Just as a heads up to any readers: I have also posted this story on Sufficient Velocity. That is where I will be having the most communication with my readers. It will also be the best place to find background information, explanations and omakes as they appear.
Daughter of Sunlight - 1.2
August 16th - Sunday
Waking up Sunday morning was almost as much of a chore as waking up the previous morning had been. My body was sore from how I had slept, especially seeing as I had spent most of the night tossing and turning. As I sat up from my bed my gaze caught the hole in the wall that my lighting had caused.
That was when the past few days came crashing back on me. How my best friend had been killed, the fact that her funeral was today…
...That there had been somebody who could have saved her, but didn't.
With that the anger I had felt last night was back. My shaking hands once again clenched into fists. When I opened my eyes again I saw that my forearms and hands were once again surrounded by small motes of lights, crackling slightly with electricity.
I forced myself to take deep breaths. Dad wouldn't want me to put another hole in a wall because I couldn't control my new powers. I was lucky that the first hole was both small in size and only had damaged the wall to my closet.
Thankfully I was able to calm myself fairly quickly, the sounds of electricity slowly dispersing. Instead of letting the light fade away however I decided to try to see if I could control it.
As it turns out, controlling my powers wasn't overly difficult, just tedious. I was able to slowly condense the smaller orbs into a familiar larger sphere, letting that float in front of me for a minute. I knew that the warm light it emanated would do nothing to help the anger or sorrow I was feeling, but it surprised me at how quickly the aches and pains from sleeping wrong faded.
I decided that while I was already testing some things out with my powers I might as well see if I could learn anything new about them. Refocusing on the light I tried to split it back into the smaller motes that I had originally brought forth, just to find that the sphere refused to let the smaller bits of it go.
Letting go of my control over the sphere also didn't seem to do anything. It just continued floating where I left it, still emitting the pleasant warmth. It wasn't until I specifically focused on it dissipating that it did so, fading rapidly into nothingness.
Trying something new I decided to focus on the feeling that the sphere had produced. Closing my eyes I focused on that feeling of warmth and healing, letting my mind bring up memories that I felt matched how the light had felt. Memories of better times, when both Mom and Emma were still with me.
As I opened my eyes I stared in awe at what I now held in my hands.
"Wow." I breathed, looking at what I had created. While it was still definitely just a small sphere of light, it was much different from the ones I had been making before. Instead of being mostly white this one was a vibrant gold color. Spread throughout it like veins were streaks of amber and silver, reminding me of the colors of the sunrise over the bay.
I then chose to open my hands, expecting the orb to float in front of me like the other one had. Instead, this orb burst like a firework, covering almost the entire room with its glow. The warmth it released felt like a warm summer day had somehow been combined with the embrace of a loved one, causing the few remaining physical aches I had to vanish.
However, the feelings it invoked instead brought forth feelings of despair and misery. As the light faded, I collapsed onto my bed, tears already forming.
"Of course…" I muttered. "All I need to use my powers better is to think about Mom and Emma…"
I was seriously regretting trying out my powers first thing in the morning…
I stared at the hole in the grass in front of me. The white marble of the gravestone above it glistening from the sunlight, her coffin shaded by its resting place. I don't remember much of how Dad managed to get me out of bed and to the funeral, and based on the empty feeling in my stomach I probably hadn't eaten today.
I tried to look away, trying to find anything to distract my thoughts with. It was a beautiful summer day today, with clear skies and a faint breeze. It was the type of day that would have been better spent wandering the boardwalk or going to the Lord Street Market with friends.
Instead I was here, watching the coffin containing the body of my only real friend get buried. I really was beginning to despise this cemetery. Being here last November was bad enough, at least then I had the cold weather to numb my body as Mom's death had numbed my mind. Today offered no such comfort.
It really is amazing to think just how much can change in such a short time. A year ago I would have never believed just how much I had to lose. The car crash in November had let me know that nothing was safe, and this week had stolen so much of what I had left.
The funeral itself wasn't too large, only a couple dozen people at most. Outside of Alan, Zoe and Anne I only recognized a few of the people, like our classmate Christine. Alan appeared to be quietly talking things over with a woman in a well-tailored suit next to him. I couldn't make out what was being said, but by his face it wasn't good news.
As Alan broke off from the conversation he walked over to where my dad was standing. It was then I noticed what my dad had held in his hands. Shovels.
The two men worked together even as the tears rolled down Alan's face, the soil slowly being returned to its proper place. Each shovel full they dumped back into the hole sealing the finality of the event in my mind. She was gone. Murdered, by a combination of the plague infesting this city and the inaction of the one person who could have saved her…
And I was going to do my best to make sure that both got what they deserved.
The sun was still shining brightly when the grave was finished being filled. I didn't know exactly what time it was, but I knew it probably wasn't too much after noon. Most of the people had been slowly filtering away until there was only a few of us left. My dad stood next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder as we stood there. Alan, Zoe, Anne and the woman in the suit came walking over, though it was apparent that the woman would be leaving shortly.
"Thank you for coming today, Carol. It really meant a lot to us." Alan said, having managed to regain some of the composure that he had shown the previous day.
The woman gave him a small smile. "I'm sorry that I couldn't do more to help you, Alan." she started. "All we have is a couple of common first names and a crossbow wound that will probably be treated by one of the gang's doctors. Make sure you get some rest, I don't want you to be too burned out when you come back to work."
It was then that I recognized who Alan was talking to. This woman was Carol Dallon, better known as Brandish of the hero group 'New Wave'. This brought back memories of how excited Emma had been one day when she called to let me know that she had met Glory Girl. Emma had talked for a good hour about how awesome it was that her dad worked with one of the members of New Wave. I hadn't known that Alan and Carol were close friends before this point however.
For a brief moment I thought about asking her about the parahuman powers I had gained. If it wasn't for the fact that I didn't want to reveal to the Barnes that I had powers yet I might have done so. The decision was quickly taken away from me as Carol left, leaving it as just the five us standing in front of Emma's grave.
"Taylor, thank you so much for being here today." Alan said as he gently laid a hand on my shoulder. "I know it must have been incredibly hard for you…"
I nodded briefly as the feelings from today welled back to the surface. Emma was gone. It wasn't like I was going to wake up one day to find out that this was all a dream. No matter how much wishing I did, the ideas of 'what if' would never be. She was dead, and there was no changing that.
As the tears started flowing from my eyes again I could barely hear my dad talking with Alan. Without warning I found two sets of arms around me. Blinking fiercely I realized that it was Anne and Zoe hugging me, tears falling from their eyes also.
It was several minutes of crying later before I was released from their bearhug. I still was barely able to make out my dad saying something about picking up some food and mentioning that we had some errands that we needed to get done today.
It was probably about fifteen minutes into the car ride before I remembered what the errands were that Dad had mentioned. We were going to the PRT building today to hopefully get me into the Wards. I was suddenly doubting my decision from last night. Here I was, eyes red and nose watering from all the crying I had done today. This wasn't the type of first impression I wanted to give them.
"No…" I muttered, barely audible even to my own ears. If I let myself walk away I might never work up the courage that I would need to get things done correctly. If they didn't like me now then oh well. If they won't take me at my lowest, they wouldn't deserve me at my best.
"What was that, kiddo?" Dad asked from the driver seat. Oh, he had managed to hear that I had said something.
"Food first please." I managed my first words since this morning. "I need chocolate..."
Lunch ended up not being anything special, but that was to be expected when you get it from a small gas station. The packaged turkey sandwich had been a tad dry and the canned iced tea was mediocre, but at least the chocolate bar was good.
Unfortunately traffic was moving rather slow through the downtown today. There were families out enjoying the great weather. Teens, taking advantage of it being one of the last weekends before school started back up. Then there were the occasional groups of skinheads or druggies skulking down the side alleys.
Even this close to where the PRT building was this was still Brockton Bay. As long as they stayed out of sight and didn't cause obvious trouble they would likely not get bothered by the police or heroes. I didn't like that status quo it represented, but there was nothing I could do about it.
We finally arrived at the 'Parahumans Response Team, Brockton Bay East-Northeast Headquarters' building. Calling it a single building wasn't doing it any justice, however, even if it did look rather plain. The main part was at least ten stories tall, the winged shield logo displayed proudly above its main doors.
One of the wings easily visible from where we had parked held a full hospital, though it mostly functioned as a way to discreetly treat injured PRT employees alongside members of the Protectorate and the Wards. Another wing held a small museum dedicated to the exploits of the Protectorate throughout the years, though I thought this was mostly just used as a way to convince children to get merchandise from the attached gift shop.
It had only been a few weeks since the last time I had been here. Emma had insisted that we take a tour while some Protectorate heroes were visiting from out of town. We had been lucky that day as Adamant had come from New York along with a couple of their Wards.
And now the empty feeling of depression was coming back. Great...
We entered through the front doors before bypassing the crowds gathered at the entrance to the museum and gift shop. We swiftly make our way to a desk towards the back of the lobby. The woman at the desk glanced up and greeted us with a smile.
"Hello! Welcome to the Brockton Bay PRT HQ! What can I help you with today?" She asked with what sounded like faked enthusiasm.
"Hi, I called here earlier today. My name is Danny Hebert and…" Dad trailed off as he dug a small slip of paper out of his pocket. "I'm supposed to have a meeting with somebody about… The tinkertech coffee beans and a swarm of bees that I found in my mailbox?" What…
As I blinked in confusion the woman's smile seemed to fade, being replaced with a look that I would have more expected from an on duty police officer than a receptionist.
"Right." she started. "If you two would just follow mister Bowen here. He will show you where you need to go."
Bowen was a rather unremarkable man. Overweight and of average height, he was obviously not a field agent in any regards. This was further reinforced by his slightly lopsided glasses and the shirt pocket full of pens. He quickly led us through one of the side doors and into an elevator that took us to one of the upper floors. From there he led us to what was obviously a small waiting lounge.
"You're going to have to wait here for a few minutes." Bowen said as he took a seat in one of the chairs. "Director Piggot is off today and Deputy Director Renick is currently meeting with somebody. If you need anything, just let me know."
A few minutes quickly turned into a half hour as we sat there. Thankfully there was a water cooler nearby, which I took full advantage of as I took another sip of chilled water.
Finally, the door to the office opened and out stepped two men. The first of the two men surprised me. He was at least a few inches taller than Dad was, which was impressive as Dad was just shy of six feet tall. His wiry limbs and thin physique didn't exactly look healthy to me, but the look in his eyes reminded me of how my father used to look after coming home from meetings over the ferry. He glanced briefly over me before moving onto where my father was seated next to me, his eyes widening slightly.
"Well, well. If it isn't Danny Hebert." He said as his thin lips pulled into a smile. "It's been years since I last saw you. I wish I could stay and chat but I'm on a tight schedule." With this the man quickly took a business card out of one of his suit pockets.
"Call me sometime, I might have some work lined up that the dock workers could help with."
After he handed my father the business card he strode away swiftly, followed by Bowen. This just left me, my father and the other man holding the office door open.
"Ah, Danny and Taylor Hebert? I'm deputy director Renick. Please, come in and we'll get down to business."
Here's to hoping that things go well…
End chapter 1.2