I laid on my back on the bed in the room, having earlier wondered as to why they left me in a bedroom of all places. Made me wonder as to whose bedroom it was too, since this was the hero's base. I didn't ask Dragon's drone any of that though, instead letting myself get absorbed back into those phantom feelings of Tyrant's. It was better to forget that I was currently inside the hero's base, waiting for them to make some decision about me for having attacked the city, something I didn't know anything about. I wish I did know about something that had happened. It was so easy to get lost in Tyrant's soothing swimming. Muscles rippling as he gently swam through with his enormous frame, scent of something filling 'my' nostrils, visions of weird rectangles and generic shapes in 'my' eyes.
Pulling myself away from it, everything once again felt off-kilter and I had to blink it away, staring at the ceiling for a minute before finally sitting up. A wave of vertigo crashed over me and I almost fell back down on my side, catching myself with one hand. "Are you okay Taylor?"
Sitting upright I smacked my lips, realizing how dry they were before looking at the drone. "It's really easy to get lost in how Tyrant feels. Really disorienting when I stop feeling it all."
"I can only imagine."
I nodded and rubbed at my eyes again, not quite hurting but feeling so weird. "Anyways I was wondering if there was any way I could see what I did."
"Come again?"
"If I want to be a hero I need to know what I did as a villain first. So is there any footage or anything I can look at?" I asked, gesturing to the TV in front of me.
"Are you sure you want to see it?" I nodded again, curious as to what I looked like and capable of. Dragon obliged somehow, the TV flickering on. "Just a moment I need to find the respective clips. Anything in particular you wanted to see?"
Scootching over to the edge of the bed so my legs hung off the edge I shrugged. "All of it really." Thinking it over I clarified, "In order of when I first started freaking out."
The screen flickered on showing a street not too far from my school, cars honking at one another in the rush back to work after having gone out to eat. It stayed like that for a couple seconds before something beastly sped into the frame wearing the clothes I had been wearing this morning, except they were in tatters, barely clinging to its shoulders. Dragon paused it I guess because everything on the screen froze. "This is approximately a minute after we believe you Triggered."
I nodded dumbly looking at what I had apparently been. A black-scaled humanoid figure dashing across the ground on all four, frozen mid-leap, arms stretched outwards and taut with muscles. The same scales black scales like Tyrant just much smaller, a tail like his, again much smaller, maybe half the length of the body. The arms and legs still seemed human, except they ended in claws and were larger than mine were. Unlike Tyrant however the spikes were white, the bottom of the tail covered in them like a club, going up all the way to the head like faux hair. The face looked sort of human, but seemed much sharper and angular than one would be, the nose completely gone and replaced by two holes to serve as nostrils. "That… was me?" I asked looking at the drone, not quite believing it.
"Yes it is, at the time you had only caused damage to Winslow High, most of which seemed to be centered around your locker."
I glanced back at the screen then scrunched my face up in confusion. "I attacked my locker before I left?"
"We aren't sure yet."
"Huh…" Was all I said and when I didn't add anything else Dragon resumed the video, Past me having slammed into the ground again and running on out of frame. The screen flickered and switched to a different angle and a different time showing a larger version of me running down the street. Less taters remained of my old clothes. It continued like this for at least a minute before suddenly switching over to an entirely different one that bounced up and down in a steady and fast rhythm across the rooftops, buildings seeming to jump closer at times, smoke rising a few blocks ahead.
"This is a camera from Gallant's helmet, the Wards having been the first to arrive on scene." The camera turned as Gallant looked to his right, a young prepubescent girl in a forest green costume with skirt, wavy green lines all along it, interspaced with green armor plates and finally a green visor that covered her face, her size alone showing her as Vista, the girl who could bend space. Further to the right was a man in a rust-red costume in silver trimming flying over the ground, his face hidden by the red helmet he wore, marking him as Aegis, the flying brute of the Wards. Gallant glanced to his left to show another teenager, wearing a completely white costume with white armoring at strategic points, with decorative clocks on the chest, shoulders and face. He was Clockblocker, the one who could freeze things in time.
Gallant the one with the video camera on his head wore silver Tinker armor, to make him stronger, faster and harder to hurt, able to shoot emotions into people. He turned back forward as they jumped another roof, landing on the edge of one, ahead of Past me was preparing to run through, now the size of a small car down a few streets. They all looked at each other before jumping down, the distance shortening thanks to Vista and landed just ahead of Past me.
Past me slammed her arms into the ground in front of her, ripping through the concrete and slowing herself to look at the assembled Wards. Her black-scaled tail, now free of any tattered clothes flicked in the air behind her as she waited there, not sure of what to do apparently. "This is a new one." Gallant looked to his left, apparently Clockblocker having been the one to say that. "So usual freeze and foam?"
Gallant's camera turned to the right and centered on Aegis who nodded. "I'll go first, Gallant try and calm or slow it down, Clockblocker do your thing. Vista?" They all seemed to tense up as Vista raised another hand, Gallant looking back at Past me. The distance was cut to a fourth of what it was, Past me rearing her head back in surprise, Aegis already flying and Gallant racing forward. Past me whirled around and leapt away, barely going anywhere thanks to Vista, letting Aegis hit her in the face, sending her twirling in the air. Something out of view of the camera lit up, then revealed itself as a orb in his hands as he shot it out at her, slamming into her side right before she hit the ground.
She bolted upright and lashed out with her tail at Aegis, missing thanks to Vista jumping the size again, before the distance shortened allowing him to deck her in the face. She jerked back and away and swiped upwards with a claw, dodging the blasts Gallant had sent her way. This went on for some time, Aegis landing a few close hits, Gallant trying to hit her with a few orbs, Past me trying to hit whoever came close, Clockblocker staying back until they managed to beat her down. Vista just kept her from landing a single hit and made sure she couldn't run away.
The pattern was interrupted as the white spikes along her back started to glow a neon-blue and started to crackle with energy, audible even through the camera. Dropping to all fours she looked at the Wards surrounding her, all of whom immediately started to back up. She eventually decided to level her head at Gallant, that energy becoming blindingly bright, even seeping out of her mouth. At the last moment she snapped her head towards a target that was off=screen. "Vista!" Somebody yelled right as she opened her mouth and a beam of light shot out of her mouth, the camera trying to turn towards Vista before the beam hit her, but failing.
The beam fired straight at her, diverted only at the last second by Vista sweeping her arms to the side and falling onto her rump, sending the laser through the surrounding buildings. It stayed that way for several seconds before cutting off, revealing the gaping holes it left where it touched. The camera panned back to Past me who was already running away the moment she saw the chance.
I sighed and flopped back onto the bed, the audio cutting off as I did, Dragon probably pausing the video for my sake. "Do you want to keep watching Taylor?"
Groaning I covered my face with my hands. "There's definitely a difference between me talking about watching it and another thing to actually watch it." Removing my hands I looked up at the ceiling and threw them into the air. "I mean I'm fucking trying to kill the Wards in that clip!"
"You were just trying to get aw-"
"I just shot through a goddamn building like it was butter." I said interrupting her attempt to console me, mind occupied as to what I did when more heroes and even villains showed up to help stop Past me. If there'd been more people it didn't seem like they could've dodged that like they all barely did. "What would've happened if I actually hit somebody with that?"
"But you didn't." She stated softly.
I didn't say anything to that, just staring up at the ceiling in silence. Then I finally said, "I'll look at it later, I'm going to just let my mind wander now." Turning on my side I tried to empty my mind and let myself get washed away into Tyrant's feelings again.
"If you want somebody to talk to I'm here." She offered.
Turning my head to look at the drone I felt the corner of my mouth pull upwards, whether it was the beginning of a sneer or smile I couldn't tell. "Thanks." Looking back up at the ceiling I distanced myself from reality once more. This time it seemed easier despite the fact I just had thoughts racing through my mind of what injuries I did, crimes I committed, things I'd done and all that. Almost like something was helping me to calm down.
I had a small idea as to what that was as I felt my 'limbs' gently paddling through the water again, nice cool water washing over me. Sighing with relief 'I' paddled through the water, watching small specks float by, knowing exactly what each was but yet at the same time not able to identify them. It was weird in a good way, something that was nice to feel, but yet I wondered with all the water I was seeing, what might the area above the water look like?
As if he heard me I could feel 'my' body realign itself in the water, it rushing off 'my' head as the legs somehow hit solid ground out there in the ocean. A slight ping of annoyance came from somewhere, but was so minute I almost didn't feel it, letting me see above. First all I could see was just water, water as far as the eye could see, then as the head turned I could see what looked like tens of thousands of boxes, rectangles and even a few triangles in places, all of which looked like I could fit in my fingers.
Smaller boxes dotted the front of some of them, moving silently and slowly along, moving from the front of some of them to tiny spaces in between then other boxes. I wondered as to what these were, not quite able to focus in on them or identify them, when an idea came to mind about the whole thing. Nest.
A image also came to mind beside that word of some small thing on two legs with two arms, a garment covering most of its body, irritation and slight hate coming to my mind. A moment of thinking about what that creature was reminded me of what I was, a human. I raised my brows in surprise when I connected his irritation to humans of all kind. He seemed to know about my want of seeing the surface so maybe me wanting to know about his dislike?
Instead of a feeling or idea in my mind I felt myself remembering something. Smoke rising from more boxes, small enough to fit under my fingernail, others as wide as I was tall, sludge pouring out from those same boxes into pristine waters. Me swimming through the water, then something heavy hitting me, everything going bright white for a minute. Slammed down into the ground I growled and stood up to see what had hit me, seeing absolutely nothing around, despite knowing there was land nearby. This memory seemed to play over several times, but all in different areas, eventually realizing it was those small creatures doing it. Changing to another one I watched from a distance as they laid siege to each other's nests, smoke plumes rising, rectangles falling, explosions dotting the territory. My territory. They were ruining it all.
The memories stopped, letting me drop back into reality, half in Tyrant's feeling of his body and half of my own. I could put words to most of those memories, able to recognize what some of it was, knowing what he didn't like about humans. War. Pollution. Conflict. Hate. It all left a sour taste in my mouth, seeing his memories of humans. But there was more to us right? How could I try and send that to him, he was obviously able to send things to me. They were just memories so maybe if I would just remember something good?
But what did I have to remember being good? There were the days when my dad and I used to hang out when I was younger, go walking down the boardwalk with me on his shoulders. It brought a smile to my lips, interrupted by a small puzzlement at the idea of that. He wouldn't know what that meant would he, what with being a gigantic creature that lived in the ocean. I could make sense of what he was feeling and looking at though which didn't seem fair to me. Sighing I just looked back through his eyes again to the rectangles in the distance, finally noticing the ones in the water.
There was one that jutted up and out of the water, with rainbows shimmering around it, making me realize that was the oil rig I was on, the only thing that had rainbows around here. Then there were the others that seemed to be set haphazardly in the water all over the place, rectangular in the middle, pointed at the ends with small boxes on top. Taking the time to think about it I recognized it as the Ship Graveyard, where hundreds of boats were left in the way of the Docks as a form of protest, estimated to cost millions to remove because of how big they were. Blinking out of Tyrant's feelings I sat back up. "Hey Dragon how much would it cost to remove the Ship Graveyard? You know the ships in the Bay that are all rusted?"
"I estimated it to be around ten point five million. Why do you ask?" The drone questioned moving around to in front of the TV.
"Well uh I was strong right? And a miniature version of Tyrant?" I asked making sure that my idea sounded feasible in my head.
"Correct…"
"Well maybe to try and make up for the damage I did I could get Tyrant to try and move the boats out of the way?" I offered with a slight shrug and smile.
The drone stayed silent for a couple of seconds. "It would be best we make sure that Tyrant isn't a threat." I frowned and fell back onto the bed. "But it is an idea that we could do later."
"Alright." I said dishearteningly. The only idea I had for making up for anything shot down, but at least it wasn't out. Slipping back into Tyrant's feelings I felt like yawning, all of a sudden tired. The bed under me and the waves didn't help, Tyrant seeming to be asleep himself as far as I could tell. It all felt nice with my muscles feeling sore as they did.
I snarled at the obstacle in front of me, his head snaking up out of my grasp and bringing one of his claws into my face. I snapped at the claw, catching it in my teeth and ripped it down, tearing off some of the claws but he ripped his hand away from me and slammed the other into the bottom of my snout. My head snapped back and I slammed a foot down, the obstacle's claw already growing back, fire bathing it completely in a bright light. It was hot enough to burn the ground, warm to me.
HIs wings beat as he pulled up and away, his fire swimming over me. I charged forward blindly, right into his whipping tail, hitting me to the side and through another hollow rock. Before I could spring to my feet he slammed into me, an arm holding one of mine behind my back and a leg against my back, crushing me into the ground. Roaring I slammed my free hand into the ground and pushed us both up, tail crashing into his back and flipping him off. Gathering my energy up my spine I leveled my head at him, then swung it to the side towards the annoying land girl.
I let it explode outwards to get rid of her so I could leave, it suddenly arcing to the left as if it didn't want to hit her. A scream sounded and small red one came at me again, laying his fists into me, his ally shooting more annoying colored orbs at me, making me feel things. I didn't want to feel what he wanted, making me so angry or sad when they would hit. Managing to grab red one's leg, the land girl not able to move me again, I swung him towards the orbs to block them. Spinning around I threw him away, turning to run again, before they could catch up.
White light filled my vision again and I needed to jump out to the side, smashing through another hollow rock, just as the ground exploded. Too many to run from, too many in my way. So many obstacles that were just annoying. Frustrating. Again my energy built up to get rid of the White light one in the sky, my movements arrested by metal that jumped out of the side of another hollow rock. More metal jumped up to meet it and I forced myself through them, they being like sticks in front of me.
Energy built up again and I let it out in an indiscriminate explosion all around me, the metal popping away immediately and blinding all of them with blue light. Needed to leave, needed to run, needed to stop fighting. But I couldn't, I wouldn't, I needed to to leave. A wall jumped in front of me, the land girl getting in the way again. Turning on a dime I launched through another hollow rock, electricity zapping at me as I did, whether it was them or the black lines in the walls I couldn't tell or much less care.
Breaking out the other side I ran headfirst into an explosion from the gun girl, always with a new weapon to try and hurt me, always trying to kill me. It didn't slow me down though and I charged through, leaping at her in a rage just to have a blur pick her up and move her out of the way. "Taylor."
I halted myself and looked around for that voice, that name escaping me but I knew it was an important name. Turning around I found myself face to face with the obstacle again, glowing a bright red white with his fire, standing tall and imposing with long neck and tail, four wings spread. He lunged and grabbed me by the neck, wings propelling us up into the sky, face craned in to look at mine. His lips moved and spoke in a voice that didn't match him, "Taylor."
What the fuck was that name to me? I didn't like not knowing what it was and I growled at him. He moved his lips again and I moved to swipe at him before he could say it.
"Taylor." Her voice whispered, my hands whipping out towards it and finding not a face, nor a surface but just empty air. I suddenly found myself rolling and smacked my face square into the floor, feeling so small and weak suddenly. Something covered my eyes and I couldn't see anything, making me flail to get it off, everything not making sense. "Oh my, are you alright?" Her voice asked, calmingly persistent.
Slowing in my movements when I realized who's voice it was I remembered that I was in a bed, or at least I was before swiping at her. Stopping my erratic movements I felt the thing covering my face and figured out it was a blanket and I started to gingerly to search for the exit, not remembering going to sleep. "Y-yeah just a bad dream. Or something." Felt all that a bit too much for it to be just a dream.
"Sorry for waking you."
Finding the exit of the blanket I peeled it off myself and looked around for the drone of Dragon's. "I'd rather not keeping dreaming whatever that was. So uh why'd you wake me up though?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to see your father, we could bring him in here to greet you if you so wish?" She offered, to which I know for a fact I smiled, wanting nothing more than to have my dad beside me.
It'd help me center, have something familiar that I knew of with me. "I'd like that."
