Hear. Feel. Think.

I woke to the smell of smoke. I'd been walking through a burning city, people screaming in terror as the sky rained destruction. Or had that been a dream?

What had I been doing?

I put a hand to my head and tried to stand up, ignoring how my fingers came away wet and sticky. A tremor went through the ground and I fell back onto my ass.

Where was I?

I forced myself back to my feet, stabilizing myself against the wall. There were fires here and there, spreading quickly, but nothing on the level of what I remembered of my dream. The sky was black with soot, but the street was deserted. Everyone had run. Except for me.

A roar rumbled from out of sight and I instinctively ducked as a hail of bricks went spinning through the air. They landed almost twenty feet from me, but I'd still frozen in that moment, sure that they would hit me. I forced myself to start breathing, to start moving. I didn't know where. Somewhere away from where the bricks had come from.

I ran. I ran harder than I could ever remember running. At some point, I saw people again. People whose houses hadn't been as close to what was happening and were only now figuring out that they needed to evacuate. Families spilled out of apartments and filled the streets.

And through it all I ran.

I was stopped when a huge, scaly body burst through a building in front of me. It rolled to a stop before standing up again, the metal scales shimmering red with the reflected radiance of the blaze building around it. A flash of light seared at the monster and it lifted its maw to the heavens to howl its defiance in response.

Lung.

Everyone who lived in Brockton Bay knew who he was. The Dragon of Kyushu - he'd taken over all of the minor Asian gangs in the Bay when he'd arrived and solidified them under a single banner. He'd fought off the entire Protectorate on his own. Everyone in Brockton Bay knew - When Lung went on a rampage, you got out of the way.

A scattered piece of rebar turned itself into a steel spear and launched itself into Lung's side. The dragon snarled and looked in my direction. A moment later, Lung hurled himself towards me and I bolted for an alleyway, barely skidding to a stop as Lung passed by to slam into a giant.

I had to get out of here. The alley I was in was a dead end. People were screaming, but there wasn't anywhere to go. In one direction lay the cape fight, and in the other was the inferno that Lung had left in his wake.

The giant stumbled and fell, her shield cleaving through a house across the street from me. She quickly stood however, slamming the shield into Lung's face and sending him rolling away. That didn't matter. More important to me was the gap left running through the building to the next street.

I would have to move past the fight to get there, and the building itself was on fire, but the path was clear and it was safer than staying here. I swallowed down my fear, waited for the giant to slam into another building, and then ran as though my life depended upon it. It took a bare few seconds to sprint across the street, but it felt like an eternity as I waited for anything to go wrong.

A moment later and I slipped through the small gap in the wall and headed for safety.

A scream for help stopped me.

I turned against my better judgement. There was someone there, pinned up against the wall of an apartment building. A blonde girl, with her leg trapped under a chunk of concrete. If I left now, if I ignored her, I could get to safety.

I didn't know who she was.

I had no reason to risk my life for her.

I bit down on my lip. I shouldn't need a reason.

I stepped back outside. Almost immediately, a car skimmed off the top of Lung and I barely managed to dive to the ground as it sailed over me and went rolling down the street. A second landed further away, and a ghost rose through a wall, passing by me as though I wasn't even there.

Don't freeze. I took a deep breath and scrambled to my feet, dashing to the girl's side. She looked up at me in surprise. "Who are you?"

"What?" Why did she care? I wedged my fingers under the rubble that had her pinned. I barely budged it an inch. My lack of exercise and noodle arms had resulted in a sudden, yet inevitable betrayal at the most crucial moment.

"I guess it doesn't matter. Lower your center of balance and use your legs instead, you won't get anywhere just trying to lift it with your arms."

I grit my teeth and followed the girl's instructions. I still didn't manage to lift the concrete very far, but it was enough for her to pull herself out from under it. I let it fall to the ground a moment later, sighing with relief.

"Hey, we're not out of this yet, and I'm not going to be able to walk on my own."

"I don't exactly think I can carry you."

"I can manage with one leg if you help me. Let's just get out of here before we end up crispy, alright?"

Her attempt at humor fell a bit flat on me. I ended up looping my arm around the girl's waist, letting her throw hers around my shoulders. Alright. The fighting had moved down the street, but there were still enough projectiles flying to be dangerous. Meanwhile, the route the giant had torn through the building was mostly on fire now. Unfortunately, it was still better than anywhere else. I took off as fast as I could get the girl to walk, which wasn't as fast as I would like. She hissed in pain with each step, but better that than the two of us dying.

Halfway, I forced her to the ground as a beam of light skipped off of Lung's scales and went right through where her head would have been. How had I known to do that? A moment later, I was pulling her back to her feet and hurrying her along again. I didn't have time to dwell on it.

"Fuck. How did Lung manage to tick the E88 off this badly?" She paused and tilted her head. "Oh good, at least Armsmaster is on his way. Hopefully the rest of the Protectorate is coming with him."

I blinked and looked at the girl, even as I helped her through the broken wall, the hole just wide enough to fit one of us at a time. "Armsmaster is here?"

"I can hear his bike. Come on, we're almost home free." She leant heavily on one of the damaged walls as she let out a hacking cough and ducked her head to put her mouth against her shirt in some small attempt to ward off the smoke before hobbling down along the edge of the burning hallway to the other end, not even glancing back at me. I stepped in to follow her, but went sprawling as the house collapsed. As if Fate had decided to spite her words, a dragon crashed between us.

What little of the ceiling was left broke as Lung got to his feet. He'd outgrown the house. He looked down at me and let out a low rumble. I realized a moment later it was meant to be laughter. "'ittle 'hite girl, trying 'oo 'ide?"

My stomach clenched. I was going to die.

The blonde girl was behind him. He hadn't seen her yet. I looked to her for any sort of help. She met my gaze for a brief moment, before closing her eyes and turning away. And then she was gone.

My breath caught and tears stung at my eyes. It had been the right decision. The smart decision. It still tasted of betrayal.

Lung took a step forward and I hastily took a step back. I needed to run. I had to get out. Had to get away. I glanced around me for anything I could use, but there were only ruins. My back hit the wall. There was nowhere left to go.

The Dragon laughed. Everything burned.

The blonde girl stumbled back when Lung landed, biting back a cry as she fell on her already broken leg. She looked up and met my gaze for a brief moment, before closing her eyes and turning away. She slipped through the gap left in the wall and left me behind, hobbling down the street.

I'd seen this. Was I dreaming now? People said that your life flashed before your eyes when you died. Is that what was happening?

The blonde girl was crying. She was swearing. She limped as fast as she could, but her leg was broken.

A man in white and gold armor flies overhead. The blonde girl screams to get his attention. He looks down towards her and then back towards the battle that was still raging just a street away. She yells again, pleads for him to come down, and he finally descends.

Closer, I can see the details of his armor. The golden helmet shaped to be reminiscent of a Greek Hoplite. The lance made of lightning and the small shield strapped to his arm. Dauntless.

The blonde girl blubbers. She talks about how her friend was trapped by Lung, points to where I was, but her words come out too fast, they trip over each other, and Dauntless is forced to ask her to take a deep breath and repeat herself. A moment later, he nods and soars towards the building I was in, his shield radiating light.

The blonde girl limps back in his wake, returning to where she had left me.

"-don't know when she'll wake up. The burn damage she took was extensive."

I felt something wrap around my hand, but it was a dull sensation. "I'm sorry."

( . . . . . )

I drew in a sharp, shuddering breath and opened my eyes. I couldn't feel much of anything. Judging by the amount of bandages on my body, that was either due to a great deal of pain killers or because my nerves had been burned out. Maybe both. My gaze wandered around the room, idly studying what few details were available.

Drab white paint. A television in the corner. No windows. A heart monitor and an IV drip next to her bed, the former beeping quietly.

Whoever it was that had apologized was gone.

In their place was a mousy brunette with a smattering of freckles across her face. I stared up at her, and she stared back clinically, as though examining a slab of meat. After a moment, she turned away. "I've done what I was able to. She didn't have much in the way of mass to pull on, so she'll likely have to spend a while building up her muscle groups again. The damage to her respiratory system is gone however, and she should be coherent enough to talk."

"Thank you for your assistance, Panacea."

"Sure. If we're done, I've still got more people to heal."

"That should be all."

The brunette left and a tall man in midnight-blue power armor stepped into her place. Armsmaster, I realized after a moment, the leader of the local Protectorate. He stared at me silently for a long, awkward moment, before saying, "Visual analysis suggests that you are Taylor Hebert. Can you confirm this?"

I… why was the Protectorate here? "I am."

"At approximately 1:32 PM on November 10th, you were involved in an altercation with the parahuman known as Lung. How much of this event do you recall?"

"I - Enough. I remember enough. I was trying to run away from the battle, but he - he found me and… How am I still alive?"

"You were observed projecting a force shield. While it failed to prevent the initial damage done to you, the barrier served to prevent any further damage until after the Protectorate had driven Lung away."

My mouth went dry. I opened my mouth to speak, but barely managed to croak out, "I'm a cape?"

"That is up to you. The presence of a parahuman ability does not mandate that you use it in an official capacity. That said, I would strongly encourage you to consider enrollment in the Wards in order to learn how to safely use your ability in a structured environment."

I bit down on my lip. I'd grown up wanting to be a Hero. Joining the Wards would give me that opportunity… But it also meant hanging out with other kids my age. I'd had more than enough of that at Winslow. Maybe if I'd been able to establish myself as an Independent Hero first, I'd be alright with it. At least that way, I'd be able to join as someone skilled and experienced. Someone useful. Instead I'd be the newbie, the burden that they would have to look out for.

I looked away from Armsmaster. "I'll need to talk to my Dad about it."

The Hero went still and didn't answer.

I looked back towards him, a creeping sense of dread crawling up my spine. "What aren't you saying?"

"We have been attempting to contact Daniel Hebert as your presumed next of kin since your injury two days ago."

It had already been two days?

"He has not returned to his work or your home during that time."

No…

"While we have not given up on searching for him, the current assumption is that he was among the casualties of the gang war and is either severely injured or deceased."

My world fell out from under me.