Wing is the story of Taylor Hebert dealing with a power she refuses to use and all the things that come with that.
Can she really be a hero or is she doomed to stay a useless mess?
I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other.
I had left school early today; I wasn't eager to stay just so I could be bullied more. I hadn't even gone home yet to drop off my things, so my bag still hung from my back, laden with all the books and materials that would typically go in a locker. I wasn't sure it made it any harder for them to steal or ruin my things, but at least now they had to do it in front of me.
It was a kind of victory I supposed.
One foot.
I had been planning to go to the library. Do research, prepare, and relax if I could bring myself to. Maybe I still would, but this had to happen first. I had to face this, or I would never get anywhere.
In front of the other.
So my destination was a park. I passed this specific park often on my morning run. Sometimes, it was occupied mainly by dog walkers and other early risers. Still, this park was near both ABB and E88 territory, so most folks stayed clear.
I could do this. My power was good; I just had to use it. Make it my own, instead of everything I was scared of it being.
I walked slowly towards the park, my thoughts slowing my feet. The few times I had passed by during the middle of the day, the park was empty.
Empty, that was, except for the animals that called it home.
I could feel them all. A dull thrum in my brain, tiny stars against the sky. On its own, my power didn't let me know where they were exactly. More like I could sense where they were in relation to me. Like knowing where your hand is without looking at it. As I turned a corner and laid eyes on the park, that sense lined up with my sight.
Birds, lots of them. Mainly crows or pigeons, those were the loudest notes, the brightest stars. The few others were a mix of smaller birds, none of which I could name.
I had done some research on the New Hampshire bird species. Not enough to really be knowledgeable nor to really pick them out at a glance but enough to know roughly what I had at hand. None of the ones here were anything special though.
Ideally, I wanted a few birds of prey, they were all strong and fast, but I didn't really have access to them in coastal Brockton Bay. Even assuming I could find any I would… I wouldn't…
I killed that thought before it gained any traction.
I sat on a nearby bench and watched for a while. A few people walked by but none stuck around, and none of the birds seemed to mind the company.
Eventually, I singled out a crow. I couldn't quite tell it apart from it's friends by sight. But it seemd friendly enough, and had hopped up close to me. Maybe thinking I would give it food or maybe just because it was curious.
Slowly, as carefully as possible, I spread my power through the crow. I felt his feathers and muscles, bones, the steady beat of his heart, and the breath escaping his lungs.
The crow tensed as he felt my power; he was confused. I deepened the connection and he suddenly snapped to attention, eyes staring into my own. The crow ruffled his feathers, trying to look bigger. He was scared now, angry too. His heart rate spiked and he squawked a challenge but kept his distance. I could feel the crow's anger; he raged at my power as though to peck and scratch and beat it to death; he hated it.
What hurt the most was the fear.
I had to force my feelings down as I continued. My stomach threatened to throw what little I had eaten right out. The crow was afraid. He hated me; they all did. The birds under my control knew. They could feel my power's touch and understood what it meant, what I could do to them, what I could make them do. The crow was terrified I would kill him, have him chew off his own legs or fly into the sky only to force his wings closed until he hit the ground.
I wouldn't, couldn't.
I pulled my power away from the crow, disgusted and disquieted. Lost the intimate awareness of his body and mind. He fled a moment later, and the other crows followed him.
I sat on the bench for a while after that, just thinking. I had no real way of using my power, not if I was going to be moral or ethical. I had come all the way here, and for what? I had no way of fighting or being a hero. I had nothing.
For a while, I tried to relax, even meditate. Trying to feel okay about this, trying to cope. I breathed deeply and closed my eyes. I tried to 'focus without focusing' like all those guides online say to do. It didn't really help.
Even if I closed my eyes and plugged my ears, my mind would never be completely silent. The stars pulled into focus as I finally gave up on meditating. Bright, noisy points made up the minority, but they drew the most attention. The quieter and dimmer one filled out the rest.
I could still feel the flock I had just… affected. They hadn't left my powers range yet, setting down less than a block away if I had to guess. I could have checked, peeping through their eyes and ears; it wouldn't even count as actively using my power. I still couldn't; couldn't bring myself to.
Goddamnit.
Eventually, I took my notebook out of my bag. This was my hero notebook. It had sketches of costumes, name ideas, ways to use my power, notes on the local cape scene, all hidden or in code. It even had some earlier things, from before I got powers and was still naive.
I wanted desperately to throw it to the ground.
It wouldn't help. It wouldn't solve anything. In fact, I would probably regret it soon after, too. I still wanted to though, wanted to stomp on it, destroy it thoroughly.
With effort, I relaxed my hold on the book and opened it. If nothing else, I could note this down. Try to think of ways to use my power indirectly or find ways to circumvent my… issues with it.
I could overcome this. I had to.
Heroes overcame struggles all the time, it was part of what made them heroes. I needed to live up to that.
This is my second ever written work and my first time ever posting a thread to SV, so please bear with me while I learn. Do feel free to give me guidance or correct me.
Wing is a project I've had on the backburner of my brain for a good while now. If you couldn't already tell from the above chapter, the main idea is that Taylor gets a bird controlling power instead of bug controlling. The only problem? Controlling birds is a whole lot more objectionable then controlling bugs.
So in Wing, Taylor is everything she was desperately trying not to be in Worm. Despite her best efforts, she just can't find a way to be a hero without being disgusted with herself.
There are some more differences. For one, Taylor's power is different in more ways then just having switched targets.
I'm hoping to keep to some kind of pace but my writing ability is limited, so new chapters will come when they come.
Feedback is always appreciated, and I would love to hear anything you have to say.
I spent around an hour on the bench, writing and thinking. Trying to come up with ideas or at least something to note down. Something to help, some sort of breakthrough that would fix my issues, powered and otherwise. It never came. I was stuck sitting lamely on a bench.
I gathered my things and stood before I could think about it too much.
The sun was still reasonably high in the sky, sometime after noon, but it wasn't low enough for evening. I still had time for a visit to the library. If Dad asked where I had been, I could even be honest. Not that he asked stuff like that anymore. Nor would he push if I didn't answer.
The park was pretty close to Winslow but in almost the opposite direction of the library from Winslow. It would be a bit of a hike, and I did have enough money for a bus fare If I wanted it. But I wasn't too bothered by walking; my running had been less than successful in improving my physique, so some extra activity couldn't hurt.
My path cut through some seedier areas, but that was nothing new. I even nodded back to a few strangers passing by when they did the same to me. This area still had a semblance of togetherness.
By contrast, the awful parts of the city didn't even have that. There weren't many people who would willingly live there, and those that did weren't exactly stable.
Even the types of birds changed as I got closer to downtown. It wasn't something I would usually notice, but my power necessitated that I pay close attention to any opportunity, anything to use.
There were fewer seabirds as I got farther from the coast, but the true marker was the down tick in crows and ravens. The jays and sparrows were allowed to stay, and the pigeons were mostly tolerated as a part of city life.
There was a total decrease in all bird species in the inner city, except in parks. It was small but noticeable to my sense. Something to watch out for.
Soon enough, I felt a large birdless space enter my range. It was in the right direction and the right distance to be the library, so that was what I assumed it was. I headed towards it.
Once I actually caught sight of the library, I was caught off guard by the amount of people around. People were gathered around the entrance in droves, and I could see many more inside through the windows.
There goes my chance at relaxing.
I wasn't sure why there were even this many people here. Most of the time, there were half this many people, if even that. I couldn't spot any kind of signage outside that could point to a reason, although, with the crowd, spotting anything small would be impossible.
Whatever the reason for the gathering, it didn't seem like it would go away anytime soon. I either had to suffer the overcrowding or miss a visit to the library. I could do research from home, but then I wouldn't have access to any books I might want to look at. Plus the library had much better internet.
In the end, I decided I would have to go in. I needed every advantage I could get, and if that included some wait times and overcrowding, I could deal.
I risked jaywalking across the street and made for the entrance. Nobody wanted to actually get out of my way despite my asking, so I had to wait for a gap around the edge of the doorway and squeeze my way in.
It wasn't hard exactly; I had thinned down a little but definitely hadn't put on any weight or muscles. It was just annoying having to wait.
The inside of the library was almost as packed as the outside, just with more room for people to spread out. On the upside, I could finally tell what the big deal was.
Apparently, some author was holding a book signing here. It wasn't someone I recognized, which was strange, but they had to have been popular to get so many people here.
I let that thought go once I got to the computers. Thankfully, the crowd mostly didn't spread here, and it seemed to have driven off many other library goers, leaving only one other person occupying a computer. That would hopefully make it less likely that someone would look over my shoulder and figure out why I was researching birds, capes, and bird-controlling capes.
Annoyingly, I thought they might be another student from Winslow also playing truant here. It almost made me want to leave on the spot, but I stuck it out. I didn't know they were from Winslow, and I was already here.
I would keep my distance, just in case.
Swiftly, I brought the computer out of sleep and opened the browser. First, I looked for resources on the birds of New Hampshire. That mostly returned dense papers: a few surveys of population decline in birds and some sketchy-looking personal site by "Birdwatchin' Gary." Dense papers it was.
I left that tab and opened another to PHO. I already know a lot of the stuff those surveys were probably going to say, it was down to memorizing birds at this point. So cape research would be more helpful.
I started by looking for "bird capes," which was clearly the wrong decision because all the results were for bird-themed capes.
I did get one bird-controlling cape, an Australian cape called Kingfisher. Their power wasn't actually known, but the consensus was that it involved increasing birds' intelligence somehow. The article was mostly empty. It wasn't what I was looking for, but it was interesting anyway.
Quickly refining my search got me better, albeit with much fewer results. Another hit for Kingfisher, a Canadian Villain named Bad Egg, who apparently bred tinker birds or something; his page wasn't useful either. And a few more have bird-related powers.
There was an article for another Villain. This time from Boston, Felix Swoop, a member of the Adepts. My breathing eased a little. He was a Villain sure but I could figure stuff out, do research. Then I reread the description of his power and my stress returned.
He didn't control birds, not like me. He had to train them, give them orders, and he had other powers, things that would complicate any learning I tried to do.
I typed up another search query. This time for animal controlling powers. No dice.
I became more aware of my power, the ever present buzz rising into a hum.
My fingers hit the keys faster.
I searched for animal capes. A few results, some even in the city. Nothing relevant.
No bird controlling powers. Not even any animal control powers, not like mine.
My face fell, and my shoulders drooped, although I tried not to show it. My eyes got wet. A part of me had been expecting this. I'd never heard of two capes with the same power before. Some dumb part of my brain had just hoped that someone would have had the same problem, even just something similar would be fine. If I had someone to mimic, someone to learn from, even indirectly…
The hum of the birds outside increased in volume. The lights flashed in my eyes, brightening as they swirled like a kaleidoscope.
I would have to do this alone.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I nearly tipped my shitty library chair over. Instantly, I was aware of all 1724 birds in my range. I saw what they saw, heard through their ears. Their hearts synched with my own heart's fevered tempo. They all turned in unison to face the library and-
Just as quickly, I snapped the leash on my power. Withdrawing from animals outside. The disorientation was enough to make me gag.
"Oh, shit, sorry, didn't mean to startle you," said the offender, taking a step back as I whirled around on her, lights still whirling outside. Though they had settled into regular movements now.
The student I had spotted before. I couldn't see her face very clearly, but it was definitely her. What, had she come just to gloat? Make my life even more miserable? I glared at her but stayed silent.
"Holy shit, are you okay?" she said. Whatever tone her voice had was drowned out by the hum. I couldn't bring myself to care enough to strain my ears.
I could leave; I had agency here. Hell, I could just ignore her. She couldn't do anything really bad, not here. I could just-
"Whoa, do you need a tissue? I'm sorry for making you cry." The girl's voice broke in on my thoughts.
What. What? Was I- I was crying? I reached up to push my glasses up and rubbed at my eyes with my sleeve.
For the first time in this whole interaction, I got a good look at the girl I had assumed was from Winslow. She was… pretty in an understated way, nothing like Emma's clique. They were all caked on makeup and runway model physique. This girl was pretty in the way nerdy girls in movies are pretty. She had long black hair in two braids down her back and a hoodie with the symbol of some game or movie I didn't know. It was all meek and clearly supposed to be nondescript, but didn't quite work.
In fact, I didn't really recognize her at all. The things I thought I had seen before from the back didn't remind me of anyone now that I was seeing them head-on.
Had I really just panicked, cried, had a whole damn freak out over some girl I didn't even fucking know!
"Hey, hey! Breathe, okay?! You're okay, I'm uh, I'm sorry! Shit, do I call the police or an ambulance?" The girl's voice broke through my thoughts again, my brain stuttering at the mention of police. I wasn't hurt, and nobody was hurting me; getting the police involved would just make the situation worse.
My arm shot out to catch the girl's wrist before she could dial anything. "I'm fine. Just… Just stressed. Turns out high school isn't all fun and games." I said, trying to settle my emotions and smile. The hum still tugged at my ears, but it wasn't all-consuming. I forced it down harder.
The girl didn't look convinced but eventually lowered her arm, and I let go. "You… Don't look fine. Are you sure you-" She began, head cocked. Her whole face screamed that she pitied me. I interrupted her before she could say it out loud.
"I'm sure." I paused. She had tapped me on the shoulder, and that was before my whole dumb freak out. So she must have had a reason to talk to me. "Did yo-" my throat caught awkwardly trying to dislodge the goop from my crying fit. "Did you need something?"
The girl flushed immediately and waved her hands around, "I- uhhh… Just wanted to know what you were researching? Yeah. You looked really focused, so I figured it must be interesting." That immediately made me suspicious. The obvious embarrassment tempered that a bit, but who was so nice to someone they didn't know.
I squinted at her as I replied, "I was looking up birds. I'm a birdwatcher." It wouldn't hold up to much scrutiny, but it would be enough to get me out of this situation. "And I was just about to leave."
I closed my tabs and shut the computer off, busying myself so she hopefully wouldn't interrupt. I picked up my bag from where I had left it on the floor and rolled the chair under the table. I glanced at the girl a few times, but she didn't make any real effort to stop me. She just stood there with a weird expression on her face.
I was walking away by the time she actually said anything to me. "Hey! What's your name?" she raised her voice slightly. I debated, just continuing to walk away. She didn't need to know my name; what good could giving her more information about me do.
I turned around, a glare set on my face. "Why?" I asked, trying to appear as disinterested as possible.
"I dunno, what if we see each other again? It'd be kinda awkward to call you 'Hey you!' you know?" The girl smiled as she spoke, showing pearly white teeth. "My name's Abigail if that helps."
I didn't get it. I just didn't. Who just approaches someone, sees them freak out for no reason, and then asks them for their name like it's totally normal. Memories of Emma flashed in my head. She had been nice, too. Accommodating. Never letting anything phase her. I felt my lips turn down further, and the girl winced, though she didn't stop smiling.
"Taylor." I ground out and promptly walked away. I would have jogged if I didn't have to get through the crowd still packed around the doors.
So that happened, huh. I'm sure Taylor is completely stable and just fine. She wouldn't lie about that, right?
Assuming nothing else has changed from her Canon powers, she is massively nerfed as far as her information gathering and combat possibilities since there is a drastic difference in sizes of her minions and they don't number nearly as many novel uses as arthropods offer up. Yes, I know that birds individually are in a much higher weight class in combat, but we must keep in mind a quote from Stalin. Quantity has a quality all of its own.
One of the things that I feel is a little strange with the premise here is that Shards modify their host to be willing and to want to use their abilities in new ways. Are we going to see an emotional break here? Are we going to start justifying using her powers due to whispers from her Shard? Are the trio going to literally be shat upon from great heights?
the utility depends on the birds you can get, most city birds aren't going to be great combatants except en masse. which you might be able to find just on the edge or just outside city limits. ever see a true sparrow swarm?
it is going to be interesting seeing how this cognitive dissonance between the need to use powers and the disgust from the feed back plays out.
Assuming nothing else has changed from her Canon powers, she is massively nerfed as far as her information gathering and combat possibilities since there is a drastic difference in sizes of her minions and they don't number nearly as many novel uses as arthropods offer up. Yes, I know that birds individually are in a much higher weight class in combat, but we must keep in mind a quote from Stalin. Quantity has a quality all of its own.
One of the things that I feel is a little strange with the premise here is that Shards modify their host to be willing and to want to use their abilities in new ways. Are we going to see an emotional break here? Are we going to start justifying using her powers due to whispers from her Shard? Are the trio going to literally be shat upon from great heights?
I'm actually thinking of a few questions myself in regard to this power for later. Is it just birds or is it Avian? Already I can see one bonus, and that is the fact Amy could make her a MUCH bigger riding mount. Atlas may have been a nice bug, but between terror birds and the largest flyer ever, Quetzalcoatlus(literally a giraffe size pterodactyl relative) so who knows how big Amy could make a bird.
Taylor honestly has a much bigger brute force and transport potential. Then I have to ask again...would anything Avian qualify? Could she accidentally master Bad Canary due to her feathery additions? And more importantly...would Simmurgh qualify under her powers radar?
Honestly I'm curious for a few more stories like this. Can you imagine if Taylor had Reptiles to control or Amphibians? One of the most bizarre ones would be a power for Fish control. Not quite sure what that would be useful for but would be hilarious to find out, but I suppose Octopus would be where this becomes useful. They are already intelligent to begin with, powers can only make them better. Coral also could technically count?
Sorry, got off tangent. Back to the birds...Crows specifically, I'm curious how things will go with them considering just how intelligent those birds are without powers interacting with them.
No matter how hard I tried, not thinking about it seemed completely impossible. The fact that the walk home was continuing to be boring didn't help.
I could deal with barely getting any research done. I could even deal with humiliating myself in public. What does it say about me that public humiliation is routine for me. Probably that I'm pathetic, which is true.
No, none of that is the issue. The issue was that I was trying to be a hero and blowing up on some random annoying nosy girl was not heroic. I didn't really care about Abigail. At best she was some optimistic saint who I would never have to deal with again anyways, at worst she was exactly the kind of person who deserved to be turned down and had just been faking. Either way, she didn't matter but my complete and utter failure to act like a normal human being let alone a hero, did.
Just then my power decided to have a fit, and I was simultaneously soaring, and diving, and perching, and feeding, and nesting, and-
I shut down on my power hard. Too hard if the dull throb that rose in my head was any indication. Blinking spots out of my eyes, I started walking again. I knew my power responded to my emotions, the library was proof enough of that, but sometimes it felt like it was taunting me, showing me just why I was such a fuck up.
I tried a couple of the meditation tricks again as I walked. I counted my breaths, did box breathing, tried to empty my mind. None of it really worked, as usual. What it did accomplish was wasting time.
By the time I got home my legs were burning. The walk to and from the park, then from the library home had wiped me out thoroughly. So much for getting exercise. Just another thing to have failed at.
I stumbled awkwardly up the front steps, almost forgetting about the bad step. The front door was already unlocked, which meant Dad was already home. And that meant it was later than I thought. I remembered seeing the time in the corner of the library computer's screen, but I couldn't actually remember what it had said.
Dad greeted me briefly as I passed. If he said anything else I didn't stick around to hear it. I wasn't in the mood for whatever meaningless smalltalk we would have.
The door to my room stuck just a little as I opened it, which was a little concerning in winter but not a big deal. Once the door was closed firmly behind me I dropped my bag to the floor heavily. For a moment I considered letting myself drop like that, just stop holding myself up. But it wouldn't do anything, except maybe give me a bloody nose and Dad a heart attack if he checked in on me, so I didn't.
Dad's voice warbled up from below, probably saying something about dinner, or asking how my day was but his voice barely penetrated through the floorboards.
I needed to do something. Today had been an utter fuckup, a series of failures and humiliation, and that wasn't even counting the routine Winslow beatdown.
In my closet, under a pile of old clothes that I didn't wear and stuffed toys that I didn't play with, was where I stored my hero costume. It wasn't finished, just some thrifted street clothes and a cheap mask all stuffed into a battered cardboard box. It felt dumb now but at the time I had been eager, happy even, to be putting together a costume. Now, as I pulled out the box and lifted off the lid, that excitement felt stupid.
Now, I knew just how little use this "costume" was going to get. How dumb it would look even if I ever did wear it.
I fished a lighter out of one of the pockets of the jacket. It was a little plastic one that cost less than a dollar. I had bought it in that initial phase before…
I had bought it after a conversation with Dad about what kind of tools I might need to be a hero. He didn't know that's what we were talking about, I think I had pretended I was interested in wilderness survival or something. A lighter had seemed like a smart choice, if I ever needed a light or to melt or burn something, I would have it.
II flicked the lighter, igniting it, and stared for a few seconds, before releasing the button and letting the flame go out. I flicked it on again absentmindedly, not even really looking at it anymore. I put it out. I flicked it on. Put it out, flicked it on.
I grabbed a piece of my costume, thin gloves, meant more to conceal my hands than to actually protect them. I drew the lighter close and…
My finger left the button and the lighter sputtered. My power took the opportunity, shoving awareness to the front of my brain. I tried to close it off, shut it down, yank the leash. But the swirling lights beat me out.
I wanted to scream, wanted to rage. I kicked the box with the rest of my costume back into the closet and punched the door closed so hard I thought it might rattle off the hinges. I wasn't even sure I wasn't screaming, the buzz and throb in my head drowned out so much.
I was very dimly aware of my Dad knocking on my door. Closing my closet like that had probably made a lot of noise. I needed to answer him. If I didn't he would get worried, and Dad being worried would just make my life harder. I didn't have a plan if Dad decided to keep an eye on me, or interrogate me. I would have to lie to him even more, sneak around. My gut churned at the thought.
I felt trapped in the moment. The stars outside and fear of my Dad finding out hemming me in from both sides.
I grabbed the door handle, trying to ignore the warbling in my head. I hadn't panicked enough to actively start controlling any of them yet, but the constant noise was almost worse than the lingering headache from my earlier outburst. I pulled on the door, startled briefly by it sticking again.
"Taylor, are you okay? You didn't answer when I called" Dad stood outside my door, he already looked worried in the vague way only parents did. I avoided looking in his eyes.
"Yeah, Dad. Sorry, I just uhm…" My vision caught on my discarded backpack. "Dropped my bag on the floor. I should probably take some books out of it." I said, trying to be convincing. Dad didn't deserve being lied to.
I don't know if I convinced him, but he looked into my room for a moment, then looked back at me. His hand rose but quickly aborted and fell back to his side. I couldn't bring myself to check his expression.
I watched the birds outside instead. Allowing my passive sense to wash over me.
I had counted and recounted every bird in my range a few times by the time my Dad spoke up. "Rick just called, says he needs me at the dockworkers building to settle a dispute with a couple new hires." He paused, and I risked a glance at his face. Dad's lips were drawn tight, pursed inwards. My eyes darted away. I didn't know who Rick was but assumed it was some higher up. "Will you be okay on your own?" He continued and a small part of me wanted to yell at him, lash out at the only person in my life who didn't want to hurt me.
"I'll be okay" I answered instead. I could feel my voice cracking a little and I forced myself to make eye contact. "I get to relax and have the house to myself. How hard could it be?"
So, it's sure been a while, huh? This is what I meant when I said chapters would come when they come.
A bit of a shorter one so I could focus on showcasing Taylor's relationship with her Dad (or lack thereof) and show just how deep she has already spiralled.
In other news: Taylor had an actual conversation with her father! Sure she avoided eye contact the whole time and told a couple itty bitty white lies but it still counts... Right?
Thank you for reading this, and thank you even if you've stuck around this whole time. Feel free to comment your thoughts, or even just call me a loser for being so slow to update.
