Danny was almost surprised to see Brockton Bay looking like nothing had ever happened. The "almost" because he had sort of expected that Taylor would have a hand in helping fix up whatever was destroyed. If anything, some of the areas that had been attacked looked better than they had before. Of course, that wasn't the only thing in the news.

The Espada had made waves online with their apparent role in keeping the damage to a minimum. None of the mainstream news stations were talking about it, but they'd apparently been the talk of pretty much every other site on the net since Nihilus and Rhapsody had made some posts on Parahumans Online. Lacey even showed him some of the discussions and he couldn't help but scoff at the idea of Taylor creating an army of zombies. She'd be hesitant to use something like that in general, let alone on Capes during an Endbringer attack.

It did make him chuckle, at least a bit, that Taylor herself hadn't physically commented on anything happening on PHO. It was always Nihilus saying that Sacrosanct said something was okay to reveal or not. Why she'd reveal they had Canary and Squealer with them was as much a mystery as to why they even went out of their way to add Squealer in the first place, though he had an idea she wasn't necessarily someone Taylor had picked to join. She'd always hated drugs as much as she feared them and with his slide into alcoholism he'd probably scared her off of that as well. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing if she didn't drink.

"We're here, Danny," Lacey said as they pulled into her driveway.

They hadn't packed much, just enough clothes to last a few days, so there wasn't much to take back inside. When they finished Danny stopped on the porch.

"You okay, Danny?" Kurt asked, grabbing his shoulder.

"I'm fine. I just… I think I want to take a walk for a bit. Clear my head," Danny said.

"You don't want one of us to come with you?" Kurt asked, looking his friend over to see if he could figure out if anything was wrong.

He'd been getting a lot of that from them since he'd started staying with them. Always looking into the deeper meanings or motivations of what he said. He hadn't realized that's what they were doing at first, but when he had it was stifling. He knew they were only doing it for his own good, to make sure he didn't relapse or do something he'd regret, but having them read into every little thing he said was overbearing at times.

"Yeah, just want to take some time alone."

"Alright," Kurt nodded, turning to head inside.

Danny started walking with no real goal in mind. It wasn't until he'd walked several blocks that he'd realized he felt safe actually wandering around the city. After everything that had happened recently it almost felt stupid to think, but the fact of the matter was that the gangs were pretty much entirely gone. The ABB had been taken out after their crazy Tinker had threatened to nuke basically all of New England, The Empire was beaten not too long after that, and he hadn't seen hide nor hair of the Merchants at work in weeks. The only groups still operating in the city that he knew of were the Protectorate themselves, Faultline, and Taylors group, none of which he'd call gangs.

Well, the former could be considered one depending on who you asked, but he wasn't of the mindset.

That brought him to the interesting conclusion that there were fewer big name Capes in the area now. Pretty much every major Cape name in Brockton Bay had been either killed or captured. That thought was… uncomfortable. It made him itch. Like he was going through withdrawal again.

Well, it wasn't that bad. Not nearly. But the feeling was similar. It irritated him to no end that there were less Capes in the city and he wasn't entirely sure why. He knew it had something to do with his powers but he had been putting off really dealing with them for as long as he could. But now he was sober, thinking straight, and he had an idea of what he could do. He knew, to some extent, that his power worked off other powers, but he wasn't exactly sure how. He'd never been around another Cape to figure it out exactly what would happen.

Grunting in frustration, Danny took a detour down a long alleyway. His new sense of safety in the city spurring him to go down a route he normally wouldn't have. The alley was long, but it cut the walk to his house by a few minutes. Why he was going home, he wasn't sure. He just… He felt like he had to. More than anything he felt like making sure the place was okay since Taylor wasn't living there anymore.

A cold hand brushed his face from behind and he shivered. He already knew what it was, but ignored it. For some reason it liked to mess with him. Why it seemed to have a mind of its own was beyond him. Maybe he was projecting things onto it, maybe it really was separate from him, he didn't really want to know.

Hands clamped down on his shoulder and he knew its mouth was less than an inch away from his face, like it was trying to breathe into his ear. He hated when it did this.

"Go away," He mumbled, stopping as it spun out in front of him.

It cocked its head to the side, a finger pressed to its chin in an inquisitive manner, an amused grin on its face. The bondage-esque blindfold made its eyes impossible to see, but he could tell they were curled in a smug way.

"Go away," He said again, more forcefully. It took some effort to force the apparition away but it did go. He found he made her— It appear when he was getting frustrated. Like the emotion made it easier to summon. Considering what he'd seen and heard of powers, the idea didn't seem far off, but it was a problem. He was an emotional man. His anger could be explosive and, while he wasn't quick to it, could be hard to control. He'd been working on that since Annette had died but…

He pushed the thoughts away as he finished the walk to his home. He was tired by the time he got there, though it wasn't like he lived too far from Kurt and Lacey. It was a bit farther than a comfortable walk but not so far you needed a car to travel between them in a timely manner. He was just out of shape.

"Should start working out soon," He mumbled to himself as he walked up the steps. He was about to grumble about his keys when he twisted the knob, the unlocked door immediately putting him on edge. He hesitated a moment, unsure if there was actually someone inside or if Taylor had forgotten to lock the door the last time she was here. She had that weird portal thing she did so it was possible she'd just not used the door in a while.

He took a breath to calm himself. There was no point in jumping to conclusions until he knew for sure, though that didn't stop the paranoia or it from appearing beside him. It still had that smug little look on its face, but he ignored it as he got ready to open the door. Then, an idea struck him.

"You go in," He ordered.

Sh— It cocked it's head to the side before smiling. It agreed with a short nod, opening the door and going inside.

While his projection was corporeal, it wasn't that strong. At least, it didn't seem to be. He hadn't tried to test the limits of it or anything but nothing it showed suggested it was more powerful than him. He just figured having it scout ahead would give him a better idea of what he'd be facing if there was actually anyone there.

"What the hell?" He asked as something washed over him. It felt like a pulse followed by… something. There was a new tug on his mind after the pulse. A tug similar to the one he'd come to associate with his regular summon.

His train of thought was cut by a shout.

"What the shit?!" A girl shouted from inside followed shortly by the sound of crashing.

He threw the door open and rushed inside to find a blonde girl on the floor, the recliner overturned, and his projections standing over her.

"Taylor!" She shouted, as she shot to her feet.

"Wait, there's only supposed to be one of these," Danny said as his mind caught up with what he was seeing.

The new summon was also a woman. She looked similar to the blonde that was in his house, though taller and thinner with hair to match. More horror monster thin. It had six eyes which made it look like a spider with the long, thin limbs. The outfit was just a simple black jumpsuit, although with with loosened straps here and there like it was meant to restrain her at some point.

"Dad…"

"Taylor," He said, eyes snapping over to her.

She looked… Better. Much less of the sadness he'd seen in her the last time they spoke. She stood awkwardly next to the blonde, who was staring at the projections, eyes flicking back to him every so often.

"You're looking better," She said.

"So are you," He offered awkwardly.

They were silent for a moment, Taylor apparently having as hard a time coming up with something to say as he was. Luckily the tension was cut with the blonde scoffing.

"I see where you get it," She rolled her eyes. "You two obviously need to talk. I'll go sit in your room, Tay."

"Yeah, alright," Taylor sighed, brushing a hand back through her hair, which he idly noticed had gotten longer. It was nearly elbow length now. The last he remembered it was barely past her shoulders. "So," she started, "That's new." She gestured over to the new projection, which was looking around the room while the original one had sat back in the now upright recliner.

"Yeah I… Is that girl a Cape?" He asked.

"Yeah. A power copying Trump, huh? That's pretty strong. You could be similar to Eidolon."

"I'm not sure I want that. How about we sit down?"

She nodded and followed him to the table and it took several seconds for either to speak again.

"Do you… Know what you want to do?" She asked.

"About the powers, you mean?" He asked. He knew this would come up eventually, but he hoped they could put it off for a while longer.

"Yeah."

"I've mostly been thinking about the Protectorate," He admitted. "I just… It sounds weird but I don't think it would be okay taking orders from my daughter."

She snorted, so similar to her mother, and shook her head.

"I get it," She giggled. "You don't want me to get payback for forcing me to bed."

"All children need proper bedtimes. It's not my fault you never knew when to stop reading," Danny replied, a small smile of his own.

She laughed a moment longer before it petered out and she looked down at the table.

"You know… You know that would essentially put us on opposite sides." The way her face fell at that, the idea of fighting him, made him sad. Even as terrible as he'd been as a father she still didn't like the idea of having to fight him. He could appreciate that she loved him that much, even if he sometimes felt he didn't deserve it.

"I… I don't want to fight you either… Especially not after the things I've heard you can do. But… I feel it would be the right choice for me. Especially with…"

"With your power," Taylor finished lowly, though not angrily. It was more like resignation. "I agree it's the better choice. I'm just… I considered joining the Wards at first but I think I'm too jaded for it. Especially from what I've heard of how restricted they are. I'm not gonna resent you for doing what you think is right, dad. Just… I ask you can offer me the same."

Danny's breath caught. The determined look in her eye reminded him so much of her mother. Too much. She was just… He felt guilty for missing out on so much of her life. It felt like it was too late to go back to how things were. She was too grown up now. She'd seen too much of the worst the world had to offer and now… Now he didn't have his little girl anymore. And that hurt to admit. That he'd help push her to this.

"I could never resent you, Taylor," He sighed. "And… I know you're trying to help in your own way. As bad as some people might think you to be, I know you a little too well for that. Even under all the cynicism you're still that little girl who wanted to help people."

She looked down at that, frowning, though he couldn't tell why.

"Taylor if there's anything—,"

"There is," She said, looking up at him. "I actually… I've been thinking about something the last couple days. I'm not really sure how to phrase it but I've got a choice to make that could potentially affect…" Her brow furrowed as she considered how to continue, "A large number of people. I'm not entirely sure I trust the people who made the offer, but I could still do a lot of good if I accept. The thing that's been bothering me is just… I feel like accepting would mean losing something down the line. I feel like I'll eventually be asked or made to lose another part of myself and I've already lost so much of it that sometimes I feel like I'm barely holding on to what's left and… And I don't want to sacrifice that last bit if I don't have to."

"Taylor…" Danny was on his feet and around the table in a moment, wrapping her in a tight hug. "I don't know exactly how large scale you mean or what you're getting involved with but I think you should trust yourself more than that." She shook in his embrace, though if it was a sob or a laugh he couldn't tell. "You don't have to sacrifice anything for anyone else if you don't want to. It's always your choice to make. Whatever it is… You can make stipulations if you feel you need to. It's always just a matter of sticking to them."

"I… You know what, thanks," She smiled. "That actually kinda helped."

"I may not have always been there for you, Taylor, but I'll try to be in the future. No matter what, you can always come talk to me."

She looked down again, then nodded.

"I appreciate you're making—,"

"Taylor!" The blonde shouted, basically stomping on the landing of the stairs. "We need to go! Emergency at the base!"

"What kind?!" She shot up from her seat, bringing Danny with her. He had to let go to avoid being tossed in the air.

"Trickster showed up making demands. I have no idea what's going on but we need to be there yesterday. Especially before he gets to Dinah."

"Shit… Alright, you go, I'll be there in a second."

"Right." The blonde cut a portal into the air just like Taylors and took off, the hole snapping shit moments later.

"Listen, dad, I really need to—,"

"I heard," He said. "You take care of your business, sweetheart. But don't forget what I told you."

"Thanks," She said, pulling him in for a quick hug and taking off.

He fell back into her chair as she left, a long sigh escaping him.

"I guess I should be heading back," He said to himself, staring up at the ceiling. He stood, dismissing the projections with an ease he hadn't before, and started back to his temporary home, making sure to lock the door behind him.

AN: I don't think this chapter turned out as good as it maybe could have been. I've rewritten chunks of it multiple times and this ended up being the best of those parts.