Shift 1.1

July 12, 2010

Taylor was sitting at the kitchen table a cup of tea in her hands reflecting on the past two years of her life and reviewing her plans for the future. She was now fourteen years old and in the past two years many things have changed. Physically speaking she had a growth spurt making her stand at 5'8 (172cm). She had her hair cut to just under her chin as instructed by her various close-quarter-combat instructors since they made a clear point that her hair not only got in the way; but was a liability that could get her killed if she was fighting even an unskilled gangbanger in the streets. After all it was a rule in the streets that those who fight dirty are the ones that tend to walk out alive in Brockton Bay.

Thanks to her dad, she managed to try her hand at many styles including Kung-Fu, Krav Maga, and Muay Tai. Thanks to her power however, she became talented in understanding how her body works, how it can move, and how it was changing everyday thanks to the RC cells running through her veins. This made it easier for her to learn where her limits were and what would be best for her to utilize considering her physique. She decided to focus on flexibility and speed, this would allow her not only to dodge her opponents but would also grant her a higher chance of speedily exploiting openings to deliver devastating blows with her weapons. Her usually owlish eyes were almost constantly narrowed in focus, and these god-awful circle-framed thick glasses were replaced with small framed ones she tinkered up from the remnant sludge not absorbed by ANNETTE when crafting the weapon. These glasses proved to somehow be difficult to remove even when getting beaten into the ground at her training sessions.

The only weapon she tinkered in the past two years was ANNETTE I; that she kept improving with her RC cells until it reached its S+ predicted rank on December 19, 2009; a full year after the initial estimates delivered by her powers, fully maturing into ANNETTE III. The weapon proved to only react to her due to the synchronization of her RC Cells with the weapon. If anyone else were to hold it the weapon will the remain in its portable brief case form, and will return to that form if anyone else but her holds it. Her power thankfully supplied her with information regarding a force activated state that will allow the weapon to expand into its maximum length in the four cardinal directions; covering a 100 meter radius and notifying the user of the weapon's exact location by having the RC Cell merged Corona Pollentia act as a beacon to the user through power induced RC cell resonance. This resonance is always present in a muted that allows Taylor to know the general direction of her weapon considering it is partially made of her blood.

However, no matter how she wished to use ANNETTE and go caping, she could only perform simple stabs at the moment considering the extremely high skill level and strength required to utilizing the weapon to its full extent. It was simply a matter of time until her body becomes capable enough to utilize the weapon without strain. Which leads to the second major change that Taylor went through. She noticed that the more RC Cells she used in her tinkering, the higher the upper limit became in her body. They were marvellous things these cells, Liquid Muscle would be a suitable description for them, the higher number she had, the stronger she was, the faster she reacted, the faster she healed, the more she could ignore damage to a certain extent. This by all means does not mean that she will ever get to a ramped up Lung or a Crawler levels of regeneration; but what would normally take months to heal will take weeks; and what takes weeks will take days instead. This became quiet apparent when the deep slashes on her wrists and arms from her tinkering and training ended up becoming faint scars that were almost unnoticeable on her pale skin. This power however did not come without consequences; as the more RC Cells she had, the faster her other cells aged.

She might not look that different, but fourteen-year-old Taylor had the telomeres at a level that would be naturally found in twenty-five to thirty-year-old adults. The fact that the insides of her body doubled in age while somehow maintaining above human levels of strength and dexterity was worrying. She did not know if Panacea was able to regenerate her telomeres, or basically extend her life, but she felt that her powers would make her body immune to healing through other powers. Her powers were essentially a double-edged sword that will let her become more powerful at the price of her life. She also knew for a fact the process will not slow down in the slightest so after Tinkering a protective suit of armour; that to her bafflement looked nothing like armour, Danny officially banned her from tinkering.

The armour itself was made of two layers. An all-black skin-tight long-sleeved shirt and pants made of the non-absorbed drying remains of the organic material used in creating ANNETTE. The shirt extended from her back down to right over her knees with the sides of the extension covering the front of her legs like a coat. Lace-less, knee high black combat boots that look more like horse riding leather boots. The first step was completed with bone white shoulder guards with straps connecting the guards to each other across her body, and with straps on each side connected to a bone white belt that wrapped around the pants and over the back of her shirt's extension to secure everything properly. The guards made her shoulders look slightly broader that they were when wearing the second layer of her armour; a white trench coat that ended right under her knees. It had Kevlar, animal bone dust and a lot of fresh RC cells added when it was weaved. The RC cells in the armour made it so that the armour would grow with Taylor in protective abilities the more RC cells she integrated and would always fit her as micro threads punctured her skin when putting it on and allowed the material to adjust to her body type.

After completing the armour in March, 2010 she took to wearing it in the basement to get used to the movement she learned from her instructors and merge what she learned with the lethal techniques her power provided. Danny ended up clearing the materials Taylor used for her tinkering into one of the least used offices in the Union. He had nothing to worry about since she had long since used whatever leftovers from the modifications she made of ANNETTE. Danny and Taylor expected the Tinkering ban to be challenging, but it was easier to manage than expected considering her power was being cooperative and focusing on body improvement than tinkering. The fact that her power practically evolved to include detailed body movement and styles of combat in addition to the increase knowledge of RC cells and the state of her body lead Taylor to hypothesize that she may have had a second trigger while creating ANNETTE I. She did not remember experiencing any visions. She did not remember most of the day she spent making ANNETTE I. However, she found that the one she went through initially was clearer in some respects.

That was what changed regarding her powers, but in terms of daily life the change was more drastic. For starters, Taylor started going with Danny to the Dockworkers' Union almost everyday. She would be present when negotiations took place and learned through these years to school her features and voice and be in control to the best of her abilities. She would practice maintaining a neutral expression at all times. The less micro expressions she showed the better. She needed to watch her voice as well. She always needed to sound calm and collected; in control. She learned to pick up on different tones of voice and what they mean. Danny thought it was a bit too much but Taylor's paranoia about some Thinker connecting the dots with their power while she was out in her civilian identity made her ignore Danny's thoughts on the matter.

To Taylor Hebert, the past two years were not all sunshine and rainbows. Because the first thing the her father told her on July 20, 2008; the very next day after she had her last birthday with her mother, was; "You and I are going to see a therapist on this matter." A Therapist! Taylor was frustrated, scared, and worried, and angry that she would have to tell anyone about what happened. She didn't even think to tell Emma about it but her dad wanted her to tell some random shmuck about all this!? She tried her best rebelling, but her dad put his foot down and took her to the Dockworkers' Union; kicking and yelling, swearing not to speak about anything on the matter. That it was nobody's business what she and her dad went through. A few hours later the private therapist; John Dawkins, that works with the Union members that need someone to talk to after dealing with deaths or injuries from gangs was seeing Danny and Taylor.

John Dawkins, was pale, sweating bullets, swearing on every god around that he wouldn't even think of what he talks to Taylor about outside the session; after she made it clear that she would make him her first weapon created from a live subject. She also elaborated on how she would make sure that he feels every second of pain and agony available and would be denied the sweet release of death no matter how much he begged. The therapy helped her and her Dad considerably. And thinking back on it she was in a horrible state of mind, especially since she may have that she second triggered during the operation.

Thanks to therapy, her faith was slightly reduced in the Protectorate even with their incompetence. She even searched for the records on all of Armsmaster's fights and concluded that the mman was no man at all. He was a machine. Any time he encounters anything new he would come back prepared with a counter the next patrol he had. It was rumoured that he finished designing the Endbringer predictor system that he was working on with Dragon, alongside his combat predictive software a year ago, and the change was obvious. The man could dodge Telekinetically enhanced projectiles thrown by The Simurgh without even looking. The skills he developed over the year were culminated into a machine-like efficient method of fighting that made even Lung praise him in their last engagement. She even took notes and the efficiency of Armsmaster's style was similar to the techniques she when it came to close-range engagement. Both their styles relied on potential high-risk high-reward attacks. But while Armsmaster had his tech to aid him, Taylor was building herself to be the master of her body, the master of her mind. That was the extent of cape related matters she looked at over the past two years and besides what she thought might help her from Armsmaster she knew nothing of the current cape affairs in the Bay.

Furthermore, the therapy was so successful it made relaxed and confident on her situation, she even told her dad that she may let Emma in on the secret. Her relationship with Emma deteriorated quite considerably in the past two years, since Taylor was focusing on keeping herself safe. She hasn't slept over at Emma's house or had Emma sleep over at hers more than a handful of times unlike the every weekend arrangement they had prior to her mother's death. She hadn't even seen the girl since the beginning of March.

Highschool was even supposed to start sometime in August and she still haven't told Emma that she was going to Arcadia on a scholarship. It was true the Emma was going to Winslow, but this did not mean she had to cut ties with Emma. Her dad was a slave-driver and made sure she did exceptionally well in middle school. He was also adamant regarding the education he wanted her to have and talked her into going for Arcadia rather than Winslow. No offense to Emma but the rumours about Winslow did not fill her with confidence at all. She was afraid that she might decide that Winslow was suitable place to hit the gangs by massacring all their potential recruits.

Taylor got off the kitchen chair and stretched her body as far as she could satisfied with the pops emanating from all over body. The only change in expression the showed her satisfaction was the light exhale she made.

She went over to the living room grabbed the home phone and dialled Emma's number. a few rings later Emma picked up. She sounded like she had the phone on speaker. "Hello Emma. Are you free to meet up today? I need to tell you something important." said Taylor forcing herself to sound calmer than she really was. After all, it was only her heart that was almost beating out of her chest with worry about how her friend will react to her gaining powers, and to the nature of her powers specifically.

Emma paused slightly on the line, not used to Taylor sounding this calm since her mother died. Her friend always looked like she forced herself to talk whenever they met. She was a wreck. Gone was the free willed innocent chatterbox that talked on and on about anything and everything. In Emma's eyes there was only the broken husk of what used to be Taylor Hebert. Nothing but weak broken prey. A quick glance at her new friend Sofia Hess, and she was sure again of her decision that she was sure of her choice, "I'm sorry Taylor, but I can't meet up with you today." Emma replied in the same sweet voice that Taylor hadn't heard since March.

"You free tomorrow then?" Taylor asked with the same forced calmness. Her gut was telling her something was off with her friendbut she carried on anyway, "I think I need to tell you something. About why I haven't been around much the last two years and mostly since March."

Emma was honestly curious, and so was Sofia by the looks of it, but most importantly she wanted to fix Taylor who broke when her mother died. Taylor who Emma thought was so devastated she shut down, closed off on herself and ignored everything else besides her misery. So, Emma decided to get Taylor to her house so she could see how stronger she was than her. That unlike Taylor who broke down and crumbled like the prey she was, Emma fought and was acknowledged as a survivor by her real friend Sofia. Her real friend, the Ward Shadow Stalker. The Hero Shadow Stalker. Her hero Shadow Stalker. She wanted to show Sofia her broken friend because she knew that Sofia would know how to fix her friend. Show her how the real-world works. Sofia grinned placing her hand on Emma's shoulder and nodded. Emma returned the grin with hopeful smile of her own and said, "You know what Taylor. You can come over now if you want. Come over to my house."

Taylor's eyes narrowed as she felt something off with how Emma changed her mind so fast. But she decided to keep it at the back of her head and said, "Sure thing Emma. I'll be there in 15."

Author Note:-

On the Brockton Bay Cape Scene: the cape scene in the Bay is tense. Even though I pushed the Canon timeline start from 2011 to 2013, it does not mean that the characters were stagnated. Armsmaster for example is explained in the chapter. But generally, all Protectorate and Ward members will by default have more experience. Dinah still triggers in 2011 but is more successful in evading Coil. The Undersiders are working for Coil for 2+ years by 2013 and do not mind escalating when necessary. (Regent for example is 'unofficially' known to be Hijack). Taylor have not been keeping up with the cape scene so far in the Bay, so she does not understand fully that the Dockworkers' Union is mainly untouched thus far because all its member are unpowered. The times that the gangs sent any capes to intimidate the Union ended with the Union members pulling out guns, since they are not protected by the Unwritten Rules. The Protectorate and the PRT are trying to maintain the status quo because outside the Union, conflict between the gangs just keeps escalating, but no one is willing to cross the line and start killing other people. So, whenever the Protectorate and the PRT discover a new parahuman on the streets they try to get them as soon as possible to postpone an all-out gang war.

On Shadow Stalker: in this AU Shadow Stalker took things too far way earlier than in canon; meaning that she is by this time a Brockton Bay Probationary Ward. She ended up killing a couple of Empire Eighty-Eight gangbangers and the Protectorate got to her before the Empire could make an example out of her. The only reason she was given the Probationary Membership is because she was a highly effective and lethal combatant, and the Empire getting their hands on her may have been the fuse to start the gang war. Kaiser executes the sub-human and Lung retaliates to show the minorities living in his territory that even though he's murderer, slaver, rage dragon; their position within his territory is better than being dead. The Merchants spread chaos and try to get what they can because they're the Merchants. Coil plots and takes advantage of the situation with his mercenaries. This is what the Protectorate and the PRT are afraid of happening because it means that blood will run down the streets.

On Emma Barnes: the ABB assault she went through happened between March and July 2010. Unlike in Canon where she wants to get rid of everything she saw as weakness, she wants to try and 'fix' her friend through the help of what she sees as a professional. Her intentions may be pure but its Shadow Stalker we're dealing with.

On Shift: Shift should be the last set of chapters with some time skips before heading into AU canon timeline proper.