AN: Just a reminder in case somebody decides to object to something, Shards influence a person's personality so since Taylor doesn't have the same one as before, I get a lil' leeway with how she acts.

I groaned, my body feeling wrecked as if I had been beaten, ran a marathon and then ran another all in a row. The sun didn't help either, being blindingly-bright overhead, somehow shining through my roof, an open window letting the wind rush over my body, sending a cold chill down my spine. I reached down for my blankets, grabbing nothing and instead brushing my hands against my bare skin. A pang of alarm shot through me and I bolted upright, body protesting at my movements, but it was forgotten in the realization that I was naked and not in my bed. Shoving myself to my feet I lost my footing and slammed into the giant black thing jutting out of the ground next to me.

I looked at it in surprise, not expecting it to be there or feel so smooth for that matter, towering high over me. Stepping back and away from it in confusion I felt the ground underneath me just as smooth and I looked down at the black ground underneath me, stretching out for a far distance in front of me before ending at a slight point, high enough above the water that no waves crashed against it. A glance behind me confirmed the same, except it seemed to be moving and narrowed off, snaking back and forth slowly and gently. The giant spikes, as I realized now, went up and down each way, the largest being where I was but decreasing in size either way down the land I was on.

Scrunching up my face in confusion I slid down against the spike with no idea how I got here or where my clothes were. Last thing I remembered was locking the front door before going to school, I had clothes on then, but it hadn't been nearly so bright in the morning which meant it had been a few hours since then and here. Where the hell was here anyways? Standing up I wandered around the spikes dotted in a pattern on the ground and to the edge so I could see past them. I already knew there was nothing to see in the front and back because the spikes weren't blocking my view so I decided it wasn't worth my time to walk those ways.

On the left there was nothing to see and checking on the right I found it was the same. Seriously where was here? Standing alongside the spike in the ground, and staring out at the empty horizon I thought about it. It was moving, using the long part of its self to move like a tail… it was a tail wasn't it? Looking down the side of my island and watching it move I confirmed it was a tail. Huh… so the other end must be a head. Turning around I walked up the length of its body, finally realizing the 'ground' were in fact warm scales, larger than my entire body.

Walking up the length of its body I could feel the the body rising with a slow and strong yet quiet breath, it rising me higher then lowering me back down as it released the breath. It breathed three times as I slowly walked up its length, a half growl half snarl coming from my throat directed towards the sun for being so bright and beating down on me.

Finally coming up on the head I neared the edge where it sloped down too much for me to get a handle on it and paused on top of it, lowering into a crouch and grabbing one of the scales to peer over the edge, seeing the top of a giant red eye, a slitted pupil in the middle of it. I cocked my head, trying to figure out what the heck it was I was standing on, when it finally noticed me, the eye swiveling up to look at me, as if to tell me it knew I was there. Cocking my head the other way I stared back, neither of us flinching away.

Patting the scale I had grabbed on I smiled at it. "Hey big guy." I apparently said something because it looked back down and to the water in front of it, leaving me to silently rub the scale. With nothing else to do I moved from a crouch into a cross-legged position, silently rubbing my hand over such a small portion of its head, trying to think of what it might be. "Asking you what you are wouldn't do me any good would it?" I could've imagined it shaking its head, or maybe it did because that's how it swam, or maybe it understood me. I wouldn't know. Sighing I just enjoyed the feeling of the ocean breeze against my bare skin.

I had been given enough time to think of what it was to come up with the idea that it had been something like a Megalodon from the deep, when I heard an odd buzzing noise. Surprised I looked up to see what was making the noise and saw a weird looking floating orb floating towards me. Remembering my nudity I blushed and tucked my legs up against myself and wrapped my arms around them, watching the orb as it came closer with a frown. It stopped a dozen feet away from me, a blue circle on the bottom of it and a few horizontal bars on the side. Hovering silently in front of me I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "The fuck are you?"

"Well I'm Dragon, Miss Hebert." The orb answered in a feminine Canadian voice, startling me just a slight bit.

Tucking my arms and knees closer together, realizing that somebody was talking to me and probably watching me, I asked, "Where am I?" That was the most pressing question on my mind, ocean being in every direction.

"You're currently four point three miles out from the coast on the back of Tyrant." Tyrant, was that what this thing I was on called?

Looking down at the head I was sitting I wondered as to how he got that name, for some reason thinking it fit. "Heh, so that's what he's called... " I muttered to herself before returning my attention to Dragon. "Do you know how the fuck I got here?"

It stayed silent for a moment. "Do you not remember what you've done today?" I noticed a slight accusational tone in that.

"I woke up on the back of Tyrant, some giant reptile thing, miles from the coast, am currently naked and talking to somebody through a floating robot. I have no fucking idea how any of that happened." Pausing I glanced up at the sun. "Hell last thing I remember was it being morning."

"No recollection at all of what's happened in the past few hours?"

I narrowed my eyes at the orb, not even sure if it could see me and snarled, "I just said I didn't."

The orb fell silent, Dragon obviously thinking of something. "How do you feel Taylor?"

"Sore. How come you know my name?" I asked, that fact bugging me now.

"Because I figured it was best to know your name when I addressed you… do you know who I am?" I shook my head, still not sure why she knew my name. "I'm Dragon, the one that built the Birdcage?"

My eyes widened in surprise, just now realizing who I was talking to. Arguably the most famous Tinker in the world, always creating new devices to fight off world-threats. "Oh uh… sorry for being rude."

Her tone turned to a comforting one. "It's understandable if you don't remember anything about how you got here. So you feel sore?"

Rubbing my hands against my shoulders I nodded, feeling a bit less annoyed with her, knowing who she was. "Yeah, feel like I ran a couple marathons. Can you uh tell me how I got here?"

The orb was silent again for several moments as Dragon thought of something. "Taylor do you know how people get powers?"

"I don't see the relevance, but no I don't." I stated, burying my face into my arms.

"When parahumans gain their powers it's through triggering, a traumatic event in their life. Sometimes they lose control when they trigger an-"

"Are you suggesting something?" I asked, the way she was talking really seeming to imply that I had been somebody who lost control.

She really thought before she talked didn't she? "Taylor you nearly killed a half-dozen capes, destroyed several neighborhoods and sent the entire city into a panic when you triggered. Along with whatever this being you are on, showing up."

I blinked. "What."

"You can't see it from here but a portion of the city is smoking, with capes still trying to contain some of the fires."

"I-I attacked the city? How?" I asked, glancing down at Tyrant, now wondering why they named him that.

"You triggered in school and turned into a miniature version of Tyrant and tried to get to the Bay, but rampaged through a good portion of the city to try and get away from the heroes chasing you. Once we stopped chasing you, you left the city and joined this creature we decided it was best to wait and talk to you." She said with a sigh. "We weren't sure how willing you would be to talk." I didn't know what to say to any of that, I couldn't believe any of that, I didn't remember any of it. "So you don't remember any of it, not at all?"

"N-no." I answered hollowly, just wanting to wake up in my warm bed from this dream. Wake back up in my house instead of the middle of the ocean. The drone started to move at that moment, floating away fast but in a lazy turn. A speck of water against my feet told me I was wrong, the waves against Tyrant's face growing in size as he sped up and turned.

The drone sped after me as Tyrant kept turning in a circle before straightening out again, the drone catching up only because of the fact his circle brought me near it again. Flying back next to me Dragon's drone asked, "Tyrant just changed direction back to Brockton Bay, do you know why Taylor?"

"I thought about how great it'd be if I woke up in my bed after this bad dream."

She replied sadly, "I'm afraid it isn't a dream Taylor." She paused. "Are you feeling okay?"

"You just told me I was more or less a villain earlier. So I'm fucking great." I answered sarcastically.

"Taylor to get your powers you have to suffer the worst day, week or even months of your life. So when somebody like you gets as much power as you did, it's understandable that you wouldn't have been in control of yourself." She explained in as comforting a tone as she could. "Along with the fact most of the damage was caused by heroes attacking you when you were only trying to leave."

I glanced up at the drone then back down again.. "I'm still going to be in trouble. That's how it works."

A few beats of the heart. "A lot less than you might think." I looked back up in confusion. "You weren't in the right state of mind at the time, combined with heroes accidentally judging you a danger and provoking you even more. Not to mention Gallant's power didn't work right on you, his power being to manipulate emotions. It ended up sending you into a fury."

I let out a sad chuckle. "So how much leeway do I get because of that? Life in prison instead of death's row?"

"Actually we were discussing on what we might have to do to make you a Ward."

A Ward? A junior hero after what she said I had done? "What are you talking about?"

"The Protectorate has on occasion… recruited ex-villains that made their life nothing but crime. So for somebody like you who didn't mean for any of this to happen, it wouldn't be impossible for you to join the Wards. If you want to try and make up for what's happened that is."

I narrowed my eyes at the drone. "They recruit villains, really?"

"I'm not at liberty to say who but there is one local hero who used to be a villain."

The smallest of smiles came to my lips. "So I can go back home?"

"I'm afraid that we will be forced to move you to another city." My smile fell. "Some people won't be understanding towards your problem, including capes and civilians. So it'd be best to move you away from them. Along with the fact that nobody in the city, except for the villain Long, was able to hurt you, so the higher-ups might want to move you somewhere that has heroes that could match you."

I stared down at the scale I was sitting on, the silent giant Tyrant swimming on silently back to my home. "That makes sense."

"I'm sorry."

My gaze flickered up to the robot. Then it fell back down and I hugged myself a little tighter. "It's not your fault." I kind of surprised myself how level my voice was, despite knowing that no matter what I did I would be forced to another city and treated as a criminal. I wouldn't even fucking remember why but I would have the knowledge that it was me. Looking over the horizon with nothing but the waves lapping against Tyrant's head and the slight buzz of the hovering drone I felt oddly calm about it all. "Is there anything else you need to say or can I have… a little time to think?"

"No, you can go ahead and think." I nodded and left my chin on top of my arms, watching the ocean's waves. I didn't think about what she had said, happily putting it out of my mind to have nothing in it, the breeze feeling nice despite the hot sun overhead. It was actually kind of nice out here, ignoring the drone beside me and just focusing on the vast expanse around me. Made me realize how small I was, nothing happening that would change anything, every little thing being just like another wave in the ocean. Seeming so big but not really. Not to mention the cool water around me, it always feeling nice against my skin.

Wait a minute… blinking I raised my head and looked around, reminding myself that I was in fact not in the water. But as I left my mind empty of thoughts I could feel the water again. I looked down to Tyrant underneath me, remembering Dragon saying that I turned into a small version of him. Maybe we were connected or something. I smiled at that thought and let the feeling of water wash over me again, it feeling so nice. I grinned when I felt his tail lazily moving us forward.

I don't know how long I was zoned out like that but Dragon eventually interrupted it, saying something I didn't quite catch. Staring out at the ocean in front of me, suddenly no longer feeling the water or the tail that had seemed so natural. Shaking my head I rubbed my eyes, everything feeling off now. "I'm sorry I didn't hear what you said."

"I asked if you could tell Tyrant to stop and we'd send a helicopter to bring you back." She repeated. Well I thought about going home and he started us back home, which I think I could see on the horizon. Maybe if I thought about him staying here? Looking down at the waves they didn't decrease in size nor did he seem to be slowing.

"Is he slowing down?" I asked, unable to tell myself.

"Barely."

I glanced down at him then back to the drone. "I did what I did earlier. Honest."

"I'm not saying you didn't, just that Tyrant is barely slowing. You should see a helicopter coming in a minute, they'll have some clothes for you to wear."

Oh right, that's why I was in this position in the first place. "Uh thanks." Like she said in a minute or so I saw the helicopter coming towards us at an angle. The drone floated higher in the air, maybe so the helicopter to see us, because it came at me head-on. The wind from its blades hit me, buffeting me in cold air as it came closer to me before finally landing on Tyrant's head behind me. Looking over my shoulder and not getting up because I still had no clothes I saw three figures in it, counting the one flying. Two of them were PRT officers, wearing what was essentially hi-tech, black versions of SWAT riot gear. Then there was the tall man walking towards me with clothes in his hands.

Clad in midnight blue armor that covered everything but the bottom of his face, a pole alongside his back and sticking over his shoulder. I recognized him from the local news as the hero Armsmaster, the leader of all the heroes in Brockton Bay. He looked down at me with a thin lipped mouth and handed me the clothes, turning away shortly after to afford me a little privacy. Finally standing up I pulled on the clothes he had brought, the grey sweatpants going on first followed by the white shirt.

I stammered out a, "T-thanks.", to him, making him turn around to me again. Still completely silent, but he waved me on towards the helicopter, following me as I walked towards it. It made me the slightest bit nervous as I stepped onto the cold metal of the helicopter and sat in one of the seats, across from the PRT officer who seemed to stare at me from behind their black helmet. Armsmaster stepped in after me and strapped me into place before sitting down himself, the drone floating into the interior of the helicopter with us.

Dragon kept it from becoming an awkward silence thankfully. "So Taylor do you have some type of connection with Tyrant?"

I looked out and down at the landmass that was Tyrant as the helicopter started lifting us. "When I uh zoned out I felt him swimming."

"How so?"

Watching us get farther away from him but yet him not decreasing in size that much I began to realize exactly how big he was. "It felt like I was the one in the water. I even felt his tail as mine. That's why I didn't hear you the first time, was too focused on how soothing it felt him moving through the water."

Tyrant followed after us, keeping pace with the helicopter, ducking underneath the water so only his spikes were visible. "It felt soothing?"

"Yeah. Felt right." I answered, eyes flickering to the two people watching me silently and almost accusingly.

"So you two are connected. It would explain him coming all this way to get to you."

I looked at the drone when it said that, now wondering where it had exactly come from. "I was wondering what he was or even where he came from. Do you know?"

She sounded disappointed. "No we have no idea what it is. I do know that it first appeared over three hundred miles away with a storm around it and sped directly towards you."

Moving my gaze back down to Tyrant a smile tugged at the corner of my lip. "He came a long way for me then."

"He did and I found it around the same time you Triggered, meaning the moment you got your powers and tried running, he was coming. Do you have any idea what might have made you Trigger?"

Three girls came to mind, but they weren't exactly traumatizing in how they treated me, just made my life shit sometimes. But at the same time they were the only real bad things in my life I could think of, my mom having died a while ago. "Well there were a couple of girls who bullied me almost every day, one of them having been a friend from long ago. But they haven't really done anything to make it the worst day of my life."

"The more we know the better. Rest assured though I can guarantee you if I find proof they were bullying you, I'll handle it."

I grinned at the thought of them finally getting in trouble before I started laughing at it, Armsmaster frowning from his spot. "All it took for me to get them in trouble was me destroying part of a city. How fucking wonderful for me."

The PRT officer across from me shook their head sadly whilst Dragon said, "Sorry that's all I can really say to make this seem better."

My laughter dying down I shook my head at the drone. "It's not your fault those three were bitches. Not my fault either. It's all theirs and I'm the one that apparently scares an entire city." A final laugh left my mouth as I hung my head. "At least I get to play hero."

"You can do more than play hero."

Watching Tyrant slowly get farther behind us as he apparently finally started slowing down I wiped at my eyes, feeling something in them. "Yeah… the girl that doesn't remember ever using her power and having a giant reptile called Tyrant following her being a hero. Forgive me if I sound pessimistic about the idea of that." I sighed.

"It's not the power that makes a person, it's how you use it." Looking back up I raised a brow. "There's one Ward member whose power is to flay people's skin with just a touch," I winced at that, sounded horrible. "And get stronger the more skin she absorbs. Yet she's a effective hero that people respect."

"I… see your point." I said. I didn't say anything else and just looked out at the ocean that passed by below as the helicopter kept flying towards the city. Or rather, to the re-purposed oil rig that housed the base of the Protectorate, most of the heroes of the city. Series of arches and spires were settled on it, tinted spotlights lighting it up and set against an array of shifting colors, inside a force field that made it seem like a soap bubble. Missiles were lined on top of it, for huge threats that the heroes deemed too dangerous. "The Protectorate Headquarters?"

"We thought it was best." I nodded.

"Too much of a danger?"

The helicopter started to descend. "When we were healing some of the heroes we saw some major radiation poisoning. So we want to make sure that's just from your other form and not both forms."

The spires and arches came up beside us as the helicopter begun to land. "That's re-assuring." Armsmaster stood up before we landed and begun to unstrap me, finishing just after I felt the helicopter bounce against the ground. The PRT officer jumped out first, Armsmaster again motioning me to go first and following silently out. Stepping onto the metal helipad I looked out to Tyrant on the horizon, seeming so far away yet still so impossibly large, his spikes making him seem like a mountain jutting out of the bottom of the ocean.

My very own King.