Putting her pencil down for the final time on top of the Biology test, Taylor relaxed. Her mood had gone back to fairly cheerful when the world didn't take a dump on her from a great height because of Dean Stansfield, although she still had concerns at the back of her mind which left a small, carnivorous part of her ready to do anything required to keep her father safe and proud of it. Other than that, things had gone well, even though she was certain she'd not done as well on the last test as she had hoped for. With any luck the other tests would make up for any low marks in this one.
"I'm finished, Mrs Adil."
Stopping the timer on her desk, the teacher rose, smiling.
"Well done. Half an hour ahead of schedule as well, that's impressive. OK, let's take a quick look." She retrieved the papers and started checking them, while Taylor went and got another bottle of water, sipping it slowly. She'd only taken one bathroom break after lunch, accompanied by the teacher who'd waited for her in the corridor, and was going to need another one soon.
A few minutes passed in silence only broken by the scratching sound of Mrs Adil's pen, before she nodded, satisfied, and stood. "Excellent. I had high hopes and you seem to have met them, dear." At Taylor's smile, she smiled back. Quickly putting all eleven test papers and their results into a folder she closed it and stood up. "Come with me, Taylor, please."
Picking up her bag she did as requested, accompanying the teacher as she headed back towards the Admin block. When they arrived there Meg was just going back into her room, stopping at the sound of footsteps and turning, before smiling broadly. "How did it go, Taylor?" she asked cheerfully.
"Well, I think, Meg," she replied, glancing at the teacher beside her who didn't say anything but nodded a little.
"Good, good, that's excellent news. I hope you enjoy yourself here at Arcadia." The secretary smiled again, looking genuinely happy, then vanished into her room.
Mrs Adil chuckled a little. "She's certainly a character, our Meg. But an extremely good secretary and a nice person." Opening the door that was marked 'Vice Principal Howell' she ushered Taylor inside, then followed her in. On the other side of the now closing door was a waiting room with half a dozen chairs in it, and two further doors, one of them open to show a late-thirties black woman typing away on a computer at a remarkable rate, the keys sounding like muted machine gun fire, something Taylor was now very familiar with. The other door was shut.
"Please wait here, Taylor. It won't be long."
Tapping on the closed door the teacher opened it and slipped inside, without waiting for an answer. There was a murmur of voices from the other side which Taylor deliberately didn't eavesdrop on, although it took an effort of will. She spent the time cataloging the various scents around the place, detecting that of the Stansfield boy to her amused interest. He had obviously been in this very chair more than once.
Less than five minutes later the door opened again, Mrs Adil coming out. "The vice principal is ready to see you, Taylor." She was no longer holding the folder of tests. Smiling gently at her, the teacher added, "You did very well, dear. Don't look so worried. Everything will work out, it usually does sooner or later."
With a quick grin of appreciative thanks, Taylor stood, brushed herself down quickly and adjusted her clothing, took a deep breath, then went inside the inner office.
"Take a seat, please, Miss Hebert," the rather competent appearing blonde woman sitting behind the large desk said, pointing to a chair in front of it without looking, while she finished reading what Taylor recognized as her Calculus test. She did so.
The hair color was about the only thing this woman had in common with her former principal and even there it looked a lot better. She studied the vice principal for a few seconds, seeing a fairly short but healthy looking woman at the upper end of her forties, or possibly a very well preserved fifty plus. Vice principal Howell had a face that she couldn't honestly call severe, it was actually rather attractive in an older woman manner, but it also gave the impression it could form some rather intimidating glares on demand.
At the moment it was in a neutral expression, although she smelled pleased. Finishing with the test she put it on the pile of other ones, tapped them neatly together, then put the stack to one side, pulling a green folder in front of her and flipping it open. She glanced at the top sheet, then looked up, studying Taylor with as much interest as the girl was watching her with.
"Well, Miss Hebert." She looked Taylor up and down, then smiled just a little bit. "I have to say I'm impressed. The records we got from Winslow didn't give me a particularly good opinion of your academic capabilities even though your Junior High results are excellent. Knowing Winslow, I can't say I'm entirely surprised." She sighed faintly, looking momentarily irritated. "However, these tests put you in the ninetieth percentile of students here in your peer group in most subjects for the most part, actually rather higher in mathematics, with a slightly drop for Biology and History. You could do to study more in those subjects."
Vastly relieved, Taylor let out a long silent sigh. The woman noticed, and smiled more widely. "Relax, Miss Hebert, you did exceptionally well. Especially under the circumstances. We're pleased to have you join us here at Arcadia. Based on these results I think we can slip you in to where you'd have been if you'd been attending us the whole time, although I suspect you'll have your work cut out for you for a few weeks to catch up in some subjects. I have no doubt you can succeed if you apply yourself."
"Thank you, Mrs Howell," Taylor said sincerely.
"You start on Monday. Be here half an hour early for your orientation pack, timetables, and other information you'll require." Leaning over her desk the vice principal held out her hand, which Taylor took and shook. The woman had a remarkably strong grip. "Welcome to Arcadia."
"I'm very pleased to be here," she replied both honestly and politely.
Sitting back in her leather chair, the smell of which you didn't need Varga senses to detect, the vice principal studied her again. "I know the bare minimum of what happened at Winslow, Miss Hebert, and while I have no idea about nor interest in learning the details, find the entire situation intolerable. You're best out of that place. Let me assure you that here at Arcadia, we take a very dim view of bullying in any form. I would be surprised and appalled if anything like that which happened to you there happened here, but let me make something clear. If it, for any reason, does, you inform a teacher immediately. There will be a leaflet in your orientation pack telling you the procedure for such a report. Follow it."
Taylor nodded.
"It's very unlikely that it will be needed, but if it is, steps will be taken to stop any untoward actions immediately. Punishments are… harsh." She looked harder at Taylor. "That should also tell you that we do not approve of retaliation. Bullies are punished, no matter who starts it, are we clear?"
"Yes, Mrs Howell. Very clear." Taylor nodded again, smiling this time. "Thank you."
"You're entirely welcome, Miss Hebert. That's all for today, you may go. I'm pleased to have met you. And I have high hopes for you. Don't disappoint me."
She closed the folder and put it with the test papers, then folded her hands on the desk.
Standing, Taylor picked up her bag and put one strap over her shoulder. "I'll do my best not to, Mrs Howell," she replied calmly and sincerely.
"That's all anyone can ask. Good afternoon, Miss Hebert." It was a polite dismissal, but a dismissal even so.
Finding herself walking through the corridors at the moment the final bell rang, Taylor was joined by a flood of relieved students heading for the exit. Outside, she looked around.
"Taylor!"
Glancing over her shoulder she saw Mandy heading towards her with Lucy, both other girls smiling. "How did it go?" the former asked as they reached her, all three stepping to the side to avoid the crush of teenagers.
"Well. Very well. Ninetieth percentile or above in everything but History and Biology, which didn't surprise me. I start on Monday."
Both girls grinned. "Great. It's going to be nice having another sane person around here. Most people are nuts but you look remarkably normal."
Laughing, Taylor shrugged. "Appearances can be deceiving. I might not be as normal as you think."
Mandy giggled, while Lucy smiled.
Hearing a familiar engine approaching through the traffic noise, Taylor glanced towards the road to see their car a few hundred yards away, moving slowly. Pointing, she said, "That's my dad. I have to go, but it was really nice meeting both of you. Lucky for me we bumped into each other so quickly, Mandy."
The older girl nodded, looking pleased. "I think we're going to be good friends, Taylor. See you on Monday."
With a wave Taylor headed for the car, which had pulled to the side of the road some distance away out of range of the enormous crowd of people milling about outside the school as they headed home. She could see her father in the driver's seat, watching her with a fond look, and grinned at him. He waved back, clearly happy.
When she was in the car with her seat belt done up, she turned to him. He looked back.
"Well?" he asked after a couple of seconds of silence.
She laughed for a moment. "Very well. Both how I feel and how it went. I start on Monday, at the point I would have been if I'd started the year here. Ninety percent or better on everything but Biology and History."
Her father sighed heavily. "The shame of it. My only daughter got less than ninety percent on a test. No, two tests. The shame!"
He grinned when she rolled her eyes at his over-dramatic voice. "I'm incredibly pleased for you, Taylor. I was sure you'd do well."
Starting the car he indicated, then pulled out, driving around the block and heading back towards the Downtown area. "Pizza? Chinese? Thai? Or something else."
"Thai, I think," she said after thinking it over. "We haven't had that for months and I love it. I could just go for a beef panang."
"Good choice." They sat in companionable silence as he drove.
Watching the girl get into the car, Dean twitched when Vicky prodded him, rather too hard. "Come on, we'll be late if we don't go now," she complained. Beside her, Amy looked at him, then at the vanishing car, then back to him, a small frown furrowing the skin between her eyes. She didn't say anything and looked away when he glanced at her.
"OK, Vicky, I'm coming. I'll meet you guys later, OK?" he said, turning to Dennis and Chris who were listening, the red head with a small grin on his face as per usual practice. He really was irrepressible.
"Sure, Dean. Hey, Vicky, leave some jewelry for the other hot girls, will you?" Dennis joked, making Vicky give him a supercilious glare.
"As if any other hot girl would deign to lower herself to talk to the likes of you," she sniffed, flipping her hair with a hand in a gesture of dismissal. His grin widened.
"We all love you too, Vicky," he chuckled. She giggled, looking much less stuck up, then waved as she led Dean away to his car. He didn't have much choice at that point, he was going with her one way or another.
Walking beside his girlfriend his thoughts whirled. What did he do? He accidentally found out the identity of another cape, he was absolutely certain that somehow that brunette and Saurial were the same person, which sort of proved she was a Changer as well as all the other things.
He'd never seen her before today, she was obviously new, although she seemed to be getting on with Mandy Jacobson and Lucy Cheung pretty well. He'd noticed them talking and laughing together, and people-watching, getting the impression that the latter two were filling the girl in on the goings-on of the school. Presumably she was a transfer from somewhere, starting in the middle of the year.
He guessed that she was probably about fifteen, heading quickly to sixteen, slightly younger than the other two even though she was considerably taller than either of them. Not as tall as Saurial, but probably eye level with him, possibly a little more. She was going to be exceptional when she grew up if he was any judge of a female body, which he prided himself on being. Not overdeveloped up top, but with the lithe build of a swimmer that with the right makeup and clothes could easily head into model territory.
From the way she walked, gracefully and purposefully, she was also strong, extremely well balanced, and probably proficient in a fight. His assessment was based on seeing quite a few women with such skills in the PRT gyms. She walked a lot like Miss Militia did although she was taller and skinnier.
All in all, he didn't think she was someone to cross, even without the parahuman part of it. The real problem was that he was totally sure that somehow, he had no idea how, she knew he knew and was not at all pleased about it. Her eyes had looked briefly like those of a gunfighter just about to draw. Very cold and calculating. Or a cat about to pounce, possibly. Dean shivered a little.
He resolved to be very careful indeed with the new girl. But he still didn't know what to do.
"Antonia checked the paperwork very carefully and said it was fine," Danny said as he nibbled a prawn cracker, Taylor looking up from the menu to meet his eyes. "She was actually surprised how simple the terms were. They didn't even mention the recording. All we have to do is give up the right to sue the school at any point in the future for matters arising from… How did they put it, 'severe personality clashes accidentally leading to personal injury'…," this made both of them smile, "and essentially promise not to spread the story around. In return they pay us the six hundred and fifty thousand."
He chuckled for a moment as Taylor's eyes widened again at the figure. She still couldn't believe it. "They dressed it up in a lot of legalese but that's what it boils down to. The entire letter would have fitted on one page in plain language. They even worked it so that most of the payment is for physical injury and somehow got a medical opinion backing that up, which drastically reduced the tax loss. Antonia said to sign it, take the money, and run."
Laughing, Taylor felt both relieved and amused. "They really want me gone, don't they?"
"Ohhh, so very much, yes," he snickered. "Me too I think. I'm pretty sure the physical injury idea was something to do with Alan, for some reason. Some time in the future I think I should invite him over and thank him for that."
He looked at her with a questioning expression. After thinking it over, she nodded, a little reluctantly. "If you want to, Dad. Don't expect me to be more than polite, but he's your friend. I don't mind. It's not really him who's to blame for all this."
"That reminds me, what the devil did you say to him when he came over that time, dear? He looked… a little nervous."
She smiled slightly darkly, then repeated the conversation she'd had on the doorstep with Mr Barnes. Danny looked at her for a long time when she finished, then sighed.
"Annette would have been proud. I think it's just a little harsh but I can't disagree." He reached out and put his hand on hers for a moment, then went back to finishing off the prawn crackers.
"I signed the documents and took them to Winslow school board's lawyer's office on my way over. They've promised that the payment will be transferred into our bank account over the weekend, the funds will have cleared by lunchtime on Monday. So don't feel you have to skimp on ordering, I'm not going to." He grinned. "After all, it's on you."
"Thanks, Dad," she smiled. "Go ahead."
Shortly the waiter came over and took their order, both of them getting both starters and main courses, along with a number of side dishes. By the time the meal was over they felt pleasantly full. Leaning back in his chair sipping a glass of cold coke, Danny looked around.
"We should come here more often," he said. "Your mother liked this place and so did I. We can afford it now."
"I'd like that," she replied. Looking at the dessert menu, she motioned to the waiter, who was hovering nearby. He arrived and took her order, a slice of chocolate cake, then vanished again. Once she'd finished it when it turned up a few minutes later, they paid and left.
"What are your plans over the weekend, dear? You don't have to study frantically any more, so you can relax." He glanced at her as she strode along beside him. "Are you going to go out and play?" His mouth was in a small amused grin.
Glancing up at him, she grinned right back. "I may well do, yes. I need some more exercise after all. Last time was fun but I only saw six new playmates and they stopped wanting to play surprisingly quickly when I entered the game."
Snickering, he shook his head. "That footage looked like something out of Predator vs Alien, dear. Horrifying and funny at the same time. Have you sent it to David yet?"
"I put it on a DVD and dropped it in the post yesterday," she confirmed. "I need to look into a secure email method. I was going to just email it until I suddenly thought how easy it would be to track that, so I didn't."
They were speaking in fairly low voices, not wanting to let passers-by hear them, but none of the people on the street seemed the slightest bit interested anyway, rushing hither and yon engaged in their own business.
"What about fingerprints if you want to get that paranoid," he asked with a smile.
"Scales don't have any," she grinned.
"Ah. Good point, well made." Danny looked impressed.
Nearly back to the car, she looked around, then turned to him. "I think I'm going to make my own way home, Dad, if you don't mind. I could do with a run."
He stopped and inspected her, then nodded. "Be careful and call if you're going to be out too late, please."
She hugged him. "I will do. Thanks for everything, Dad."
Mussing her hair he grinned, then turned around and resumed walking towards the car park. Taylor watched him for a short distance before looking about herself, spotting a service alley on the next block. Walking towards it she checked for cameras, both with normal vision, thermal vision, and the electricity viewing sense she had, then ducked into it casually as she walked past, no one seeming to notice.
As soon as she was certain there was no one else present she cloaked, took on the lizard girl form, and scuttled up the wall to the roof of the nearest building, not intending to be seen too near the alley just in case.
Five minutes later and a mile and a half away, in the commercial district, Saurial wandered along the sidewalk minding her own business, people staring and taking photos and video with their phones.
Hearing the bell on the door ring, Aziz looked up from his magazine ready to serve the next customer. He froze, staring, as the giant lizard in armor browsed the shelves, humming to itself in a contented tone. After a moment he decided it was probably female. She poked around for a while, disappearing down one aisle of the small shop, then reappeared at the other end of it.
"Hey, where do you keep the eggs, please?" she called out, glancing at him, her wraparound sunglasses glinting in the overhead lights. Several seconds later his hand rose and a finger pointed. "Oh, thanks, I see them. I was wondering why I couldn't smell them." She went over to the sealed glass cabinet in the refrigerated goods section and pulled the door open, removing a carton of half a dozen eggs.
Coming back towards him, she stopped to pick up a couple of packs of beef jerky, then a bottle of Sprite, putting everything on the counter. Numbly he rang up the total, his hands moving without conscious input. "Six ninety three, please?" he said through a slightly choked throat, then coughed a little as his voice rose to a squeak on the last word.
Pulling a ten dollar bill from a pouch on the belt that was part of her armored skirt, she handed it to him with what looked like it was meant to be a smile. "Thanks. Keep the change."
The lizard girl picked up her goods and headed for the door, pulling it open and leaving with another tinkle of the bell. Without moving anything but his head, he followed her with his eyes through the window as she crossed the street, opening the box of eggs and neatly flipping one into her mouth using her left hand, before disappearing around the corner. Several people outside were staring as well. She seemed quite unconcerned about it.
Eventually, he looked down at the cash he was still holding, then sat down on the stool behind the counter with a bemused expression.
Sitting on the corner of a tall building in the middle of the commercial district, Taylor kicked her feet, a hundred feet of air between them and the sidewalk. She felt no fear of heights at all any more, idly peering down and wondering if she'd actually crack the concrete if she dropped from this height, or just bounce. The Varga assured her she'd be uninjured in either case and she believed him.
Finishing the box of eggs she crumpled the carton into a small ball of cardboard then tucked it neatly away in a belt pouch, before picking her half-empty bottle of Sprite off the ledge next to her and taking a drink from it. The view from up here was amazing. It was more amazing that in her full Varga mode she'd be towering two and a half times higher at least. That was eye-level with the top of the Medhall tower, the tallest building in the city.
A sudden urge to try it seized her and she had some difficulty suppressing it. She was going to have to test that form at some point if she could think of somewhere to do it that wouldn't cause a panic from the vast footprints she was sure to leave. Remembering the Godzilla movie she'd suggested to her father as an indicator of just how enormous the Varga was, she giggled at the idea of Armsmaster finding her footprint by falling into it and having to get a ladder to get out. The concept struck her as extremely funny for some reason.
Turning slightly, she shaded her eyes with her hand, peering into the dusk at the ship graveyard, miles away. The sun was just vanishing below the horizon and the streets below were dark except for artificial illumination, although her own eyes saw everything as brightly as daylight even so. "I wonder if I could shift some of those old ships and unblock the port," she mused out loud to the Varga, the idea suddenly striking her. "That huge one across the entrance is the real problem but it must weigh tens of thousands of tons. That's why no one has ever tried to get rid of it, it was too expensive."
"Using the blast voice would remove it easily, Brain," her companion chuckled. "Along with everything else in range. But it would also be… quite spectacular. I don't think people would miss it."
After a moment, he added, "We could go for a swim and have a look how many ships there are. The smaller ones are easy to just move either to the shore or deeper water, and even the larger ones shouldn't present too much problem. We could tow them out of the way."
"Hmm," she hmmed. Taylor knew the Varga was immune to extremes of heat and cold, as was she now to at least some extent, and was as at home in the water as it was on land, if not more so. That said she hadn't yet tried swimming since she'd received her tail. She suddenly wondered how much of a problem it was going to be in human form since it would probably get in the way of kicking legs. After a moment, she dismissed the issue as something to think about when it became important.
"May as well head in that direction, I guess," she commented. "Make a big loop through the docks, see if anyone needs dealing with, then go home."
Hopping to her feet she retrieved her now empty drink bottle, walking along the ledge over the hundred foot drop around two sides of the building until she reached the side above the back of it. Looking down she could see an open dumpster, tiny in the distance. She held the bottle out, then dropped it, watching with satisfaction as it landed directly into the container.
"Bullseye," she smiled.
"Who the hell are you?" a female voice from behind her demanded abruptly, "Or what?" She spun around on one foot, surprised. There had been no sound to betray the presence of someone else and the light breeze was blowing directly towards the person in question so she hadn't smelled them. Floating above the middle of the roof was the figure of Glory Girl, her arms crossed over her chest and her gaze fixed on Taylor. She looked mildly irritated and very suspicious.
"Oh, hello, Glory Girl," Taylor replied after her initial surprise. "I'm Saurial. I'm new. How are you?"
The girl looked at her through narrowed eyes, tilting her head a little. Taylor did the same, smiling. "Hero or Villain?" she asked. "You look like a Villain to me, with those colors and all the teeth."
Somewhat irritated, Taylor exposed those teeth in something that wasn't a smile any more. The glowing blonde flinched despite herself, which amused her. "Hero, thanks very much," she growled. "Just ask the BBPD, I helped them out only three days ago."
Glory Girl dismissed this with a flick of her fingers. "Police. What do they know? They can't hold onto anyone I catch for more than a few days."
"That's sort of… rude," Taylor commented, frowning. It really was in her opinion. So far all the police she'd met personally had been polite and seemed to know what they were doing.
The blonde looked insulted, but didn't press the question. "I still think you look suspicious," she said. "What are you doing up here in the first place?"
"Enjoying the view and having a snack, actually," Taylor sighed. For some reason the blonde was being very aggressive, which she found both inexplicable and annoying. "Assuming it's any business of yours."
Floating closer, Glory Girl stared at her from only feet away. She had to float with her feet over eight inches from the ground to meet Taylor's eyes.
"I don't think I like you," the blonde said.
"I have no idea why, we don't know each other at all," Taylor shrugged. "You're being very pushy. Did you have a fight with your boyfriend or something?"
Glory Girl flushed, then looked more irritated. Reaching out she poked Taylor in the middle of the chest, hard, her fingernail tapping on her breastplate.
"Watch it you overgrown newt," she growled.
"I'm more of a lizard than a newt," Taylor commented lightly, determined not to let the aggressive cape ruin her good mood any more than she had to. "And isn't that a bit… I don't know… speciesist?"
"There's no such word," Glory Girl replied, poking again.
"Sure there is."
"No, there isn't." The next poke was hard enough to make her need to brace herself with her tail, which was beginning to become irritating. Taylor grabbed the other woman's wrist with a lightning fast motion of her right hand, holding it still.
"Please stop doing that, it's annoying," she said evenly. Stepping down off the parapet around the roof she pushed the other girl in front of her. "I was just standing here minding my own business when you had to come over and get in my face for some reason. Please go away." She released the blonde with a push that send her several feet backwards.
Looking a weird mix between angry and surprised, the floating cape stared at her, then floated closer again. "I'm keeping my eye on you," she said in a low voice, before turning around and rocketing upwards and away.
Sighing, with a shake of her head, Taylor watched her go, suppressing a momentary jealousy of her flight power. She had more than enough powers of her own, there was no need to be greedy.
Although she really wanted to be able to fly.
"That was weird," she muttered to the Varga. There was the mental impression of a nod.
"She does seem somewhat bellicose, Brain," he agreed. "Although that fits what we've learned about her. I have the impression she was looking for a fight."
"Well, I don't want to give her one unless I need to," Taylor sighed. Shaking her head a little sadly at how much some people probably needed a fist in the face just to make the point, she dived over the side of the building and headed for the ground, clinging head down to the brickwork with ease. "I think you're right, let's go and have a swim."