AN: Two for two. It's time to p-p-p-p-poooooooost!

AtW: Deep thanks to Ruby Boule for giving us our second commissioned chapter. Hopefully we can continue to provide satisfactory work and one day become full time authors.

CW: And then we can devote all of our time to entertaining you people! As always, make sure to check out our Subscribestar under the name Scrimshaw, where you too can purchase your own pink-colored Taylor!

Now then, onto the reading!

Commission! - Ruby Boule - Smorgasbord

Taylor sat on the edge of a small warehouse, legs swinging lazily as she took in the mostly barren docks. The night had barely started and she was already stuck waiting around for something interesting to happen.

How come the one night she decided to start her career as a hero, Brockton Bay decided it wanted to be a safe, law abiding city?

Where was the gang violence?!

The criminal underbelly?!

She hadn't even seen a purse snatcher yet!

GROOOOOOOWL

'And now I'm hungry.' She rubbed her stomach, annoyed.

Then again, she was always hungry these days. Ever since coming out of the locker, there was not a moment where Taylor wasn't hungry or craving something to eat, stomach constantly rumbling as it demanded to be filled. Taylor was sure she would have already put on a hundred pounds by now if it weren't for the unique… perks of her condition.

Perks which she couldn't use because nothing was happening!

And she had gone through all the trouble of putting together her junior superhero kit too.

Complete with nondescript hoodie and dollar store mask. It wasn't like she had access to materials or cool Tinker powers. So she had to make do with what she could buy or find. Which… admittedly… wasn't much.

'So long as it covers me up, it's fine.' She'd told herself.

There was just no way she was gonna go out heroing without a way to preserve her secret identity.

Well that and… wait a second!

Taking a deep whiff, the lanky girl's nose wrinkled at the bitter smell.

Was that smoke?

Pulling herself to her feet, Taylor felt a thrill of excitement crawl up her spine.

Because where there was smoke, there was fire. And fire in Brockton Bay could mean anything of half a dozen different kinds of crime. From arson to a plain old fire, or even a fight between the gangs. Which meant it was finally go time!

Climbing down a ladder, the rookie hero crept along the alleyways, nose guiding her as she walked towards the stink of smoke as it got stronger. There was little doubt that had someone seen her right then and there, they might have mistaken her for some kind of crook trying to sneak into a store.

Her costume was that simple.

What she would have given for a map, or a power that let her find people. Without it, she was stuck trying to find the smell of smoke, getting lost and trying to find where it was coming from.

GROOOOOOWL

'Oh, will you shut up already!' She pressed a hand against her belly, looking around as she desperately searched for something, anything she could snack on and stop that pain from driving her insane.

Opening her mouth, she took a deep breath.

Well, that was an understatement.

Because her mouth didn't truly open and wider than it already did - which was wider than she would have preferred - but, somehow, there was a freakin' black hole where her uvula used to be or something. Air violently disappeared down her gullet, physics taking a back seat as the vacuum suction powered weapons platform that had become her body tore apart and sucked down an entire rusted out truck piece by piece.

Plus the cinder blocks it was on.

And the fence behind it.

And more than a little cement.

Chewing, she swallowed down the last of her appetizer. Actually feeling not starving for a change, Taylor did just eat an entire truck, the heroine hopeful decided to head towards the smoke. Worst case scenario there'd be another fire to eat, best case scenario she could help someone with something that wasn't life threatening.

So, jogging, which she had actually gotten pretty good at, the pink tinged teenager made good time clearing the intervening salvage yards. However, she really wasn't prepared for what she came up again. Though, to be perfectly fair, what fifteen year old was expecting to run into a flaming dragon man punching giant monster dogs in the snoz, while a team of super villains ran for their very lives.

'Is that… Lung? Wait, wait, wait. If that's Lung, then that means those are the Undersiders.'

In the back of her mind she knew she was panicking. Knew she was definitely losing control of her emotional state. And as she stood there, arguments and counter arguments raced through her mind.

Further deliberations were forestalled.

Lung brought his foot down on a dog's head, all swift, savage, brutality and the giant pup went limp with a pitiful whine. It was telling that she could hear it from all the way where she was and, feeling her heart hurt at an animal being so sorely abused, that act decided what she was going to do.

Now, the problem with crossing large distances quickly was that Taylor wasn't really a Mover, so she had to cheat. In fact, her powers didn't really improve her physicality in any way on their own.

'Well, except for one really big thing that explains why I'm about to charge the not so friendly neighborhood dragon.'

Opening her mouth, she blew out with everything she had.

For most people, that was enough to knock out a candle or pull off a party trick.

For her, a literal blast of air flew out of her mouth with enough force to launch her into the sky. It took a couple of seconds to adjust her arc, but - and she had practiced this a few times - with several thousand cubic feet of atmosphere leaving her mouth in a couple of seconds she was able to get very, very, very high.

Wind rushing past her face, definitely sucking down as much air as she could, Taylor guessed when she was over her target. And then she puked.

Thankfully it was far less unpleasant than for normal people, but it still felt weird as - only slightly digested - car parts rocketed out of her with the force of a machine gun. Adjusting for the air displacement she was causing, there was no kickback on the machine gun Taylor Hebert, her shots tracked across the ground around Lung before peppering him.

Turning skyward, roaring, breathing a gout of flame, Taylor figured he was about twelve feet tall at this point.

'Hopefully this doesn't kill him.'

And then she sent the engine block flying.

Launched at the highest velocity she could manage, the utterly absurd chunk of heavy freakin' metal rocketed down straight at the dragon's head. And, even from her altitude, she could see his eyes widen.

In a way it was comedic when the metal struck him, compressing his skull and spine down into his torso. She wanted to laugh. What kept the humor at bay was the utter brutality such an attack would have inflicted on a normal human. Lung was a big boy, a very high level Brute. Exhaling downwards, keeping her lips tight together and focusing a stream of air into a tight circle, she hit the ground and came up more than a little worried about what she might have accidentally done.

"Holy shit."

A young man dressed in a renaissance fair costume stuck his head out from around a shipping container.

"Did you guys see that!?"

The rest of the group was much warier, especially the guy in a biker helmet and black leather.

Potential sources of easy jokes aside, she checked her target. Finding him alive and out cold, she relaxed somewhat, turning to the other people she just saved.

"High. Uh. What's up?"

"That was freaking amazing! Can you do that again? Maybe pop his head like a grape this time?"

Suddenly rushing over to her, the excitable cape was waving around a scepter and laughing.

"What's your name? What are your powers? Fuck!"

Utterly, totally overwhelmed, she fumbled for words. So, perhaps, she could be forgiven for turning to the stocky girl kneeling next to the downed monster… lizard… dog… thing.

"Is, uh, is your dog okay?"

A blonde girl in a rather tight purple jumpsuit snickered while Renaissance Man slumped. However, somehow, that got the really big guy to relax and the girl wearing the plastic dog mask actually gave her a small nod. The monster dog somewhat melted, like a kinder egg she supposed, if a bit messier, and revealed an unharmed pup within. She, the dog, gave a little bark and licked her master's hand while a few more large monster animals wandered over too. One of them actually walked over to her and gave her a few sniffs.

"Hey there big guy." She held out her hand, palm up, and giggled when he licked her. This gave the others a moment to gather in a rough semi circle.

"So." The tall, scary guy spoke. His voice was as strong as she expected from a guy wearing a skull mask. "You never answered our questions. Do you have a name?"

"Really?" Taylor could feel the other girl rolling her eyes. "She's wearing a mask that cost two bucks and a hoodie. What about this screams anything other than 'I saw smoke so I came to put out the fire'?"

That was when Lung chose to groan, beginning to stir awake.

"Oh. You guys should go. It was, uh, nice meeting you?"

"Well. Crap. You can restrain him?" The blonde's eyes widened. "You really can. Okay then." She smirked. "You're out to be a hero, right? I'll call the PRT for you and, when you realize the white hats aren't all they're cut out to be, I know where to find you."

And just like that they were gone, rushing off into the night on the back of the two remaining massive mutant hounds, leaving Taylor to stare at the slowly waking up Lung.

Sighing in exasperation, she opened her mouth.

Armsmaster

Colin was not one easily given to the rush of adrenaline that came with their occupation. More often than not, he was the one keeping his wits as fire rained from the sky and the earth split underneath his feet. Distractions were dangerous. Being distracted meant you could not give your all.

Distractions could kill.

However, even Colin couldn't help but feel a thrill of… something when he'd received word that Lung was seen at the docks.

How could he not?

Lung was the most dangerous individual in Brockton Bay. The one who once single handedly fought against the entire local protectorate, the one who could match the full might of the Empire on a bad day or the dragon.

And he was seen rampaging through an area full of combustibles and priceless infrastructure.

Taking a sharp turn, Armsmaster felt his heart hammer against his chest.

This was his chance. A golden opportunity the likes which might never present itself again.

Who else could manage to neutralize the Dragon of Kyushu than the man who dedicated every waking moment of their days to figuring out every counter to every facet of his powers? Yet he was never given the chance to seek out the gang lord.

Never allowed to show what he was really made of.

But tonight was different.

Tonight he was going to show the Director, no, the world, that he was more than just a sideshow attraction. The gatekeeper of the big leagues. Always under the shadow of the Greats.

Just another hero.

Never the Hero.

Unsheathing his halberd, he revved his bike's engine. The metal and composite gave a dull roar as he leaned forward. Armor and machine and man were in sync, his readouts green and his grip strong. Dodging and weaving through debris and around small obstacles, he twisted around a final corner, weapon ready, eyes scanning for a threat… and saw a girl.

Skidding to a sudden halt, he barely managed to stop before slamming into the girl and came up short. He was actually somewhat impressed with the fact she didn't even flinch.

And then he noticed she'd actually gone totally still and her… pink skin?

"Miss? Are you alright?"

She swallowed.

"I-I-I." Taking a deep breath, the young woman's color darkened a bit, her skin actually flushing to a bright, almost bubblegum pink skin - along her cheeks at least.

He realized too late that it was her equivalent of green.

Doubling over, the strange girl wretched.

This time it was his turn to blanch when she vomited up Lung of all people.

"Oof. He tasted disgusting. Kinda like rotting meat smells with a dash of gorge and a bit of week old poutine. I guess not everything tastes good after all. Anyways. Well, as you can see, I, uh, dealt with Lung?"

"I see." Colin's mind was racing, rushing from one conclusion to another. Eventually, since this cape seemed somewhat friendly, he decided on a simple course of action. "Hero, villain, or rogue?"

Her eyes went wide.

That was a good sign.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, of course this looks… crazy… to you. Yeah, um, hero! Definitely hero. At least, I really, really hope? I kinda might've accidentally saved some villains. But Lung was kicking a dog, so I had to do something."

Right now he was still desperately trying to process information. Because what he was hearing was utterly, totally absurd. Still, his helmet suites were telling him she was telling the truth. More or less. There was a two point four seven percent margin of error, consistent with her either being very excited or holding back something she deemed unimportant.

Calling his situation in with sub vocalizations, he kept his focus on the new cape. This girl was clearly powerful and that warranted priority over the quite thoroughly defeated, and nude, Lung. Who was currently lying in a very uncomfortable, and rather embarrassing, position on the ground. He imagined a picture of this event would soon make its way onto PHO no matter what Dragon might attempt to do.

"Just so you know ma'am, I would like to make a recording of this conversation, do I have your permission?"

Waffling, the girl cringed slightly, tugging her hoody further down.

"With all do respect Mr. Armsmaster - Armsmaster? How do I-"

"Just Armsmaster is fine." Clearly this girl was even greener than he thought. But she couldn't possibly….

"Well, am I in trouble? I just… why do you need to record me, this, whatever this is."

Lung groaned, shifting slightly. He lowered his halberd, fired a tranquilizer into the man, and returned it to rest in the time it took her to react to the groan. She also didn't even seem to really understand what had happened, blinking in confusion for a moment before, very suddenly, looking a bit scared.

His estimation of her rawness ratcheted up a notch. Either she was a Stranger, possible, but unlikely, or this was her first fight. Which seemed even more improbable. He simply nodded.

"No ma'am. However, you have apprehended a very dangerous villain, appear to be a minor, and have expressed a desire to be a hero. Aside from that fact, I'd like to get a statement on record as soon as possible to avoid any further confusion."

"Oh. That's fine then. Yes, you have my permission to record this conversation."

Colin appreciated the directness.

And apparent lack of ego.

Because most teenagers, cape or otherwise, he met with tended to be far more recalcitrant. Some actively seemed to take pleasure in tweaking his nose, the rest simply lacked the proper focus. Vista was one of the few exceptions and she was still a bit too young to step up into the Protectorate proper. Privately, he was sure she'd do extremely well.

"This is Armsmaster conducting an on site interview regarding the capture of Lung by unknown parahuman - provisional code name…."

She flushed again.

"I haven't thought of one yet."

"Pinky." He nodded. She shrugged, accepting the boring, if accurate, descriptor. "Official name will be pending at a later date."

It went quickly from there. Pinky was extremely cooperative, only holding back when it came to the identity of the individuals she helped escape. But, based on the mention of a dog that somehow survived an attack from Lung and their recent attack on the Ruby Dreams Casino, he was able to swiftly surmise that it was the Undersiders. An acceptable failure to capture them. She had lost the element of surprise taking down Lung, they numbered four, including two Masters and a Thinker and a Trump, and she was very, very new.

In fact, when the girl began explaining how she took down the man in question, he was already assigning her Striker, Mover, Shaker, Trump, and Blaster ratings.

And they were not low either.

Even more disconcertingly he had a strong feeling that her ratings had the potential to very, very rapidly climb with more experience and training. Or even just a tactical analysis.

Still, there was only one final test he needed to apply. And while his social algorithms said he might be applying a bit too much pressure he deemed it a worthwhile gamble. After all, she'd taken down the leader of the ABB on, seemingly, her first night out. That spoke to luck of the most patently absurd kind or an unknown Thinker power guiding her towards confrontation. Either way it would be a dereliction of his responsibility both as a hero and as an adult if he simply let her go home tonight.

"Miss, before going home tonight, would you be willing to come to the Protectorate building with me?"

That got another awkward shuffle from her. Clearly a subconscious attempt at pulling back.

"You know, Dad always said I shouldn't go places with strange men I don't know."

He inclined his head.

"I am both a public figure and a hero. If you'd like I can contact the BBPD and have them escort you there."

"Ah, I was trying to… make a joke." Colin quirked his lips, an amused grin sliding into place. It worked. "You son of a - gun! You were teasing me. Screw it, I'm in gramps. Do you want me to carry him or do we just strap him to the side of your ride?"

Proper protocol would have been to call for a recovery team and wait for their arrival.

Colin wanted more data on her power. Plus his algorithm spit out a joke that, probably, wouldn't fall flat.

"Lung's a tough guy."

She grinned back at him, her slightly too wide mouth opening even wider.

Taylor

It took a few minutes for the pink to fade from Taylor's skin.

It always took a while when she ate big stuff like cars and giant monsters. Though it had probably something to do with this being the first time she'd swallowed an entire dragon twice in a row. Even if he was just a man, or, at least, mostly a man both times.

'Lung really does get scary pretty fast.'

She sighed, pulling her hoody back to look at her arms in the moonlight, the splotches of pink slowly fading away.

'Such a cool power, but why does it have to make me pink?'

Taylor could eat anything, no matter the shape or size, but the more she did it, the more her color changed.

Swallowing Lung had made her go neon-barbie pink in front of Armsmaster.

'I'm never gonna live that down.'

Skulking about the neighborhood as she made her way back home, the rookie heroine made sure to keep herself hidden under her hoodie, there wasn't much a cheap dollar store mask could do when her skin was still light pink. And if someone saw her go home like that… well… there was a reason capes liked to keep secret identities.

'Also, holy crap, I did knock out Lung. Is this… gonna have consequences? Did I somehow fuck up? Also, also, even if it doesn't, doesn't that mean he'll either bust out or go to jail?'

Slightly freaking out, the youngest Hebert had to sit on her back porch, simply staring up at the stars until her heart stopped pounding. Because the truth was that she really didn't know what she'd done tonight. Her body had moved without thinking, acting on instinct and cobbling together a plan, on the fly, from quirks she'd picked up while practicing. There hadn't really been a point in time where she stopped and thought about her next move. Or even that she'd thought about who she was fighting or why.

'When that dog's bones snapped….' That had been the moment when the decision was made. 'But I also helped a bunch of villains get away. Was that right? They didn't seem particularly awful and I don't think they were much older than me.' She hugged her legs close. "At least Armsmaster was nice. Though I don't think those troopers knew what to make of me spitting up Lung."

Reaching into her hoodie's main pocket, she pulled out several envelopes of paperwork.

Opening up the first one, her eyes almost glazed over as she skimmed the introduction to the Wards program and the Protectorate in general.

Because none of that mattered.

The trust fund and benefits and protection, none of that was important. Not if she wanted to be a Hero. And that was the bitch of it. Did she really have the spine to make that choice and stick to it? To truly commit to try and make the world a better place when she'd spend the last eighteen months pretending to have all the will of a dead lemming? Could she even manage to help someone else when she'd failed time and time again to help herself?

'And Dad too.'

He tried.

She knew that much from how he hid the beer cans, at least. But as she looked at the garbage can she could see a few sticking out. Half crumpled, drained dry, and still slightly smelling of alcohol.

In a lot of ways Taylor was thankful her father was strong enough to try and fake things.

To try and fake sobriety.

To try and fake being there.

But he wasn't very good at it.

Sometimes, deep down, she hated him. Other times she knew exactly how he felt. But most of the time she just hated herself. Hated that she couldn't help him or, as she pressed the lid down and forced the cans out of sight, at the very least, that there wasn't a way she could become the kind of person that he could depend on.

"Isn't the opposite true too? I have powers, strong ones too. Can I really justify not doing what I can? I want to be a hero but I have this awful feeling that tonight went too well. Like the other shoe needs to drop."

That blonde girl's words came back to her, the absolute confidence she'd had when she'd spoken reminding her that Taylor had always ended up fumbling.

Because, for the last eighteen months, she had not been in the loop. And now it felt almost like Like she was being led in a direction she didn't want to be. Lied to and forgotten by people she thought she could trust. It was why she didn't stick around for long, because it was all going well.

Nothing good ever happened without a string attached.

Moving carefully through the kitchen, Taylor kept from turning on the lights. She didn't need them to see the small plate left behind on the table, wrapped in tinfoil. By now it must have gone cold.

Just like the pit that was steadily growing in her stomach as she moved to the living room.

'There you are.' Her eyes stung, seeing a familiar short, unassuming man laid out across the couch, the glint of a can sticking out from where he'd tried to hide it this time. For some reason he'd slept next to the house phone, one hand half reaching for it.

Had he noticed she left earlier?

For a moment she was tempted to wake him up and ask.

That would have been the right thing to do. The good and heroic choice to make.

Instead, she covered him up with a blanket. Jaw set stiffly as she kept from making a single noise, even as she beat a quick retreat.

'Coward.' She told herself.

As always, she was too much of a coward to say anything. And she still had the gall to go out and pretend to be a hero. Here was someone trying, actually trying, for her sake. And she left him to pass out alone at home without ever knowing if she made it back.

Taylor walked back to her room, bundling her hoodie and mask as she carefully closed the door to her room before dumping them under her bed.

It was fine. She was good at hiding things too.

Fortunately for Taylor, her skin had already reverted to its usual tone, the last of the pink fading away as she laid down to rest. She might as well get as much sleep as she could before it was time to leave for school. Not that it would make any difference. These days, she was barely scraping by.

Why bother putting the effort, when it was just gonna get ruined?

Being a hero. Maybe she could do that.

She had the power for it. Maybe she could pretend she was brave every night, get a few people out of trouble. Or she could fail at it. Failure was a familiar sensation. But she decided she should still try.

Maybe she would be good at it?

'I'll give it a couple days. Get in contact with Armsmaster again.' She enjoyed walking around late at night. People didn't mess with you when you looked like a cape. Or got caught eating wrecked boats. Hopefully the PRT wouldn't hold it against her when they found out.

Taylor still wanted more experience.

To see what else Brockton Bay's nightlife had to offer.

Maybe next time she would run into that blonde girl again, or another big bad like Lung. Or maybe she'd meet one of the good guys. Get an autograph for her collection.

GROOOOOOWL

Ah, she was hungry again.

'Pity I didn't bring dinner with me. It would have been a lot for Dad to make it.' Her stomach rumbled. "And I am pretty hungry." But that would pass soon enough.

Sleep found her despite her empty stomach and full heart, dreams of maybes and could-bes and might-bes and who-knews powerful and potent and real. Taylor dreamed of her mother and her father, both whole, she dreamed of what might have been if Emma hadn't broken. And in the end she dreamed of once more being a hero. Soaring through the sky on wings of wind and hidden fire.

But those were just dreams.

As was natural when one is thinking too much and sleeping too little, she woke up all too soon.

Rubbing at her face, she noticed her skin still had the slightest hue to it. Enough to just begin to hint at who she was, yet mild enough it'd easily pass for just being flushed. But that mattered far, far less in the face of the fact she was fifteen minutes late and hadn't showered the night before. Thankfully last night's dinner, chicken tortellini, was just as delicious cold.

And thus it was a squeaky clean teenager, wearing her usual brown hoodie, that realized she'd missed her bus. And her dad was already at work. And she didn't have enough time to walk to school. ...And she was kind of hungry again.

"Fffffuck." She swore, low, under her breath. "This is not a good first day." Taylor took a deep breath. "Okay. Powers got me into this. Powers can get me out. Or… I could just skip a day?" What vestigial fringe of pride she had left twinged. "But I'm supposed to be a hero. Fuck. Okay. You know what? Let's do this!"

Another deep breath and she was flying, book bag secured firmly with duct tape and a prayer to not miss on her tongue.

Fortunately, none of the neighbors seemed to be up and about. Aside from a few people she thought might've glimpsed her in the distance, no one even reacted when she rocketed out of her backyard and hit ten thousand feet on her standing free jump.

That was… definitely too high.

'I can see my house from here.' As well as everyone else's too, for the matter.

She really needed to get a handle on how much is too much. It was just way too easy to overeat these days. Even if she was a growing girl.

And it was through a choked laugh that she took another deep breath, wind coalescing into a funnel down her throat, before turning around and lightly blowing. Just enough to slow down her fall while pushing her steadily towards Winslow's general direction.

Even if the impact wouldn't kill her, it would still hurt like a bitch, and probably ruin a good deal of public property.

Not that it would keep her from doing it again.

Flying was a liberating experience.

Floating, breathing in and out, pushing out blasts of air to keep her roughly steady, so far away and so above all her worries and problems. Everything looked small when you were this high up. It was too bad she had to go back sooner or later. Back to the daily annoyances of the Trio. Back to her regret and guilt and secrets. The Bay looked better like this.

Almost peaceful.

'Too early for any of the worst elements to be up and about.' She twisted mid air, another mouthful of wind blown downwards as she glided like a bird. Arms spread as she circled over the school building.

Which was fine. Everyone was already inside.

And even if they looked up, she was a brown speck in the sky. In a port city. With giant freakin' sea birds. Which did bring up a strange thing to be thankful for - that of no longer having to worry about bodily functions. Because, aside from the occasional burp, she hadn't actually had to deal with the consequences of eating several hundred times her body weight in, more or less, everything. In fact, as she was falling, she reflected on the fact that even her muffin top was gone.

'Now if only I could get my mouth to be a bit perkier and - wait. No way. That's… absurd. Impossible. NO!'

Because below her. moving from rooftop to rooftop, in bursts of shadow, was a girl she recognized very, very well.

Taylor saw red.