For those of you expecting this to go like Taylor is DOOMed...well, no, sorry.

Skye doesn't have that rage that's so strong it's looped back around to calmness. She gets angry, sure, but mostly she's just neutral. So the next few chapters are her re-integrating into life and learning a few new things, as well as experimenting with what she can do and then making a decision that yes, I wholeheartedly admit, is fueled by my own wants.

If what Skye decides to do pisses you off, then I can only say that I'm sorry, but I want Skye to do what she does, and there are literally millions of other fanfictions out there other than my own. I don't doubt some people are gonna be annoyed, and that's fine with me, but hopefully you won't be too hateful or angry at me for it.

After all, we're all only human =D

Chapter 7


Staring up at the ceiling for a moment, Skye found herself trying to actually comprehend what was going on.

She was...actually home. No more waking up to be looking at the same stone sarcophagus. No three Possessed she'd have to beat to death just to get up. No more demons to fight...well, there were plenty of demons to fight in Brockton Bay, but she didn't have to. She was home, and hopefully, she was safe. Hearing the door open, she shifted slightly to look, seeing a nurse come in. "Good afternoon." The nurse said quietly, entering the room. "How are you feeling?"

That...was when she realized a very slight problem, that being that she couldn't actually speak thanks to the fact she was still a Slayer. She tried, and when no sound came out she slowly shook her head and pointed at her throat. "Oh, would you like some water?" She nodded her head, smiling at the nurse. "I'll just go fetch some, okay?" Nodding again, she watched as the woman left the room.

As soon as she was out, Skye started brainstorming. The fact she was a Slayer meant she couldn't talk so she had to...wait, she was an idiot. Mentally, she willed herself to be freed of the speech portion of what was required of a Slayer, then stretched her energy out and made it so, feeling the energy as it wrapped around her throat then vanished. Waiting for the nurse to come back, she examined the room, noting that it was a fairly typical hospital room, though curiously enough it wasn't a ward.

If they assumed she was in a coma, why was she in an individual room rather than in a ward? The nurse came back in carrying a glass of water and a straw, handing it to her and warning her to take small sips, which she did so slowly, surprised at the dryness of her throat. "Thank you." She said quietly, more than a little surprised that she actually could speak.

"You're very welcome. Now then, Doctor Wilson will be along shortly to ask you a few questions, and there'll be a few Protectorate members coming by to ask you a few questions, alright?" She raised an eyebrow, but after a moment just shrugged. "I know, they like sticking their nose everywhere they can." She said conspiratorially, making her smile as she glanced at the chart at the foot of her bed, checked the IV that was hooked up to her arm, then headed for the door. "Just ring the little buzzer if you need me, alright?"

Nodding again, she watched the nurse leave, her mind running over possibilities. If the Protectorate were going to be questioning her, that meant they either suspected her of triggering, or suspected that she was involved with a Parahuman. Running back on those now-old memories, she picked out only one person that fit the bill, and that was the girl who pushed her, Sophia. No other person in school gave her that impression, but her instincts, which she trusted very, very strongly, told her that Sophia was the one. Since Sophia was the one that pushed her, that meant they were likely trying to cover their asses.

Next, she had to figure out whether she still had her implants. And the answer to that very quickly became no, since she had distinctly made it so she inhabited this body, rather than her modified body. She knew that her Praetor Suit and all her other stuff was accessible just by willing for it, so she wasn't worried about that, it was just good that new implants weren't going to suddenly appear.

With a negligent change, she exchanged her eyes for the Elite Guard ones, the clarity in vision making her unconsciously sigh in relief. She checked the colouration and changed it to her natural green, then checked over the rest of her body just to make sure that she was as normal as she could expect. There was a large bruise on her forehead, but aside from that, she was about as normal as she could be.

That was when who she assumed was Doctor Wilson entered the room, and began asking her a few questions, checking her memory, asking if she was in pain or even discomfort, if she had a headache, stuff like that. He then checked her pupil response and remarked that her eyes seemed to be hyper-responsive, closing off the extra light before it could even begin to blind her. It was meant to be a preventative against flashbangs, and in this case, she was already tripping herself up.

He put it down as abnormal eye miosis and wrote it down on her chart, before informing her that they were going to keep her in observation for a day to see whether she had any neurological damage, as well as informing her mother that she'd woken up. Deciding to show interest, she piped up. "So, is it bad if I have that miosis thing?" The doctor frowned, continuing to write on the chart as he spoke.

"Not exactly. It just suggests that there's been a change in how quickly your brain processes light. It could be a good thing, in that your reaction time in general may have improved, but that also means it could be exceptionally bad. There's been no sign of brain damage, especially with your memory and question-answering abilities, but a day to make sure can't hurt." Nodding, she watched him leave the room, then laid back against her pillows and sighed.

That was too close, almost being caught out just because she wanted better eyes, as if it hurt to literally wait like a day to get out of the hospital, and then start upgrading herself. As long as she made no more changes, there wouldn't be anything for them to find and she'd be able to leave, upon which she could get her implants done and start seeing about establishing herself. She had no real grand plan, but she did want to try her hand at fighting an Endbringer.

Idly, she pictured fighting Behemoth or something, stood atop a ruined building in her Praetor Suit, blasting away at it with her BFG-9000, and grinning slightly at the mental picture. She could quite happily establish herself as a Tinker of sorts, augmenting herself and then having her suit and her awesome guns, but only fighting Endbringers. Yeah, that sounded like fun. She could even change the appearance of the suit now, if she felt like it, so she could make it look different if she so chose.

There was the small inking of guilt at the fact that she had the power now to make it so that all criminals in Brockton Bay just spontaneously became good people and yet she wasn't doing it. But the problem she had with that was...well, two-fold. First, it would out her as a Master, and probably get her thrown in the Birdcage like Canary, even if that couldn't hope to hold her. Secondly, well, it was far more selfish of her, but she didn't care.

She didn't really want to keep fighting, not straight after spending literal years in combat.


Spending the day sat in bed was honestly a bit uncomfortable for Skye.

Being so idle after so long fighting demons was a pretty major change, and she wasn't sure she enjoyed it much. Her mother didn't come by to check on her, probably because her sunken eyes and gaunt face would probably tip off the doctors that she was a drug user, instead just having one of her friends drop off a bundle of clothes. Not that it bothered her, she left her mother alone, and her mother left her alone, and it was a situation that she knew worked well enough.

Skye brought a coin into existence, flicking it across her fingers a few times before sighing and getting rid of it. There wasn't much to do, and though the nurse was lovely, there weren't any books or tablets or anything for her to use, so suddenly having one would be very suspicious. Maybe she could play her ability to summon things out of thin air as a power of some kind...no, not with the Protectorate coming to see her, especially not when they were in the hallway itself.

As they entered the room, she found an eyebrow raising as Miss Militia herself was the first one into the room, followed by who she guessed was a more legal-versed PRT Agent. Skye stared at the taser holstered on her hip, the weapon visibly vibrating before her improved eyes, making her wonder how the mechanics behind Miss Militia's power actually worked. "Good morning, I am an agent of the PRT and this is Miss Militia, though from your look I assume you knew that already?" Rolling her eyes, she looked towards the other person in the room, watching the levelly.

"Now, there are a few issues that need to be cleared up and you'll be good to go, if that's alright with you?" She shrugged, watching as the agent shifted from side to side. "Alright then. Can you tell us, from your own perspective, what occurred on the afternoon of February the 2nd in Winslow High School?" Thinning her eyes, she glanced between the two people in her room for a moment.

This was definitely them trying to make sure she didn't know that Sophia was a ward, and they were probably equipped with NDA's to keep her silent if she did know. "I went to the toilet and found Sophia pinning a door shut whilst two other girls, who I couldn't see the faces off, poured liquids over either side of the middle cubicle, presumably onto another girl from the yelling. When I turned to leave Sophia shoved me and I fell forwards towards the wall on the opposite side, then woke up here." Skye then leaned back and hummed. "Let me guess, someone involved either is already connected to the Protectorate, or is suspected of having powers, and you're here to keep me quiet?"

The agent glanced at Miss Militia who sighed and rubbed her forehead. "It's not quite as you say, but the gist of it is correct. The Protectorate is willing to cover the hospital bills in return for you signing an NDA to keep the entire thing quiet. I'll be honest, this is not something I approve of, but for the PRT, public relations is incredibly important, so they have to cover for events like this where possible." Folding her arms, Skye observed Miss Militia. The woman was definitely honest and just following orders, even ones she didn't exactly approve of.

She could respect that, since she was an employee after all, she had to follow what those above her told her to do. "Alright, and I guess if I don't sign these NDA's I'm left high and dry, no reason to help me if I won't keep secrets after all?" The flag-masked woman sighed and nodded, earning her another point in Skye's book. A good woman forced into effectively pressuring a...well, from Miss Militia's perspective, a fifteen-year-old girl, into signing legal documents in return for not making her family go bankrupt through medical bills. "Meh, as long as they aren't entirely restricting me I don't care."

Taking the papers handed to her by the agent, she flicked her gaze over them, humming softly as she did so. It was a pretty well-made document, ensuring that any information she gathered from the events of the day of injury could not be shared. After making sure there were no legal loopholes or bullshit clauses, she signed off on the NDA in triplicate, herself having one copy while the other two would be stored somewhere else, making sure it couldn't conveniently be lost. "Well, it's been nice meeting you, and the doctor said you would be free to go after out visit."

With that, the agent slipped out of the room, while Miss Militia lingered a moment. "I understand if you don't want to tell me, but I have to ask a few more questions about what exactly happened." Switching her gaze from the door to the woman, she gestured for her to continue. "From what Sophia Hess has told us, the way you landed should have, by all accounts, resulted in a broken neck. Everyone who could see the event collectively were unable to explain how you instead ended up just bruising your forehead, and that of course leads to the question of whether your fall awakened powers. As I said, if you don't want to tell me, I completely understand, but I have to ask anyway."

Leaning back against her pillows, Skye debated showing Miss Militia something, maybe being able to fabricate matter from the air or something. Eventually she shrugged, holding her hand palm-upwards and making a shotgun shell appear, much to her surprise. "I think I'm a tinker/striker. I'm able to create and modify things then draw them out of thin air. For example-" She mimicked Miss Militia's taser, the woman's eyes flicking from the weapon in her hand to the one holstered on her thigh. "-by looking at your weapon, I can copy it, even though it's a power construct, not a real taser. I might be able to mimic tinker-tech, but I have no idea, I've not exactly been able to test this much."

After making the taser disappear, she watched Miss Militia carefully. If she immediately jumped into a recruitment pitch for the Wards or something, that was going to definitely drop her opinion of her. But, true to what she saw in the woman, she dipped her head. "I'm sorry for what you had to go through. I don't doubt that when you were falling, you thought you were going to...no, I digress. Shouldn't stay on topics like that." The woman raised her head and stepped to the side of her bed, raising her hand in an offer for a handshake. "And unless directly ordered to, I won't say a word." Smiling, she reached out and shook Miss Militia's hand.

Maybe she was lying, but if that was the case, then she'd have just permanently alienated her, not exactly a good move. Maybe revealing herself like that to a high-ranking member of the Protectorate wasn't a great idea, but even if it did come back to bite her, there wasn't exactly much they could do to force her into anything. They were the Protectorate, not the ABB, they couldn't exactly force her to join them. Even if they did so, they wouldn't be able to trust any of the stuff she could create, since at any point she could make it faulty and blow up in their hands.

The mental image of Armsmaster being blasted on his ass when firing a Gauss Cannon came to mind, drawing a small chuckle out of her.


Stepping out of the hospital, Skye ambled down the steps and stood on the pavement.

Miss Militia had offered to drop her off at home, and she saw no reason to turn down the lift. When a PRT van pulled out of the parking lot and came to a stop in front of her, she walked around and hopped up on the step, opening the door and slipping inside. "So, where exactly is your home? I couldn't ask at the hospital, they wouldn't give out that kind of information, even to me." Skye gave her directions, and they set off, all the while Miss Militia asked various questions about what she knew of her power so far, what she thought she would be capable of. Then came the question she was definitely expecting. "And what do you plan on doing next?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Earlier, I thought maybe being a hero would be fun, but, well, I had some time to think about it and honestly, I think I'd put off doing anything like that, at least until I'm older." She could see that even behind her bandana Miss Militia was surprised, probably expecting her to be more active and wanting to be a cape, fighting crime and all that. "I guess maybe my power has also ingrained me with more intelligence, since I know that if I started, I wouldn't be able to stop until I was satisfied. Yay for a good work ethic I guess."

Miss Militia glanced at her. "Be thankful you have that choice. Some people trigger, and they have no choice but to fight." Looking out the window, Skye considered that. Miss Militia was well known after all, and people knew she came from another country, somewhere in Africa or the Middle-East, and she triggered with a power she couldn't ever hide. Skye, by comparison, had a power she could easily pretend wasn't even there.

She snorted as she realized that Miss Militia was actually more correct than she thought. Skye was forced to fight through Hell itself to get back home, not that she'd say a word of it, and now that she was back, all she really wanted to do was go home and just...reconnect with her past life. It was a bit jarring being back, knowing that for everyone else, it had been less than two days, but for her, it had been years.

As they drove through Brockton Bay, Skye kept internally debating the worth of even keeping up a facade of normalcy. She could quite easily just test out of Winslow High and find something else to do, but then that rose the question of what she'd even want to do. She wouldn't work a normal job, especially not a job in Brockton Bay where crime was high and the work itself would probably be in an office or doing manual labour. But all that really left was jobs she'd need to go to college for, or being a cape, something she already thought was a bad idea.

The reason for that was twofold. If she started being a cape, it would just cement her combat-oriented mindset. Right now, she still felt that urge for conflict, to fight and tear apart demons, and if she indulged in combat, she wouldn't be able to stop, she'd keep going back. Secondly, all of her weapons were extremely lethal. Against anything but brutes, her weapons would kill what they hit. And the problem was that she saw no way to make them less-than-lethal. Sighing, she tapped her fingers on the edge of the door, trying to figure out something she could do, something she would enjoy but that wouldn't be so detrimental. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Smirking, she glanced over at Miss Militia. "I'm trying to think of what I want to do now. I don't really want to go back to Winslow, but I also don't want to start being a hero. I feel like if I started, I won't ever be able to stop. Plus, all the weapons that came with my power are extremely lethal." The admission didn't seem to phase Miss Militia, but then again, she was probably expecting Skye's power to be regular guns, which were like hers and could be equipped with rubber bullets. "Take this for example." Skye held her hand out and brought out her pistol, flicking open the slide. "It fires directed energy beams, and the lowest possible setting will still blow through a human body easily."

Disintegrating the pistol into nothingness, she dropped her hand and returned to looking out the window. "Then just find something that isn't as dangerous. There's plenty of non-lethal weapons out there you could copy. Net-launchers, tasers, containment foam cannons. If you are able to change ammo types, then just copy regular guns and use rubber bullets, or maybe even find a tinkertech bullet that launches tranquillizer shots." Considering it, Skye brought her pistol back out again, but this time started messing with the internals.

Just dialling back the power wasn't enough, but if she deliberately sapped the energy from the shot when fired, it would be pretty painful. Unless she repeatedly fired in the same place, it would just cause burns and pain, dissuading people from attacking. "I guess I can see what you mean, but then the problem is that shooting someone with this is still going to cause burns and pain." The woman snorted at that, making her raise an eyebrow as she changed her own weapon to a pistol and held it up.

"This causes pain, bruises and sometimes broken bones when I shoot people with it, but the only other options I have for non-lethal is those I mentioned before, which sometimes I just don't have the opportunity to use. As long as you aren't permanently maiming people, you'll be fine. Though, I would recommend you have a camera of some kind recording your actions, that way if a criminal tries to pretend they weren't doing criminal activities and resisting a citizen's arrest, you have hard evidence against them."

"I guess." She said quietly, watching the streets go by. It wasn't just that though, it was the fact that she felt like she was giving in, letting her urges dictate her actions. Maybe...maybe going back to Winslow was a better idea after all, going back to normalcy and letting herself calm down for a while. Her time killing demons was definitely skewing her decision-making, so having a normal life for a while would be best before making any brash decisions like testing out of school and jumping feet-first into using her powers.

Sure, it was definitely going to be boring, but maybe boring was best.


Blasting apart a crater in the ground, Skye grinned, hefting her Gauss Cannon and firing it again.

After Miss Militia had dropped her off at home and gave her a phone number in case she wanted to talk more about anything, an act she honestly appreciated, she'd been restless trying to find something to do. Her laptop was good for a short while, but aside from looking up a few curiosities about capes, she was still suffering from her dissonance with mundane reality. It just felt...living normally wasn't her any more. There was a reason soldiers had so much of a problem coming back from war, and that was for a six to twelve months stint in combat, most of which would be of nothing at all, just guarding and living a routine. She spent more than that, and a whole lot more of it was in combat against literal demons.

Was it so bizarre that after so much fighting her brain had adapted to cope with the endless combat by wiring her to have essentially a need for conflict? The Praetor Suit even supported this, noting that much like her pleasure response to pain, her brain was also changed, making her much more drawn to conflict, to the thrill of violence, mostly to save her own sanity. If she hadn't changed, chances were high that after such a long time fighting, she'd have gone insane. To get her combat fix, she decided that finding a secluded field outside of town was best, and her power placed her in the appropriate location, letting her blast off her weapons without much worry.

Tipping her head to the side, she put her Gauss Cannon away, planting her thumb under her chin. Her power meant she could even change herself, as her modified eyes could attest, so that meant she could even play out some of her own fantasies. Closing her eyes, she willed herself to become male, immediately reverting it when her crotch started feeling really weird. She didn't actually want to be male now that she thought about it, though being free from periods would be a...wait, she could just switch off her menstrual cycle anyway.

Feeling dumb, she did so, then started to consider other changes. Miss Militia was the only one who knew about her powers, and that meant she was the only point of contention for making changes to herself. Maybe if she asked, she could say that she withheld a bit of the truth for fear of being seen as the second coming of Bonesaw. After all, changing her own biology definitely would get her slapped with a Bio-tinker tag, and that sounded like a lot of hassle to deal with.

A pair of rabbit ears popped into existence on her head, fully connected to her nervous system and giving her far better auditory perception as well as control over them. She twisted them around and drooped them down to cover her eyes, creating a mirror in front of herself to observe them. She vanished the ears and exchanged them for a mimicry of cat ears, then dog ears, trying various shapes and sizes and colours, frowning at them all.

She then attempted wolf ears, immediately falling in love with them. They were incredibly strong, she could immediately hear so many sounds coming from the forest, and so amazingly soft. Just gently brushing them with her fingers made her eyes close and jaw drop involuntarily while her spine shivered at the amazing pleasure of just touching them. Nodding her head and firming her jaw, she started messing around with slight variations of shape, size, colour, angling, and everything, eventually settling them into place for the last time and twitching them from side to side, staring at them in the mirror with a grin on her face.

Briefly, she pondered the addition of a tail, and clamped down firmly on that idea immediately. Just ears was going to be unique enough, having a pair would cause so many more issues. Ears could be easily hidden in her hair, but a tail would mess with her clothing, and wouldn't really be hideable. It'd also make sitting down an absolute bitch. No, just having a pair of fluffy and luxuriously pleasurable wolf ears, reaching up to give them another brush, her lips curling up and her eyes closing at the sensation.

Maybe it wasn't a wise idea, and it'd out her in school as a cape for sure, but...well, she didn't really care too much if people knew who she was. They could try to kill her, but it wouldn't work. They might go after her mother, that'd be annoying, but...well, being brutally honest, she had no real care for the woman. Skye stayed out of her way, and their relationship was basically just living in the same shitty apartment. She would occasionally cook food, but their usual fare was the cheapest and shittiest takeaway that could be bought, since all the rest of the money her mother got her hands on went towards buying drugs.

Of course, not that she really cared even before what happened, since becoming a ward of the state or whatever if her mother wasn't fit to raise her didn't exactly sound peachy. She didn't mind the situation, she ate food, had clothes, slept in an actual bed, it all worked fine. Skye drew out her pistol and started shooting the trees, listening intently to each shot, and very quickly stipulated that her ears would only relay auditory information up to a certain range, as she drew out her shotgun and fired one shell which made her ears ring painfully.

Her regular ears were long-since used to hearing the gunshots, but having such an amplified sense of hearing was pretty detrimental. The next shots were fine, only at the level that she normally heard them. Even over the gunfire, she noted that she could still hear the sounds of other animals and things moving in the forest, so obviously her filtering idea was panning out. Rather than bring anything bigger out and potentially draw attention, she put her shotgun away and looked towards the mirror, having turned sideways on.

Skye let a frown tug on her lips as she slightly hiked up the shirt she was wearing to look at her back, tugging her shorts down just an inch. A tail would look nice, a thick, bushy, fluffy one she could wrap herself up in. After a few moments of staring, she threw her arms up in the air and willed a wolf tail into existence, immediately feeling the new appendage and raising it up for a moment. Frowning, she made it bushier and longer before she curled it around herself and knelt down, wrapping the tail around herself several times and covering herself in fluffy fur, her lips smiling widely as she shut her eyes and languished in the pure comfort of her own tail.

After a few moments of shifting, she unfurled her tail, frowning as she noted how long and bushy it was now, way too big to be even remotely considerable for keeping it like that all the time. As she shrank it back down, changing the colour and shifting the position to her actual tailbone instead of sticking straight out her back, she pondered what she was going to do. If she couldn't bundle herself up in her tail, then it was pointless to have it, even if it did look really nice and was still fluffy, pinned between her hands as she brushed it with her fingers.

Humming softly, she eventually settled on a rather lazy plan. When she wanted it longer and bushier, she'd just make it so. Maybe she could say that the ears and tail spontaneously appeared and she could control their length, appearance and relative strengths instinctively. She could make her hearing better for example, or in the case of her tail she could make it longer and bushier, as well as stronger to be able to grasp things. Maybe she could even use it to climb or to hang off of things upside down like a monkey. On second thoughts, maybe just bushier and long enough to cocoon her.

Speaking of cocoons, she lengthened and fluffed the tail, easily wrapping herself up in it before bringing the end beside her head and resting her head on it, the appendage being made plenty strong enough to support her head. Releasing a happy sigh, she sat there for a few minutes, indulging in the softness of the fur with a smile on her face., running her fingers slowly through the fur. It was like...like being wrapped up in a big fluffy blanket and being hugged at the same time.

And definitely worth the hassle of being outed as a cape.


After calling up Miss Militia to tell her that her powers had done something and she figured she should tell her, she found herself sat on the sofa waiting for the woman to show up.

She was a little busy when Skye called her, but said she'd be able to be round in a half-hour, since Skye really wanted to show her in person, mostly so she could make sure that she could control the information. Because the changes were so visible, it'd be best to inform the Protectorate so when she showed up at Winslow, she wouldn't freak them out. If she showed up at school and had her new appendages fully visible, there would definitely be an uproar.

While she waited, she practised controlling her tail, using it to pick stuff up, and finding that it was really useful for helping her to cook, as though she had an extra hand working away. The best part was that her tail and ears both didn't actually shed fur, even when she shook them vigorously, so no fur ended up in the food she was cooking, which was just a pack of sausages dumped into a frying pan with some oil, while she used her tail to mix another saucepan that contained half a can of beans.

Sure, she could just will a plate of cooked food into existence, but the act of cooking was something she really liked doing. Before everything, she had been making serious considerations towards trying to learn how to cook seriously and maybe starting up her own food stand somewhere. And hey, maybe she still could. Cooking was still really fun for her, even cooking something as basic as sausages and beans. Hearing a buzz, she used her tail to pick up the phone attached to the wall, holding it by her ear. "Hello?"

"It's me, Miss Militia." Humming, she nudged the button to buzz open the door, hanging the phone back up and giving both bits of food a few quick stirs before walking over to the door. Tucking her tail down along her leg inside of her jeans and folding her ears down to hide in her hair, she opened the door and listened as Miss Militia made her way up the steps of the apartment block, walking along and reaching the door. "So, what's this about your powers doing something?"

Letting the woman inside the apartment, she shut the door and darted back to her food to mix it, Miss Militia following her. "Right, so, I went for a nap after getting back, and when I woke up, well...-" She glanced at the woman, then unfolded her ears from her hair, twitching them on top of her head. "-these were there." Miss Militia blinked, leaning in and looking more closely at her ears, making her unconsciously twitch them. "And...that's not all..."

Shifting her tail up, she brought it out from her jeans, flicking it in the air a few times before drawing it in and wrapping the end around her neck like a furry scarf "That's...definitely unique." The woman said slowly, looking from her ears to her tail a few times. "And you say they appeared spontaneously?" Nodding, she shifted her tail to start mixing the pot of beans. "Certainly odd, but powers have been known to do stranger things. Though you might want to be careful about that fur getting into food."

Skye shook her head. "No, they don't shed. Watch." She released the wooden spoon and shifted her tail out behind her, flailing it up and down vigorously, showing that absolutely no fur fell, not a single strand. "They...aren't normal either. I can make my ears more sensitive, to the point that even distant and muffled background noises hurt. And my tail...changes as well." As she spoke, she lengthened her tail and made it far more bushy, letting it naturally drift from side to side languidly. "But I can't get rid of them, even when I will my tail to be as small as possible it just returns to the size it was at when you came in, and my ears don't change size at all, just sensitivity."

As she spoke, she curled the tail around herself a few times, wrapping up in the fur. "I was about to ask that. This pretty much ruins any chance for you acting anonymous, not unless you hid those parts inside of your clothing and hair as you did when I came in." Unrolling her tail, she shrank it back down to a normal size and started stirring the beans again, frowning and shaking her head. "Let me guess, really uncomfortable?"

She nodded at that. "Yeah, hiding them puts them under strain, I only did it here because I knew I'd only have to hold them there for a few seconds." Skye's ears flickered a few times as the oil in the frying pan started to spit, shaking the sausages around in it. "If I had to hide them for hours at a time...no, I wouldn't be able to do it, it would strain them way too much, and it'd be a constant distraction. Not exactly a good idea when trying to focus." Miss Militia nodded, cupping her chin as she leaned against the wall.

"Well, I can already tell you aren't comfortable with joining the Wards, and I am obligated to tell you that you would see protection from doing so, but you said yourself that you don't want to start being a hero. If you joined the Wards, it'd be expected of you to at least patrol, and forcing you into that..." The woman shook her head, the taser at her side shifting into a baton and then back again. "No, I think your best bet is to..." She trailed off, making Skye turn around and raise an eyebrow. "Sorry kid, I can't actually think of an easy solution for keeping you safe. Your tail and ears mark you out as an obvious cape, and even if you never display other powers, your enhanced senses will be obvious for anyone who bothers to note your reactions and your use of that tail."

Skye dropped her head slightly, humming. "Yeah, I figured as much. I was thinking of going back to Winslow and just playing things off. I could use a layered subdermal nanotube weave to protect me if someone tries to attack me, meaning I won't end up like Fleur from New Wave, and being ostracised is fine by me, I already don't have any friends there anyway. Maybe go back in a week, stay for a while and see how things pan out, then decide to either just test my way out or stay on depending on how it goes. I know if I tried I could definitely do it, but it's a source of normality, going to school. If I tested out, suddenly I'd have nothing to do nor focus on, except for how I need to suddenly live my life."

Miss Militia nodded along, her mask concealing most of her face and thus making it hard to tell what she was thinking. "I agree. Testing out of education often means large gaps in knowledge, gaps that could be something you would really enjoy. Take me for example, and I hope you'll keep this between us, but I tested out of school at a very young age to become a hero, and only a long while later did I realize how much I enjoy painting. If I'd stayed in school then I would have learnt about that outlet a long time ago." Skye hummed at that, turning her focus back to the food she was cooking.

"Yeah, I guess I can see that." Putting some of the food onto a plate, she turned and raised an eyebrow. "Would you like some? It's literally just sausages and beans with some mixed herbs, so probably not as fancy as you'd get from the Protectorate." The woman shook her head, gesturing at her bandana. It was understandable, she'd only known the woman for a few hours, and as for another thing, for all she knew it was poisoned in some way. Shrugging, she piled the rest of the food onto her plate and went over to the sofa, folding her legs up underneath herself and gesturing at the other chair.

Miss Militia took it, threading her fingers together and planting her chin on them. "When looking at the entire situation, I have to say there's no good way to protect you that would also let you stay in school. With your appendages being unhideable, even going to Arcadia wouldn't matter, people would see you coming and going, word would get out to the gangs of the city, and suddenly you're a target." Skye nodded along, eating and not interrupting as the woman's face took on a contemplative expression.

"Moving you wouldn't work either, you still have the same issue of being outed as a cape just for living. Going to the store or just taking a walk would be like me standing on top of a building and yelling that I'm a cape. Almost all heroes have a normal appearance, but with your appendages..." She shook her head, drawing an agreeing hum out of Skye. "Are you still wanting to go to school then?" Skye nodded hesitantly. "Then I think really, your best bet is to either join New Wave, or try to play your abilities off as weaker than they really are, to the point that nobody would actually be interested. Take Parian for instance. Her ability is weak and niche enough that the gangs simply leave her alone. If you play off your ability as just giving you animal appendages that slightly increase your sense of hearing, as well as making it clear you have no intention to be a hero, then the gangs should leave you alone."

Skye tilted her head to the side, her ears folding that way as she did so. "So basically, no using my actual abilities, not that I really would anyway, as well as toning down how strong my sense of hearing is with my ears to only a little above a normal human sense of hearing?" Miss Militia nodded, a smile obvious from the way her eyes crinkled. "That...sounds alright I guess. But I won't hide them, not at all, and if I have to, I can use my tail to do some things, so if someone tries to hurt me, I will defend myself, even if it means revealing that my tail is strong enough to act as a third arm."

As she spoke, she balled up the end of the appendage and mimed hitting someone with it. "That's fine, and as long as it isn't super-strong and able to knock people out with ease, that'll be more reasonable." Smiling, Skye finished the last bit of food and set the plate off to one side, wrapping herself up in her tail and leaving just her head exposed, resting her chin on the tip of her tail. "I presume this is what you mean by not hiding them then?" She said with an amused tone. Rolling her eyes, she extended the end of her tail out towards the woman, shaking it insistently and smirking as the woman finally relented and touched the fur. "Wow, that's...you know, if you were able to make your tail shed, you could actually convince Parian to work with you, I'm sure she'd adore to have fur of this softness and warmth available."

Skye withdrew her tail and rested her head against it again, rolling the idea over in her mind before she smiled. I think that'd be nice, the only problem is that I'm not exactly very fashionable. I mean, I'm literally just wearing a t-shirt and some jeans, not exactly fashion central over here." That prompted a snort from Miss Militia, her lips curling up into a wider smile as she burrowed into the fur of her tail and sighed. "But this, right here, is exactly why I'm happy not hiding my abilities. It's like...it feels like safety and comfort and warmth doing this." She said softly, tilting her head to the side and flicking her ears.

"It definitely looks like it." Miss Militia's amused voice retorted, making her peek one eye open and look at her. "Well, I think what I'll do is see if I can get a PRT squad assigned to watching over Winslow High School, both to keep an eye on our Ward, as well as keeping an eye on you. If anybody tries to get at you for your powers, they'll be there and ready to step in." Nodding, she used her tail to pick up her plate, lengthening it and putting it beside the sink, then retracting it and placing it in her lap. "That's also extremely useful, so if you can actually get Parian to work with you, she'd probably love the fact that you have an extendable appendage you can use to reach things out of reach." Skye grinned at the mental picture of retrieving a can of paint from a high shelf, leaning back and wrapping herself in tail fur again.

"I think I'd like that."


So...yeah.

Wolf ears and a wolf tail. Now, before you say anything, yes I know there is no precedent for a Metahuman with Changer traits, meaning animal appendages like that. But the very simple fact remains of me wanting Skye to have those appendages. Why? Like I said, because 'I' want her to. Does it make logical sense for her to do it, attracting attention for being different?

Fuck no. But the point still stands that I like them. This is what I was talking about with the AN at the start, the fact that I know at least a few people aren't going to be happy about me indulging a personal dream of mine using Skye. But hey, it's done, and if you don't like what I've done, all I can say is please don't be too angry at me when you decide to stop reading this story.

And please, reviews are really, seriously important, and I love each and every one. I might not respond to them all, mostly because many of them don't really call for a response and I feel weird messaging a review just to say thanks for the kind words, since I always feel like I need at least a paragraph before I send a PM. Another thing, please consider making an account before you review, especially if you have a question.

Guest reviews are really appreciated, but the problem is that sometimes people ask me questions with a guest account, and aside from putting in a dedicated answer in an AN, I don't have a way to respond. Making an account literally just needs an email address, and a username/password, as well as probably the ability to do a captcha test.

Well, this has dragged on long enough, see you all when I next upload (At the rate I'm going, probably tomorrow! Ha, suck it book-writers, I cranked out 50,000 words in 7 days!)...Wait...holy shit I actually did?!

...Meep.

Pat reon link is on my profile, as Fanfiction absolutely loathe links of any sort (Benefits include early access to chapters and access to patron-only Discord)