched down, and she could see its tail preparing itself for a merciless sweep.

However, something had changed, now.

Leviathan was the fastest Endbringer, a fact that Taylor had been quick to learn. Its movements were too fast for the untrained human eye to keep up with, so fast in fact that people could and did die before they'd even realize it had begun to move.

And yet, despite all of that... To Taylor's eyes, Leviathan looked as though it was moving through slow motion, and so was everyone else around her.

Except, that wasn't quite true. Time was still passing by normally, each millisecond ticking by just as quickly as they had for her entire life.

But despite that, Leviathan still looked as if he was moving through slowed time. It was a contradiction that didn't make sense.

It was also a contradiction that Taylor pushed aside, because for as much as Leviathan might have looked as if it was moving slowly, that didn't mean it wasn't moving, and slowly but surely, the great beast was charging directly toward the panicked survivors behind her.

Directly toward Taylor.

For once in her life, the young teenager didn't think. She didn't brood and didn't ponder. She simply acted.

It was like Leviathan did a full 180. One moment it was charging toward her, and the next, it was slamming back and upward with enough force to explode out of the bunker, showering the street with debris as it was launched directly away while a visible yet subtle green glow coated its form.

Taylor staggered to her feet, eyes wide even as her mouth practically fell to the floor.

What… What was that? Had she done that? Had that truly been her doing?

... Yes. Yes, it had, Taylor began to realize as she finally took in the full scope of the new sensations inside of her.

It felt like her mind had just been expanded. Like there was a whole new section to her thoughts, one that had never been there before. One that she innately understood, even if she didn't truly comprehend it.

It was then that a shout from nearby managed to break her out of her daze. "Taylor! Taylor!?" She heard, and her head unconsciously whipped to the side, her eyes going wide.

Her father staggered toward her, holding his side, and it took Taylor a moment to realize that he'd been dragged away from her by the previous stampede.

"Taylor!" He half-shouted again, practically collapsing to his knees and letting out several rough coughs once he'd managed to finally reach her, latching onto her tightly.

"Dad!" Taylor shouted right back, her eyes widening even further as she took in his sorry state, and more worryingly, the blood that was coating his jacket. "Dad, you're hurt!"

"I'm fine." He grunted, grimacing harshly as his eyes went to, for some reason, her hair, and she watched as his eyes widened just as much as her own did. "Taylor, you... Was that you, sweetie?" He asked hesitantly, glancing around them and taking in the distinct lack of still-living people around them.

Taylor blinked, glancing around as well even as she choked up, unsure of what to say.

There were so many bodies. So many mutilated corpses. So much blood everywhere. Worse, now that she wasn't about to die, she couldn't help but swallow tightly, feeling her chest constrict as she struggled not to hurl.

"I... I don't know..." Taylor murmured. Except she did know.

After all, she could still feel the new section of her mind, one that was impossible to explain and yet so easy to grasp instinctively.

Danny grimaced even harder, ignorant to her thoughts. "It doesn't matter. We have to leave. Come on, let's get out of here." He said, glancing nervously at the completely blood-soaked and ruined shelter around them.

Taylor couldn't have been happier to comply, and she happily let her father drag her away. They walked through knee-high water soaked with horrible amounts of blood and gore, and more than once Taylor struggled to keep herself from throwing up as she accidentally stepped on a corpse, or worse yet, a corpse piece.

Endbringer shelters were designed to be impossible to access from the outside once locked. However, this impossibility clearly wasn't as absolute as she'd thought given Leviathan had busted open one of its walls and strolled in so damn easily.

Luckily for them though, that didn't mean they couldn't be opened from the inside, and someone had clearly done during the mad rush to flee the Endbringer judging by the main entrance being wide open.

And so, Taylor and her father staggered their way out of the shelter and into the street outside. Despite the previous rush to leave the shelter, Taylor couldn't see anyone within line of sight.

Or at least, she couldn't until she heard the sound of striking thunder. Then another such sound. Then another. And then who knows how many more, ringing repeatedly and far too loudly.

Taylor's head jerked back even as her father let out a loud curse, his hand around her wrist tightening as he dragged the two of them away, struggling futilely to shield his face from the pouring rain.

And then he stopped, jerking back as he let out a high-pitched scream that really did not belong on a man like her father. Not that Taylor was much different as she too saw what had elicited such a noise, and promptly let out an ear-piercing shriek herself.

Because Leviathan had just smoothly swept through the corner of the street in front of them, riding on a wave taller than the buildings around them. Just behind him, chasing after him was a flying woman that Taylor immediately recognized.

Alexandria.

She slammed into Leviathan's side with enough force to send out a sonic boom, sending the beat sprawling for half a second before it shot back to its feet, sending its water shadow to crash against Alexandria, forcing her to retreat.

With the heroine off its tail, it then promptly continued running off only for a barrage of rainbow-colored lasers to fall from the sky, striking the Endbringer with enough force that even Taylor, who must've been hundreds of meters away, could feel the impact of their explosions.

Taylor looked up, her eyes wide as she struggled to spot the person who had fired the lasers, only barely managing to catch a glimpse of them through the thick, pouring rain, but even then, she knew who this was.

Legend.

Just then, a wall of shining black crystals erupted from the ground right in front of Leviathan, doing so fast enough that not even the Endbringer had time to react, and promptly slammed face-first into them, whereupon the crystals reacted by detonating into an explosion so large that the shockwave impacted even Danny and Taylor, sending the two of them sprawling onto their butts.

A third person appeared, teleporting right on top of Leviathan. Four more massive crystals formed, trapping Leviathan between them, and exploded yet again, but this time, Leviathan reacted by shooting up into the sky by propelling himself with his water shadow, latching onto the side of a building and mostly dodging the crystal explosion, its tail swiping through the location where the third person had appeared, only for him to vanish a moment before he would've been struck.

Eidolon.

Taylor could only gape at the battle before her even as it slowly yet inevitably grew closer. Never before had the teenage girl felt so small and insignificant as she did right now, standing only a little distance away from a battle between true titans.

She could only watch as more capes arrived on the scene now that Eidolon had finally managed to pin down Leviathan. A massive draconic war machine fell from the sky, firing multiple salvos of rockets that followed after the Endbringer as it tried to dodge, striking it hard enough to slam it against a building, causing it to collapse.

"Shit, there's a bunch of civvies here." Taylor heard someone say seemingly out of nowhere, and she jerked in surprise, her head practically twisting itself as she turned to look at who had spoken. "The hell are you guys doing here? You're supposed to be in the shelters!" The woman, no, the girl said, hands on her hips as she glared down at them, her immaculate white costume somehow perfectly dry despite the pouring rain.

She'd been so caught up in watching the battle unfold that she'd failed to notice someone flying down to them, something that her father evidently hadn't as he answered quickly. "Leviathan got into our shelter." He said gravely. "We were lucky to make it out alive."

For some reason, Taylor could feel his hand on her wrist tightening, and he shot her a pleading look that she couldn't quite decipher.

"Shit. Fuck." The flying cape, Glory Girl, Taylor belatedly recognized, cursed. "Damn it. Look, I'm getting you out of here, so don't squirm and-"

Taylor never did get to hear the rest of what she was saying as she caught something at the corner of her eye, and turned to look.

She did so just in time to notice that Leviathan had broken through the newly arrived cape's encirclement, and was currently speeding toward the three of them, Alexandria hot on its heels as she chased after it.

Once again, Taylor didn't think. Merely acted.

She focused, and Leviathan came to a very abrupt halt as a green glow surrounded its form.

It was... It wasn't easy. But it also wasn't anywhere near as hard as holding an Endbringer in place should have been.

Taylor could feel her hair floating up around her, and she barely spared a moment to wonder why it suddenly looked as if her hair was green instead of her usual black.

Then Alexandria hit Leviathan, and all of her attention returned to the situation at hand.

The premiere Alexandria package looked surprise for a moment as Leviathan struggled futilely against Taylor's grip, its limbs and tail shaking in place as it tried to move them, and Taylor struggled to keep them still as the Endbringer fought her for control over its own body.

But Alexandria didn't let her surprise hold for long, and a moment later, she begun hammering away at the helpless Endbringer, each of her strikes sending shockwaves strong enough to shatter windows and send unattached objects flying through the already ruined street.

Taylor grimaced as the Endbringer's struggle increased, and her head throbbed painfully, but she persisted. Without even realizing it, she found herself letting out a scream as she fought the Endbringer for control, one that contained all of her rage, her despair, and her hatred.

Subconsciously, her hands began to move, as if directing an orchestra. She threw her arms to the side, and the Endbringer mirrored her, its limbs shooting sideways and twisting painfully. She twisted her hands upside down, and the Endbringer's torso did a screwing motion, its strange flesh twisting and ripping as its black blood exploded outward, something that was only aided as the rest of the capes caught up, and finding a suddenly helpless Endbringer before them, unleashed their own varied powers upon the beast.

But Taylor couldn't bring herself to give them even the slightest bit of her attention as the entirety of her mental prowess remained focused solely on Leviathan. With a scream, she slapped her hands together hard enough to hurt, and Leviathan's head imploded, followed shortly after by its torso crushing itself inward.

Then, Taylor heard the sound of rushing water from behind her, and it was only her instincts that saved her from being crushed by the hidden wave of steel-crushing water sent her way by Leviathan.

Without even thinking, her thumb twitched, and a dome-like barrier appeared around her, one that covered herself, her father, and the gaping heroine floating above them.

The water crashed into it harmlessly, helpless to do anything but part before the green shield before it.

Taylor's breathing hitched as she realized just how close she'd just come to dying, but even as her breathing grew more erratic, she forced herself to focus back on Leviathan, whose struggle against the force holding him down had only intensified yet further.

Still, for all that he struggled, Leviathan wasn't looking so good. Craters littered its skin as the capes finally had the opportunity to strike with everything they had, and predictably, they seized said opportunity with both hands and held tight.

A black ball of crushing gravity was pressing harshly against Leviathan's chest, distorting space around it as it slowly yet inexorably carved a path through the beast's body, even as a sickly red glow emanated from Eidolon's form as he hovered only a few meters above the helpless creature, causing whatever part of the Endbringer it touched to slowly melt.

Alexandria didn't even bother darting in and out anymore, simply wailing on the Endbringer with everything she had, creating a rapid staccato like that of a thunderous drum.

Legend and his cohort of blasters also took their shots, and it was like a constant artillery barrage as dozens of different lasers, projectiles, and explosions impacted against the Endbringer's form every second.

Already, the Endbringer's body was a craterous ruin, and yet still the beast persisted. Its tail had been sheared off midway through with the remaining part being little more than a poorly attached skeleton, its left arm and right leg were also outright missing, with the other two appendages looking as if they would meet the same fate soon.

Hell, thanks to Taylor's earlier attack, its head looked more like a squashed potato than the terrifying visage it had worn earlier, and its chest was riddled with holes and gashes and tears that only grew larger and deadlier by the second.

And yet... And yet, still, the Endbringer fought on. Unlike its paralyzed body, its water shadow was free to run rampant, desperately trying to throw the capes buzzing around it off its from, even as wave after wave crashed into Taylor's shield as it realized it couldn't fight off her hold over its body without first distracting her.

But Taylor wasn't done yet. It was trivially easy to maintain her shield while also holding down the Endbringer, and she did so with glee. Gnashing her teeth even as her lips pulled back into a snarling smile, Taylor put her closed fists over one another, and with yet another scream, she twisted them.

Leviathan's form matched the motion, and its waist ripped itself in half, separating its upper half from its lower one.

There was a sharp gasp from above her, but Taylor ignored it. Her head was throbbing painfully, but she refused to give up. With trembling hands, she held them in front of her chest, palms facing each other, and had them close in together.

And as they got closer and closer, so too did Leviathan's form crush itself together more and more. Water raged all around it now, a veritable whirlpool that only marginally served to defend it from the suddenly very determined and aggressive swarm of capes around it.

Then, all of a sudden, before her palms could even finish closing, a golden light pierced through the thick rain, and the clouds scattered, putting an abrupt end to the blinding rain.

Now, it was Taylor's turn to inhale sharply as the golden form of the first and strongest hero floated down from the skies, his face completely blank as beams of golden light left his hands, striking Leviathan's ruined form with mechanical precision.

Leviathan squirmed, trying even more desperately to flee, but even as Taylor felt a trickle of blood run down her nose, she refused to give up. Not when she was this close.

She just had to hold on a little longer to let Scion deal the killing blow. She had to.

Beam after beam of golden light struck Leviathan, evaporating away massive chunks of its flesh with each strike, reducing Leviathan to nothing more than a ruined skeletal torso with a green glow.

And then, all of a sudden, not even that, as Taylor felt Leviathan's final struggles come to an abrupt end.

For a second, Taylor couldn't believe it. Her mind and thus her power still felt primed and ready, trying desperately to hold on to something that simply wasn't there anymore.

"Holy shit." She heard Glory Girl whisper, and that was just the trigger Taylor needed to collapse to her knees, breathing heavily even as she wiped away the trace amounts of blood that had dribbled down from her nose.

But even then... Taylor couldn't help but feel a smile slowly rising to her face as she looked up, doing so barely in time to catch a glimpse of Scion flying away, his face still set in that perfectly solemn expression of his even as all the other heroes started to celebrate.

She... She'd done it. Not by herself, of course, but... But she'd still done it.

Leviathan was dead.

Just as she thought that, she felt a pair of familiar arms wrap around her, felt it as her father pressed a desperate kiss on the center of her forehead, holding her tightly as tears streamed down his eyes.

"Oh, Taylor... My sweet little owl..." He murmured, his voice choked with emotion as he held her, and despite everything, Taylor couldn't help but reciprocate, holding him tight as she too felt herself start to cry despite the fact that she should have been laughing.

Leviathan was dead, and she'd done it. She'd killed an Endbringer. She, useless little Taylor, had killed the monster, the nightmare that had reaped so many lives. Not alone, perhaps, but she'd still done it.

She didn't know for how long she stayed there within her father's arm, crying tears borne from emotions too chaotic for her to even begin to understand, the two of them still separated from the outside world by the green dome around them, their only company being that of a suddenly very awkward-looking heroine doing her best to not intrude on their moment.

But, just like all things, it couldn't last forever. Eventually, Taylor and her father separated, both of their eyes red and puffy from tears.

"Taylor, I... You..." Her father helplessly started, halting mid-speech as he tried to find the words he wanted to say.

He never got the chance to say them, however, as suddenly, Taylor felt someone tapping on her barrier, and when she turned to look, she saw them.

Eidolon. Legend. Alexandria.

And they looked like they wanted to talk

 

[Zedfangrt3640]

if she can do even a quarter of what Psykos did in the manga...
Wormverse would not be ready for Tatsu!Taylor

 

[Dis Lexic]

Yeah...Tatsumaki, and most other characters in OPM are practically Trumverent tier in their own right and Tatsumaki is one of the strongest. The comment in the blurb about Taylor lifting her city could be taken literally.

 

[Uwahhhhhhhhhh]

Excellent, I shall await more

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Yeah...Tatsumaki, and most other characters in OPM are practically Trumverent tier in their own right and Tatsumaki is one of the strongest. The comment in the blurb about Taylor lifting her city could be taken literally.

Click to shrink...

TBH was hoping Taylor would just punch Leviathan once and be done with him

 

[PoopyheadPiero]

Shes tatsumaki not friggin saitama

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Shes tatsumaki not friggin saitama

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately

 

[Antuanferre]

Eidolon. Legend. Alexandria.

And they looked like they wanted to talk

Click to shrink...

It would be interesting to read about Taylor who will say to the protectorate - "Do you want to recruit me into your gang? I want Sophia's head on a silver platter."

 

[Lorddarkrai2]

It would be interesting to read about Taylor who will say to the protectorate - "Do you want to recruit me into your gang? I want Sophia's head on a silver platter."

Click to shrink...

She could trap Sophia in a giant ball shaped Tesla coil. she's safe, as long as she doesn't leave the 'safe zone'.

 

[mobius22]

I hipe someone has King's power in this earth.

 

[DoorAlarm]

Taylor's faith in heroes was at an all-time low. So much so that she could rather confidently say that it had hit rock bottom, and then dug quite deeply down into the earth below.

But even with that being said... This was the Triumvirate that wanted to speak with her. The three heroes, the three paragons who had set the golden standard for everyone else to follow, and while she had long since grown out of it, Taylor could still remember the days back when she would fangirl hard for Alexandria, while Emma would instead do so with Legend.

Thus, even she didn't feel as though she could just straight-up refuse to speak with the Triumvirate, even if she felt more exhausted both mentally and physically than she'd ever been before, so much so that now that the adrenaline coursing through her veins was starting to filter out, she could quite literally feel her body begging her to allow it to collapse and rest.

However, she forced herself to stand tall regardless, gently pushing away from her father as she fully turned to face the three living legends, feeling only a little (a lot) of hesitation and unsureness as she did.

With a simple flex of her will, the green dome around them faded away, drawing quite a bit of attention from the many capes celebrating all through the street. She couldn't recognize the vast majority of them, but even then, she still felt herself flinching away as a lot of eyes suddenly landed on her.

"I'll just, uh... Go and check on my family, yeah...?" Glory Girl abruptly half-asked, half-stated, the sheer suddenness of her words serving to break the sudden nervous panic that had overtaken Taylor, causing her to glance back at the floating heroine in surprise.

"Go ahead, Glory Girl." Legend agreed, and Taylor couldn't help but feel herself unconsciously relax just a bit from just how sincerely friendly his voice was. It also helped that he had a very nice smile, one that he graced both Glory Girl and Taylor with. "Don't let us keep you from checking up on your loved ones. God knows that's what I'd be doing if things hadn't turned out as they had." He chuckled.

Glory Girl's smile widened, losing its awkward edge as she giggled. "They did, didn't they." Then, she turned toward Taylor and gave her the brightest smile anyone who wasn't her mother had ever given her. "You were amazing, girl. You totally rocked that dumb lizard's world. Good job!" She said and held out her fist for Taylor to bump.

Who, in turn, merely blinked and stared with a blank face, even as inside, she could feel herself quite literally freezing up, feeling utterly lost on how to react to a girl, a hero, that she'd never even met suddenly being so friendly.

A second passed. Then two. Then three. Then a lot more, and suddenly Glory Girl's smile looked much more awkward as she withdrew her fist, smiling sheepishly as she averted her eyes and let out a nervous laugh. "... Right. I'm just gonna... Go." She said, and then promptly drifted away, although she made no effort to hide the way she constantly sneakily glanced behind her, clearly curious.

Legend coughed politely, and Taylor flinched, tearing her gaze away from Glory Girl's direction to refocus it on the three Founders before her, feeling her cheeks heating up in shameful embarrassment.

For his own part, Legend merely looked amused, his smile still just as wide as before. It wasn't as easy to tell what Alexandria and Eidolon were feeling, although the former did have a small smile on her face as she crossed her arms under her chest. Eidolon, meanwhile, just stood there stiffly, his full-face mask doing a pretty perfect job of hiding his thoughts.

"So." Legend started, his voice having gone utterly solemn. "There's so much I want to say. So many things I'd like to ask." He admitted as he took a step closer to Taylor. "But before I do any of that, there's one thing I need to say before all of that."

Then, he took another step forward and gently grasped Taylor's hand in both of his own. For her part, the girl in question tensed up at the sudden contact, her eyes going wide, but she didn't have time to do anything beyond that as Legend spoke again. "Thank you."

"Thank you, for finally giving us the hope that we can win this fight. Thank you for proving that all of our efforts and sacrifices, all of the blood, sweat, and tears that we shed, and all of our friends, coworkers, and family who gave their lives away to hold back the tide... Thank you for proving that they all meant something." He said, his voice growing gradually thicker and thicker with emotions, and by the end of it, Legend was clearly struggling to keep speaking due to how choked up he sounded.

And Taylor... Taylor found herself frozen, a whirlwind of emotions raging within her mind, one so intense that even she wouldn't have been able to tell how she was feeling at that moment.

"I... I..." Taylor struggled to speak, her throat choking up. "I... It wasn't just me. I... Everyone helped, too."

"They did. We did. Scion certainly did." Alexandria spoke up, her voice firm and determined, yet nonetheless, the nod she gave Taylor was filled with both approval and warm, and despite herself, Taylor couldn't help but feel her legs grow weak as she was seriously acknowledged by the one heroine whom she'd looked up to for all of her life.

"But in truth, you were the one who made it all possible. You might not have dealt Leviathan the final blow, but it was by your efforts, yours and yours alone, that it could happen at all. Take pride in that achievement." Alexandria said, and Legend nodded at her words, letting go of Taylor's hand and taking a step back.

"Alexandria's right. It's important to not become arrogant, but I doubt anyone would claim that you'd be acting as such if you claimed to have killed Leviathan." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Ah, it seems we've strayed a bit from what I originally wanted to talk about. Look at me go off like an old man... I must really be getting on in my years, huh?" He added, throwing Taylor a wink at the end.

Taylor could only nod dumbly at his words, only to freeze and then quickly shake her head. "Yes- No! I mean, no, you're not old, it's... I'm..." She trailed off, fidgeting in place as she felt her cheeks grow even warmer as she realized she had absolutely no idea what to say. In the end, she just ducked her head and stared very intently at the ground.

"Regardless." Eidolon cut in, speaking up for the first time and causing everyone to glance at him. His posture was stiff and his voice gruffer than his two fellow Founders', and it instantly had Taylor's hackles rising. "The impossible was made possible today, and that has consequences. Consequences that need to be discussed and dealt with." He said firmly, shooting Legend a firm glance.
In response, Legend merely sighed and gave a reluctant nod as he turned back to face Taylor. "As much as it pains me to say, my friend isn't wrong." He admitted, running a hand through his very well-cared-for hair, grimacing as it came out a bit wet. "There's a lot of things we should talk about for your and your father's safety."

And speaking of fathers, it was at this point that Danny cut in. "I understand that what my daughter did was exceptional." He spoke up, putting a hand on Taylor's shoulder as he did, and whether he did so to firm up Taylor's spirit or his own, neither of them knew.

"But surely this can be pushed back to another day? We've both had a long and exhausting day, and I doubt now would be a good time to talk about such serious things when my daughter can barely hold herself from collapsing out of exhaustion." He argued, his voice curt and defensive as he stared down at what might as well have been three gods compared to himself.

And he did so for her sake.

Taylor bit her lip, struggling not to cry even as her lips unconsciously twitched upward.

"I completely get it, and trust me, if things were different, I'd be more than happy to send you both on your way to rest and recover. Lord knows you've earned it." Legend placated, holding up his hands in a show of surrender. "But again, and I can't stress this enough, you both must be informed of several critical things. You don't have to make any decisions now, but I do ask you to please at least listen. Would that be alright?" He asked, glancing down at Taylor as he did, catching her off guard.

Peeking up at her father and receiving a small, slow nod, Taylor agreed. "I mean... I guess..." She murmured.

Legend smiled at her confirmation before throwing Eidolon a look, one that the other man immediately understood the meaning of, merely waving a hand in response.

When he did, a faint shimmer appeared in the air around the group, only to immediately vanish a moment later. "I've put up a perception filter. No one else should be able to hear what we say now, even if they can read lips." He explained as Taylor glanced at him curiously.

"Thank you, old friend." Legend nodded before refocusing on the issue at hand. "Now, first and perhaps most important, I must warn you that your identity is very unlikely to remain hidden after this." He said, ripping off the band-aid straight away.

"Both the PRT and Protectorate will do our best to help prevent this, or at least delay it going out to the public at large, but I doubt it'll work. Too many people saw you, too many villains saw you, and one way or another, for one reason or another, someone's going to leak your identity." He continued, inclining his head. "I'm sorry. I wish I could promise that we could fix it. It's not fair to you, not after what you've done for the world at large today, but I just don't think we could keep such a promise." He said sadly.

And, well... Had this been any other situation, Taylor doubted she'd have taken it well.

In fact, she still didn't. Legend's words were like a punch in the gut, and the realization that she'd been outed before she'd even had the chance to have a secret identity... Well, it sucked. There was no other way to put it.

It just straight-up sucked.

However, as things were, Taylor was already far too emotionally exhausted to care about it as much as she should have. She'd stared down certain death and realized just how insignificant she truly was, only for that to all suddenly and violently change. She'd waddled through a field of mangled corpses, fought and triumphed against one of the world's three worst nightmares, all of this topped off by abruptly receiving the acknowledgment she hadn't even realized she craved so desperately.

So, with all of that into consideration, all that Taylor could say in response to that was a faint and quiet "Oh. Ok."

Legend waited for a moment as if expecting her to say more. When she didn't, he blinked for a moment before shrugging it off and continuing on. "Other than that, there's also more miscellaneous things you should know. Once the media learns of your actions, I don't doubt that you'll become an instant celebrity, and while I understand that might sound appealing to some... Well, it's not an easy shift, going from complete anonymity to sudden stardom." He smiled wryly at that. "Trust me, I would know."

"Politicians will want to speak and be seen with you. You'll receive a million and more invitations to go to talk shows and interviews, and people will feel entitled to your time and attention, and that's not an easy thing to brush off. Worse yet are the villains." He actually frowned at this part, his distaste clear.

"For as stupid as it might sound to both you and me, there actually are villains stupid enough that they'll look at you and think that beating, or worse, killing you, would boost their reputation, and trust me, that's a dangerous thing for villains to think. They only have to get lucky once for you to pay the ultimate price, and there are many, many villains out there who are skilled and dangerous enough they might not even need to get lucky." He said grimly.

Taylor should have felt threatened by this. Should have felt a mounting panic at the realization that she was now a target for some of the worst people in the world.

She should have. And yet, all that she could think was a simple 'They can try.'
It was an immensely arrogant thing to feel for someone who hadn't yet had their power for even a full hour, much less the decades upon decades that many of her potential enemies spotted, and yet Taylor couldn't bring herself to care.

Maybe she'd panic in the morning after a long, long night of sleep, but right now, she was almost tempted to dare anyone to try and attack her and see how well they matched up against the girl that had ripped an Endbringer in half.

"Is... is there anything we c-can do about this?" Taylor never did get to voice her inner thoughts, however, as she heard her father's barely choked-out question, his voice tightening with fear as his hand tightened around her shoulder, pulling her back against himself protectively.

Legend's smile warmed as he gave her father the first full smile solely reserved for him that he'd given through this entire conversation. "Of course there is, and on this, I'm much happier to say that we can and will help." He said firmly. "For starters, I think it's not an exaggeration to say that your daughter is now a person of beyond just national importance, but of outright international one should she be able and willing to repeat her performance against Leviathan on the other Endbringers."

Here, Legend took a deep breath, and stared Taylor directly in the eyes, trying his best to convey just how serious he was about this. "In light of this, and I don't think either of my friends here will have anything to say against this, I'd be honored to offer her the opportunity to train directly under us." Legend proclaimed, glancing back at his two fellow Founders.

Neither of them objected, merely watching on in silence, with Alexandria even nodding once.

Taylor's eyes almost bugged out at Legend's words, and her father was no different as he gaped helplessly at Legend. "You're... You're serious?" He hesitantly asked, his voice trembling a little as he did.

Legend nodded firmly. "As serious as I've ever been, sir. I would never joke about something like this." Legend gravely confirmed, only to then release a sigh and force himself to smile again. "With that said, though, I understand if you need time to process my offer, time we'd all be very happy to offer you. I promise we won't say anything else about this should you refuse, although I personally will certainly be rather sad." He said, throwing out another wink, this one a bit more forced than his previous one.

Now, although Taylor didn't quite have the right experience to see it for what it was, her father did. It was an olive branch, offered to reassure them that they were not being pressured to accept the offer, even if Danny personally didn't exactly trust a promise not made in writing after the many, many disappointments he'd suffered through his career.

"Thank you, Legend." Danny slowly said, nodding at the other man. "I... I can't say I'm happy about any of this, but... But even then, this sounds like a wonderful opportunity for Taylor. That being said, it's her choice to make." He said, gaining more and more steam as he continued to speak.

"But if I can, I'd like to help her in making her decision, and I can't do that if I don't know exactly what you're offering here. Are you giving her a spot as one of your Wards? Because from what I know of the program, it doesn't exactly sound like a mentorship thing the way you're making it out to be." Taylor abruptly froze, her eyes narrowing into pinpricks.

Legend blinked, clearly taken aback, and hesitantly rubbed the back of his head as he chuckled awkwardly. "Haha, well, not exactly. Honestly, I mostly just made the offer up on the spot, so I don't really have anything concrete to tell you. That being said, I don't think the Wards program was made with someone of your daughter's-"

"NO!" Taylor erupted, and her shout shook the earth. Danny stumbled in place, only managing to stay on his feet by accidentally leaning onto Taylor, who remained frozen in place. Legend, meanwhile, staggered back, unhurt yet clearly taken aback by the outburst even as Alexandria and Eidolon both tensed up.

"NO! I won't EVER join the Wards!" Taylor screamed, her voice cracking with how high-pitched it went, her hair beginning to float up around her head. "I won't, I won't ever! I'd rather DIE!" She snarled violently, her body shaking violently as she struggled to hold back her emotions, her fists clenching so hard that she actually drew blood.

Around her, spiderweb-like cracks began to spread through the earth, with all the loose rock and debris floating up into the air. Moments later, a massive rock ripped itself out from the ground, joining the rest of the debris in the air.

And then another did. And then another. And then half a dozen more.

"Taylor, sweetie, please, calm down!" Her father shouted, his voice panicked as he forced himself to his feet, pulling Taylor into his only somewhat scared embrace. "You don't have to join the Wards if you don't want to, I promise."

Taylor's breathing was erratic and rabbit-like, her eyes hurt from how tightly her pupils were clenching, her heart was beating so hard it might as well have been trying to rip its way free from her chest, and her palms felt sweaty and disgusting.

Still, with a gigantic effort of will, Taylor forced herself to clench her eyes shut before attempting to regulate her breathing, all the while burying her face into her father's chest, muffling a desperate sob that tore its way out from her throat.

The earth slowly stopped shaking, and gradually, gravity reasserted its hold over the floating debris, at last allowing a very concerned Legend to let out a sigh of relief.

"No... No Wards." Taylor eventually said several minutes later, having finally managed to get herself back under control, although her head now felt light and airy as she rested in her father's arms.

"No Wards." Danny immediately agreed without any hesitation. Anything to prevent a repeat of... that. "I promise."

Taylor let out an incomprehensible grumble in response before her breathing finally evened out, and she went slack in Danny's grip. It took him an embarrassingly long moment to realize that she'd fallen asleep, but when he did, even he couldn't help but sigh in relief.

Gently moving his daughter around a bit so that he could hold her in a princess carry, letting her head lean against his shoulder as he did, Danny couldn't help but wince as he realized just how damn light his daughter was.

He knew she'd been losing weight recently, something that obviously wasn't a good thing on her already unhealthily skinny frame. But now that she was actually in his arms, he couldn't help but feel as though reality had just slapped him with the realization that, no, Taylor really hadn't been doing fine, despite her claims to the contrary.

He exhaled, suddenly feeling the weight of his age and failures pressing down upon him so much more harshly than before as he turned to look at Legend, whose expression had gone soft and wistful as he watched the two of them have their little father-daughter moment.

"No Wards," Danny told Legend, doubting that there was really all that much that needed to be said on this particular topic.

Legend merely smiled wryly, obviously agreeing.

"No Wards." He agreed.

And that was that.

 

[Just A Dude]

Geez. Ambushed me with a new chapter right as I was writing up a comment.

I'll take that kind of ambush any day, mind you.

Loving the story so far, and it reminds me of a similar idea I had... not in terms of crossover or powers, though. More in the sense of a Taylor who is disillusioned and not just out of fucks but in full blown fuckruptcy, who then gets the kind of power that makes her everyone's darling all of a sudden.

I do hope she'll unload the venom with both barrels once she gets some rest, though, instead of clamming up. Just because they're only giving her the time of day because she's useful to them doesn't mean she can't use them right back, and she's in a position where a lot of people want to do her favors.

 

[ShaperV]

Sigh. Why do so many alt power fics think killing an Endbringer is a great way to showcase how awesome their OP ability is?

First, it shows that you haven't bothered to learn much about Worm. An Endbringer is literally more durable than a planet. If your character can't casually shatter a planet and scatter the broken fragments across the solar system, then they can't do squat to an Endbringer. Saitama could presumably destroy one (albeit at the cost of destroying the Earth as collateral damage), but no one else in OPM operates on anything remotely like that scale.

Second, and in some ways more important, once you kill an Endbringer you no longer have a story to tell. None of the villians, heroes or factions in Worm are going to be any obstacle to someone that powerful, so what the heck are you going to write? Not any kind of adventure story, that's for sure. In theory there's always character drama, but if that was your thing you probably would have picked a different opening.

 

[DoorAlarm]

First, it shows that you haven't bothered to learn much about Worm. An Endbringer is literally more durable than a planet. If your character can't casually shatter a planet and scatter the broken fragments across the solar system, then they can't do squat to an Endbringer. Saitama could presumably destroy one (albeit at the cost of destroying the Earth as collateral damage), but no one else in OPM operates on anything remotely like that scale.

Click to shrink...

That's not really true, but it doesn't really matter since it wasn't Taylor who actually killed Leviathan. It was Scion.

 

[Uwahhhhhhhhhh]

Sigh. Why do so many alt power fics think killing an Endbringer is a great way to showcase how awesome their OP ability is?

First, it shows that you haven't bothered to learn much about Worm. An Endbringer is literally more durable than a planet. If your character can't casually shatter a planet and scatter the broken fragments across the solar system, then they can't do squat to an Endbringer. Saitama could presumably destroy one (albeit at the cost of destroying the Earth as collateral damage), but no one else in OPM operates on anything remotely like that scale.

Second, and in some ways more important, once you kill an Endbringer you no longer have a story to tell. None of the villians, heroes or factions in Worm are going to be any obstacle to someone that powerful, so what the heck are you going to write? Not any kind of adventure story, that's for sure. In theory there's always character drama, but if that was your thing you probably would have picked a different opening.

Click to shrink...

The way it building up, this story will have a bunch more emotional beats that don't require power.

Also like the other dude said, the endbringer was mostly immobilized. Sure he was bent and torn apart at some points but that was her upper limit for now.

Lastly it less about o look how awesome is the tornado terror, its more about the CONSEQUENCES of killing the endbringer

 

[meloa789]

As both Taylor and Danny are more cordial with each other, she could propose to remove the Boat Graveyard with her powers.

 

[Baked Goods]

Sigh. Why do so many alt power fics think killing an Endbringer is a great way to showcase how awesome their OP ability is?

First, it shows that you haven't bothered to learn much about Worm. An Endbringer is literally more durable than a planet. If your character can't casually shatter a planet and scatter the broken fragments across the solar system, then they can't do squat to an Endbringer. Saitama could presumably destroy one (albeit at the cost of destroying the Earth as collateral damage), but no one else in OPM operates on anything remotely like that scale.

Second, and in some ways more important, once you kill an Endbringer you no longer have a story to tell. None of the villians, heroes or factions in Worm are going to be any obstacle to someone that powerful, so what the heck are you going to write? Not any kind of adventure story, that's for sure. In theory there's always character drama, but if that was your thing you probably would have picked a different opening.

Click to shrink...

"The whole "planet-busting beam" was a translation error. All it really meant was that it would destroy all life on the surface."

Wildblow: "Punch that counters said beam & strikes like that one did is still good enough."

I mean, there you go, the author approved that to kill an Endbringer via force, you need to exert enough energy to wipe out all life on the surface of the Earth.

That's continent to multi-continent atleast.

Tatsumaki is around that level through calcs.

The argument above was also in the context that Boros' final attack would only wipe out the surface of the planet and not destroy Earth.

 

[Long Shot]

Can't wait to see the traditional post endbringer fight pho interlude.

 

[DoorAlarm]

Leviathan loomed over her. Around her, half-mutilated corpses reached out to her, begging and pleading for help.
She turned around, and right there behind was her father, standing over his own mutilated body while staring down at it blankly. She tried to call out to him, to reach out and grab him, but he didn't answer.
She crawled toward him, forcing her way through piles and piles of body parts, feeling her hands and feet be drenched in blood as she did.
When she finally reached him, he finally turned and looked at her, and she immediately wished that he hadn't.
His face wasn't his own, and before her very eyes, his jacket morphed into a white lab coat. Pulling out a thick syringe out of nowhere, he looked down at her, a bright smile on his face as he twirled the utensil between his fingers. "Yes. Yes, she will do nicely." He spoke as he looked down at her, and only then did she realize just how big he was compared to her.

Taylor woke up with an ear-piercing shriek, lurching forward, only to feel something restricting her. Trapped. She was trapped. Again.

No. No, no no! Not again. She refused to be trapped again.

She struggled, screaming, yelling, and trashing desperately. There was the sound of a door slamming open, and then rapid footsteps, but Taylor could barely hear them over the sound of her screaming.

"-lor! Taylor! Baby girl, please, calm down. You're safe. Everything's fine. Leviathan's gone, you killed him, remember?" A voice, a familiar one, shouted, and Taylor could feel tough and wrinkled hands fluttering around her, wanting to comfort yet not wishing to restrain.

It wasn't immediate, far from it. Still, gradually, Taylor managed to regain reason, her furious struggle lessening more and more with each second that passed, until finally, something clicked inside her, and she collapsed back onto the bed, taking a very deep breath as she did, only to then exhale it all a moment later.

"Taylor? Are you, uh, alright now?" Her father tentatively asked, looking down at her worriedly.

He'd gotten new clothes, Taylor dully noted to herself as she stared at him without saying anything for a long moment. Not just any clothes, either. They were the fancy ones, his professional suit and tie, that he only brought out for when he had to go to important events.

"... Yeah." Taylor eventually managed to say, her voice barely louder than a whisper as she tiredly wiped the back of her hand over her face, and she grimaced as she felt just how drenched in sweat she was. "Yeah, I'm... I'm good." She repeated, trying to say it more firmly this time, but she was fairly sure she just came off sounding and probably also looking constipated.

Her father gave a slow nod, his eyes worriedly roaming over her form before taking a step back. "That's good." He murmured, scratching at the back of his head. A nervous tick, Taylor knew. "I... I made you breakfast, earlier." He added after a few moments, his voice tentative. "Would you like me to go get it for you?"

Taylor looked at him for a few moments, trying to hide her surprise. Rare were the days when her father actually cooked for her, not out of any malice or negligence, but more so because he was often either busy getting ready for work or having just come back from it and too tired to do so.

But... That didn't mean Taylor wasn't willing to enjoy the privilege if she could. "Please." She demurred quietly, receiving a nod in return as her father stood up, hesitating for only a second before turning and walking back out of the door.

"Call me if you need anything, alright? I'll come right away." He abruptly said right as he was about to close the door, shooting back a glance at her, one that was filled with far too much emotion for Morning-Taylor to comprehend.

So, Taylor just nodded, only letting out an incoherent yet affirmative noise as her eyes drifted shut yet again, feeling a sudden bout of tiredness strike her.

Still, it wasn't the all-encompassing exhaustion Taylor had felt previously, merely the tired grogginess of waking up in the morning. So, with an effort of will, Taylor forced herself to shuffle off the surprisingly large and comfortable bed so that she could stand up and stretch out a bit.

And once that was done, she took the opportunity to see where exactly she was, because it wasn't exactly hard to tell that this wasn't her room... If it even existed at all anymore after Leviathan, she couldn't help but think grimly.

Regardless, she could at least confirm she wasn't in the hospital. The walls were light blue and patterned with flowers, the bed was far larger than anything she'd ever slept on before, and to be fairly honest, looked almost decadently luxurious to Taylor's lower-middle class sensibilities.

Although... To be fair, it had probably looked even more expensive before her little tantrum as she quickly came to the embarrassing conclusion that the reason she'd felt so trapped earlier had simply been because of the thick bedsheets tucked under the sides of the mattress.

Taylor's cheeks blazed red as she looked around the room. She hadn't even noticed it, but during her outburst, her power must have acted up, because the room was a mess.

There were pieces of porcelain scattered in one corner, the destroyed remains of a TV that had likely been thrown off from its perch, and even a broken plastic plant whose leaves now coated practically the entire room.

Taylor's blush only increased in intensity as her eyes landed upon evidence upon evidence of her tantrum, and her mortification only grew higher with each additional piece of evidence... Only for said mortification to swiftly turn to concern.

Her power had been acting out, and she hadn't even realized it. Her power, which was capable of ripping Leviathan in half... And it hadn't even been under her control at that moment.

And yet, her father had nonetheless walked straight into her room and gone straight for her, ignoring the very tangible risk that she might accidentally hurt him.

Taylor didn't know what to feel as she came to that realization, torn between a sense of worried concern and anger over his stupidity, but also of warm affection as she realized that her father had ignored the possible risk in favor of helping, foolish as it might've been.

As if called by her thoughts, it was exactly as she thought this that the door opened up, and in stepped her father yet again, carrying a plate filled with mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, and a piece of toast.

"Here you go, sweetie." He said as he walked in, closing the door behind him before making his way over to her, carefully setting the plate onto the bed, complete with a fork, knife, and napkin. "Try and eat it all, please. You haven't eaten for almost an entire day." He told her, and Taylor shot him a somewhat confused look.

Never before had her father tried to get her to eat more or less than what she chose to eat, so it was somewhat weird to her for him to say that considering she'd skipped meals before, and he'd never made an issue of it.

After a moment, though, she pushed it aside and focused back on her meal, tentatively grabbing her spoon and getting a little taste of the potatoes.

The moment she did, her eyes couldn't help but shoot wide open, and before she even knew it, she quickly found herself digging into the rest of her food, more than happy to discover that everything else tasted just as good.

It was somewhat embarrassing how quickly she ended up scarfing down her meal as she realized that, yes, the food really was just that good, and she was just that hungry too.

"Liked it?" Her father asked, his voice faintly amused as he held out his hands. Taylor ducked her head low as she smiled sheepishly, handing over the now empty plate to him.

"Yeah." She said, refusing to meet his eyes. "It was really good. Did you make it?" She asked, unable to hide her curiosity.

Surprisingly, her father let out a bark of self-mocking laughter. "Of course not, sweetheart. I'm many things, but a chef isn't one of them." He said in good humor, only for it to dim somewhat immediately after. "That was always your mother's thing."

And, just like that, the previous good mood vanished, replaced by somberness as Taylor lowered her eyes, not saying anything in reply to that.

Eventually, after a minute of silence, Danny coughed into his hands. "Well... Regardless. I don't doubt you have a bunch of questions you want to ask, so ask away. I'll answer everything I can." He promised, grabbing a chair from where it had been thrown against the wall and setting it down next to the bed so that the two of them could talk face-to-face.

Taylor blinked, tilting her head. "Oh. Uh... Well, I guess I'd like to know what happened and where we are?" She tentatively asked. "Last thing I remember was... Was..."

If she'd been blushing before, that was nothing compared to the nuclear blush that erupted on her face as she realized that she'd thrown what was essentially a super-powered tantrum in front of the Triumvirate. In front of freaking Alexandria!

God, if she still had any friends, she doubted any of them would have ever let her live it down. Nor would her bullies have, either, except she also didn't have those anymore.

... Right. She'd almost forgotten how she didn't have any remaining connections to anyone other than her dad.

Ignorant to Taylor's thoughts, Danny gladly explained. "Well, after you fell unconscious, Alexandria and Eidolon had to leave to go deal with the fallout and organize things, but Legend and I talked for a while, mostly about what he intended for you should you choose to accept his offer, but, well, he did say he wanted to talk to you in person about, so I'll hold off on the details."

His expression fell at this point. "Then... Well, I wanted to bring you home, but..." A shiver ran through him, and his lips formed a pained grimace. "... Well, let's just say that's not a possibility anymore. Apparently, our area was hit by one of Leviathan's waves, and there were no capes there to stop it."

"... Oh," Taylor said, unsure of what to feel about this little reveal. Her home had been... Special. It was where she grew up, a reminder of happier times, back when her mom was alive, Emma hadn't become a psychopath, and everything had been perfect.

But... To be perfectly honest, it had also felt suffocating at times. Every corner had held a different memory, and each one had been more painful than the last.

"Yeah. Oh." Danny chuckled wryly. "Still, Legend was happy enough to offer us a room at this hotel here out of his own pocket. Or, well, out of the Protectorate's pocket as he said it, but then again, is there really a difference between the two?" He joked.

Taylor... Didn't really find the joke all that funny, if it even was a joke. "So this is a hotel, then?" She asked, now feeling a bit worried as she glanced at the devastation she'd inflicted upon the room. "Um... Is this going to be a problem?"

"... Maybe?" Danny hesitantly said. At Taylor's worried look, he shrugged. "I'm sure they'll understand, and if not, we'll deal with it then." He told her, trying to be positive. "Besides, we've got this floor loaned out to us for a whole month. As long as it doesn't happen again, I doubt the owner will care."

Taylor wasn't so sure about that, but that wasn't the thing that caught her attention. "Wait, what? What do you mean an entire floor? Where are we exactly?" She demanded, her worry increasing.

"Well... You know the big hotel near the Boardwalk? The one I always said was a waste of money that only clueless tourists would ever visit?" He stated more than asked. "Well, this is the one. Legend paid us a week's stay here, but then the owner found out who you were, and, well..." He trailed off, shrugging.

Before Taylor could say anything to that, a ringing sound echoed out, startling the both of them.

Father and daughter looked at one another for a moment before the former stood up. "I'll go get it." He stated, rising to his feet. "You should probably change your clothes while I do that, they're... Not in their best shape." He added before quickly power-walking away, leaving a stunned Taylor behind.

She looked down, and only then noticed the state of her clothes. The same clothes that she'd been wearing in that nightmarish shelter, and had then subsequently confronted Leviathan with.

Taylor went green, and not in a parahuman way.

---

Thankfully, finding a change of clothes didn't prove difficult. While they'd been scattered around the room, she was nonetheless immensely thankful as she got the chance to wear something that wasn't crusty with blood and grime.

It would've been better had she also gotten the chance to take a shower, but as she heard knocking on the door, it didn't take a genius to realize it might be a little while longer before she could take one. "Come in." She called out.

The door opened, and in stepped two people, one of whom was of course her father, but while the other one was also someone she recognized, she couldn't help but stare dumbly.

Why was Panacea of all people here?

"Hello." The most famous healing cape in the world greeted, smiling a hesitant and somewhat forced smile. "I'm here for your checkup."

"H-hi?" Taylor stuttered out, caught completely off guard by the sudden appearance of someone close to her own age. Despite herself, she couldn't help but take a step back. "What do you mean by checkup?"

Panacea's lips twitched, and her smile fell just a little bit. "Well, you know how it is. We can't have the world-famous Endripper accidentally dying of an infection or something dumb like that!" She said with obvious fake cheerfulness. "I mean, sure, I could have done this yesterday back when I was healing everyone else instead of having to come all the way here today while my family has to plan the funerals of our cousin and uncle, but what do I know!"

Panacea was outright snarling as she said the last part, and Taylor couldn't help but flinch even as Danny's eyes narrowed. "I... I'm sorry?" Taylor helplessly said even as she struggled to hold from folding in on herself, only somewhat succeeding as her face cringed hard enough that the other girl must've seen it.

However, deep inside of herself... There was a small, almost foreign part of her that wanted to lash out at Panacea, to slam her into the wall for daring to speak to her like this. What had she done except hide in the backlines, safe and sound while everyone else died screaming? What right did she have to take out her frustrations on her, who had faced down the monster and emerged triumphant?

Ignorant of Taylor's thoughts, the healer took a deep breath and let a hand trail down her face, her nails digging into her skin as she did. "... No, it's fine. I'm the one who should be sorry." She eventually sighed. "Sorry. I'm usually more professional than this, but it's just... It's been a hard couple of days." She admitted, and that, Taylor could understand.

"I get it." She said softly. "I really, really do."

Panacea snorted. "You would, wouldn't you?" She said with a huff. "Well, whatever. Let's just get this over so I can leave already. Wouldn't want to keep Strider waiting."

Taylor blinked. Who the hell was Strider, and why would he be waiting for Panacea?

Regardless, Taylor kept the question to herself and offered a nod to the healer. "Right." She said, forcing herself to stand just that little bit straighter. "So, um, what should I do?"

"Just give me your hand," Panacea said with a sigh, holding out her hand, and with only a little bit of hesitation, Taylor obliged and put her own hand in Panacea's grasp.

"Right, let's see here..." Panacea hummed to herself. "Underweight, lack of vitamin D, a few bruises here and there..." She trailed off, continuing to mutter to illegibly mutter to herself. "Right, nothing too bad that I can see, but you definitely need to eat and exercise more. Other than that, you shouldn't be dropping dead from any medical issues anytime soon. Congrats." She said dryly.

Taylor didn't know what to say to that, and instead of answering, turned her head and shot a pleading look over at her father, who merely shrugged upon noticing her gaze.

If Panacea noticed, she didn't care enough to comment on it as she continued humming to herself, staring at nothing in particular as she continued holding Taylor's hand, only for a small frown to form on her face. "... Huh. That's odd." She murmured. "Where's your Corona?"

"My what?" Taylor asked after a moment as Panacea failed to explain.

"Your Corona. You know, the part of the brain that gives parahumans their powers?" Panacea retorted. "You sure you still got powers?" She asked, although even Taylor could tell it was a joke and not actually a serious question.

Still, regardless, Taylor couldn't help but frown, and feeling a bit petulant, mentally grabbed ahold of Panacea and lifted her up into the air a bit, earning a surprised squeak from the girl. "Yes. Fairly sure." She said, and now it was her turn for her voice to be dry as the desert as she set Panacea back down.

"Hmph." The healer huffed. "Right, whatever, doesn't matter anyways, you probably just have a non-standard expression of it." She said as she let go of Taylor's hand. "Anyways, I fixed your eyesight and got rid of your bruises, as well as a few other minor lingering problems. You're about as healthy as I can make you right now. Eat more and exercise more, and you'll be right as rain. Losing weight like you did isn't healthy." She clinically ordered, causing Taylor to blink as she only now noticed just how blurry her vision had become.

Taking off her glasses fixed that, and as she blinked repeatedly, she couldn't hide her awe as she was, for the first time in many years, able to see clearly without help.

"Thank you, Panacea. This is amazing." Taylor said, giving the other girl a wide, somewhat shy smile. "I mean, you didn't have to, so thank you so much!" She repeated, only to be waved off.

"It's fine, don't make a big deal out of it," Panacea said as she turned and started walking away. "Right, I'll be going now. Enjoy your peace while you can, because I don't think you're going to get much of it in the future." She casually added once she was right about to exit through the door, jerking a thumb in the window's direction. "Good luck."

And with those admittedly ominous last words, Panacea left, kicking the door shut behind her, leaving the Hebert duo somewhat befuddled as they glanced at each other, unsure of how to take this turn of events.

Still... "Dad, what did she mean?" Taylor couldn't help but ask, feeling a confused frown form on her face.

Danny winced. "Well..." He hesitated, unsure of how exactly to go about explaining it.

Unfortunately for him, all that his meandering did was cause Taylor's curiosity to grow. Glancing over in the window's direction, Taylor thought for a moment and then decided it wouldn't hurt to see what Panacea had meant.

And so she did just that, walking over to the window and pulling open the curtain covering it before leaning forward and peering through the glass, taking a moment to enjoy the strange and foreign feeling of being able to see without her glasses on.

Unfortunately, that moment didn't last long at all, because although it took her a moment to understand what she was feeling, when she inevitably did... Well...

Down below, swarming all around the hotel, were the media people. Hundreds, even thousands of them.

Camera crews. News vans. Paparazzi. Interview teams. So many more Taylor didn't even recognize.

Worse yet, there were just so many of them, hell, Taylor could even see outright tents staked out around the hotel, hinting at just how long these people had been here.

Slowly, cautiously, Taylor closed the curtain, leaned away from the window, and turned to face her father.

"Dad?" She asked faintly, her face ashen. "Do... Do they know?" She asked, and Danny didn't need an explanation to understand just what she meant with that question.

He nodded, sighing.

"Yeah." He confirmed sadly. "They know. Everyone does."

 

[meloa789]

Considering the mental state she is in, I would not be surprised if she went on a tour of rampage all over Brockton Bay.

 

[Uwahhhhhhhhhh]

Considering the mental state she is in, I would not be surprised if she went on a tour of rampage all over Brockton Bay.

Click to shrink...

Not really, she fell asleep after remember