-] 10 Sides to Taylor | Introductions 1.2 | Chapter 2 – A Breath of Fresh Air [-

As soon as my mind connected the dots, I acted. I wasted no time scrambling towards one of the beached shipping containers between me and my quickly approaching, but unwanted, company. I hit the sand on all fours and frantically crawled into the container's shadow, my back slamming against the cold metal as I pivoted my head back and forth. I craned my neck up to the point where it started to hurt, making sure if one of the fliers came onto my side of the container, I'd see them before they saw me.

Except I don't want them to see me! No one's supposed to see me, no ones even supposed to be here! So why are they-

I blinked, my eyes widening as a thought crossed my mind, and my head snapped towards the water hard and fast so I could get a look at the billowing tower of steam I'd created with my flaming body. And I'd thought I'd "connected the dots". I could've slapped myself for being so stupid! I should've slapped myself for being so stupid! These guys, whoever they were, probably saw the steam and wanted to check out whoever or whatever was making it. Which means I brought them here. I was so caught up in making my stupid fireballs and testing my stupid powers with my stupid Watch, I didn't think of how noticeable it would all be to other people! Stupid!

Okay. It's OK, I can deal with this. I thought as I took a deep breath and turned my gaze to the device on my wrist. All I have to do is transform back into my fire body, and I can-

My thoughts froze as I caught sight of my Watch, and I started sweating a little more, my terror sinking in a little deeper. The Watch was red. Both the symbol and the lights around it were completely void of the lively green glow they held before. In their place there was now an angry, blood red light.

Shit shit shit, I mentally screamed, and I could already feel my heart beat quicken, along with my breathing as panic began to set in. I was sitting on the sand now, my knees bent in front of me as my legs pushed me against the shipping container. My hands clutched the sides of my head and grabbed fistfuls of hair.

If the Watch was red, I wouldn't be transforming into my flame form anytime soon, or any form at all! I wouldn't be able to get it to work, no matter how much I fiddled with the damn thing. And without being in those forms, I was just a normal person! I couldn't do anything against a single Cape, let alone two! I'd have to wait until the Watch turned back to green, and I had no idea when that would even be! What if they hurt me, what if they kill me? Oh my god-

I purposely gasped for breath in a desperate attempt to calm myself down, but it did little to slow my skyrocketing pulse. Blood pumped in my ears, and it didn't feel like I could hear anything except my own racing heart. Calm down. I had to calm down. I was freakin' out and it wasn't helping, even if I had a perfectly good reason for it. I took another deep breath, longer this time, and tried to get my thoughts in order. I had a lot of them racing through my mind right now, I just needed to put them together to figure out what to do. Just start with what I knew.

I knew had two Capes coming towards me, or at least my general area. I didn't know if they were Heroes or Villains, and it didn't really matter. I just needed to make sure they didn't see me.

I continued my slow and deliberate breathing. This was good. It was a start. I took another breath. What else? Oh, powers!

I knew they could both fly, but other than that I had no idea who they were or what other kinds of powers they had. They had been too far away for me to get a good look at their costumes, and I didn't want to risk peeking since they'd only be getting closer, since they could get just as good a look at me as I would of them.

I really didn't want them to find me while I looked liked, well, me, instead of one of my hero forms. There was no way I wanted to blow my secret identity before I even made my debut, but I didn't even have a mask with me.

Note to self, bring a mask next time. Also, slap yourself in the face for being stupid and not bringing a mask! Without one, it's not like I could just confront them as I was now. Heroes or Villains, that just screamed trouble, regardless of how it turned out. Why didn't I think to bring a mask?! Whatever, can't do anything about it now. Gotta move on. There's also… um, there's…

Wait, was that it?! Was that everything I could come up with?! None of it was gonna get me out of here before I was spotted!

Oh god, oh shit! I'm so screwed! They're gonna find me! My breathing was picking up again, and it took physical effort to keep it slow and steady. I don't think you could call the result a success.

Suddenly, I felt the wind pick up, and my hyperventilating was cut off as I coughed sand out of my mouth and blinked it out of my eyes. I squinted, my forearm shielding my face, at my steam pillar, getting ready to curse it out and call it stupid before I realized something.

It was bigger. No, not bigger, closer, and was still headed towards me, and the shoreline in general.

I blinked and noticed that the wind hadn't died down; the cloud would be on me any minute!

I gasped, a hopeful grin daring to grow on my face as an idea came to mind. If I could wait until the steam got between me and the flying Capes, I could find somewhere better to hide, maybe in that storage container that was torn open, and wait them out. It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was the only thing I could think of.

A shape moved in my peripheral, and I couldn't even get a gasp out before my body froze in fear.

There was a shadow, seemingly cast by nothing in the sand. It wasn't long before another shadow joined it, gliding across the sand, and I felt myself start to shake.

The capes had arrived, and they were right above me!

I just sat there, my mouth wide open as my pure terror silently coursed through me. I felt like every moment took an eternity, yet I was rushing to register anything. Did they see me?! Why weren't they saying anything?! Were they just silently looking down at me, waiting until I noticed them? I was shaking almost uncontrollably now, my body locked and rigid. Slowly, agonizingly, I forced myself to look upward.

And saw nothing.

At first I didn't believe it, and it took me a few moments before I shakily leaned outward from my spot by the container to get a better look, and still saw nothing but the cloudless sky. I literally had to do a double take between the shadows and the empty space above me before it finally clicked. They weren't above me, but between them being airborne and the sun being in its midday position, their shadows weren't directly underneath them.

I would've breathed a sigh of relief, but that would've meant there was something to feel relieved about. The Capes were still there, airborne somewhere just on the other side of my container, so I settled for letting myself breath again in general.

I shifted my gaze, this time checking on the progress of the steam cloud. It was still headed my way, just as large and obscuring as before, but I wasn't sure how much good it would do me now. Even with its cover, if the Capes decided to stick around to try and find whoever made the steam, I'd have just cornered myself instead of actually finding a way out of here! But I didn't have a choice; the steam was gonna be here any second, and hiding was better than staying out in the open. It sucked, but I didn't have any other-

I heard a noise, and it'd be an understatement to say it scared the ever loving crap out of me. My eyes widened, my heart skipped a beat, I gasped for the umpteenth time, and my gaze shot down to the source; only for my eyes to somehow impossibly widen even further when I saw the most beautiful thing in the world.

The Watch was green again.

Holy shit the Watch was green again!

YES! Yes yes yes, oh hell yes! My hand clamped over my mouth right on the heels of my excited gasp-squeal, fearful I'd just given myself away. After a quick and terror filled glance at the shadows and back above my head, I turned back to the Watch, this time making a conscious effort to keep quiet. I didn't have a lot of time and I had to think fast.

With almost surgical precision and gentleness – plus a good helping of nervousness – and one eye on the unmoving shadows, I pressed the button and watched the dial pop up. After another batch of terror filled moments waiting to see if the shadows of my "company" would react to its little beeps and noises, I started looking through the silhouettes. After a few quick turns on the dial, I found the silhouette I was looking for; the one with the wings. I only vaguely remembered some of them, and since I hadn't transformed into any of them besides my fire form, I couldn't be certain what they'd do. However, this was one I knew could help me get out of here, and given the situation, I'd be willing to risk it despite never having used the form. If I could get a handle on fire coming out of my hands, I was pretty sure I could handle a set of wings. And even if I wasn't sure, I'd try it anyway. I just had to make sure I didn't hit any of the ships as I flew through the steam cloud. So long as I could do that and kept to its cover, I'd be home free!

I placed my hand on top of the dial, mentally preparing myself to push it down and trigger the transformation. Once I did this, there was no going back. I was doing my best, but my breathing was picking up again, and I could see my hand trembling.

In a decision that totally wasn't me stalling, I decided to look skyward one more time to make sure the Capes hadn't ventured over to my side of the container and just hadn't noticed me, and was surprised to see wisps of steam float across my field of vision. I took one final breath to steel my nerves as I realized that my steam cloud had arrived. If I was gonna do this, I had to do it now.

I looked back down at the Watch, where my hand still rested – and still shook – on the dial.

Oh, come one Taylor. You can do this. Ready, set-

"Hey! Whoever's out there, show yourself now! We-"

Do it! Go! I screamed at myself, my surprise and fear blocking out the voice I heard in the distance. My eyes squeezed shut. I raised my hand up high as I forced my legs to stiffly stand myself up, my back pushing up hard against the container. I was moving solely on adrenaline, and it caused me to swing my hand back down hard on top of the dial. GO! Don't stop, don't think! Just MOVE!

I turned towards the water as I got up. The wall of steam was right there in front of me, just starting to reach the shore as I felt the dial get pushed down all the way on the Watch, and I felt the change begin to happen.

In my panic and impatience, I'd forgotten about the flash of green light I'd create whenever I triggered a transformation, and realized that since I wasn't in the cover of the cloud just yet, the Capes could, would, see it too. Suffice to say I started freaking out again and tried to run even faster. As I continued to move, I tried to be as aware of my body as I could, so I could feel when my wings grew in and take off. Even as I moved, I could feel myself changing. I was getting taller, and it felt like I wasn't going to have five fingers again, though the feet did feel similar, kinda. But as the glow around me began to fade, I still didn't feel anything that felt like wings on my back. I felt something dragging behind me, and I did feel something on my back, but even if I knew what having wings felt like, it definitely didn't feel like I had them right now. I gasped at the realization, but it was due to the new and intense pain in my chest and neck that I discovered something far worse. Flying wasn't the only thing I couldn't do.

I couldn't breath.