Chapter 20: Tangled Webs

Taylor

School was almost pleasant with The Trio gone; I was able to get work done and on time, nobody hassling me, getting plenty of peace and quiet in my hidden corners of the school during lunch, none of my work being stolen or destroyed, and I was able to actually catch the bus on time. If this keeps up I may just smile at school for once.

For once I was even getting psyched for the weekend; John was going to help me work out, my swarm at home was getting big enough to start work on my costume, and if I was really lucky Dad would be home and I we can actually have dinner together. Of course I was still waiting for the rug to be pulled from under me if I was being honest. All these good things happening all at once, could only really mean big trouble down the line. Let's face it, my string of good luck will probably run out soon. Best to enjoy it while it lasts though.

As I walked down the street to my house, I noticed Dad's beat up truck in the driveway and wondered to myself why he was home so early. I slowed down as I got closer to the house, wracking my brain trying to figure out if Dad said he'd be home early or something. I was wondering if he found my spiders in the basement, or if something came up at work, or something worse.

"Hey Dad, you're home early. Again." I greeted as I walked in. He didn't answer.

When I got inside I found him sitting at the kitchen table deep in thought, his chin resting on his bruised fists.

"What happened to your hands?"

Dad didnt seem to notice, he just kept staring off into space.

"Dad?"

He snapped out of his thoughts and gave me a strange look, like he wasn't sure how to react.

"Hey kiddo…" he seemed to notice the state of his hands and then my concern "Hurt 'em on something stupid."

Dad got up and walked over to the couch, waving me over to sit down next to him.

"Your Aunt Zoe had called me while I was at work. She sounded pretty upset and wanted someone to talk to. I managed to get some jobs for most of the crew and was planning on leaving early again anyway. She told me that she was divorcing Alan."

That was not at all what I expected, Emma's parents barely fought, what could have made them divorce?

"Shock to me too, hun. I had to confront him."

Dad leaned forward and started wringing his hands, rubbing his thumbs over his bruises.

"I found him at some dive bar downtown, he had been there for a while. I asked him for his side of the story. I figured he'd say 'she's lying, it's all fake, it's not that bad' something like that. Some sort of deflection. Nope."

He shook his head and started staring at the carpet

"I dunno if it was him drinking or if it was the shock of Zoe saying she was going to divorce him, but he just confessed. Told me 'everything that she said is true' all the while crying his eyes out. He kept trying to apologize. He did something that no parent should do; he failed to protect his daughter, and when she needed him most he chose to act as if nothing was wrong."

He looked over to me, a lot of regret in his eyes. "Emma and her father were attacked two years ago. They were able to get out fine physically, but Emma was changed by it. Somebody had sent Zoe and Anne E-Mails with all of the stuff Emma had been doing for the last couple years."

"All of it?" I already knew the answer.

"Yeah. All of it." Despite my emotions still being in the throne, I felt tears forming in my eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were barely holding on, you didn't need me being a burden…"

"Taylor. I'm your father god dammit!" He was starting to tear up too "I'm supposed to be there for you-"

Whatever he was about to say was caught in his throat.

"But I wasn't." he said slowly. "Fuck."

He was going to start blaming himself!

"It's not your fault." I said, my emotions coming back from the swarm.

"Yes it is. Instead of actually being there for you I tried to distract myself with work or rationalize away anything that should have been a red flag and you got hurt because of it!"

Dad hugged me tight, crying.

"I'm sorry."

We sat on the couch for a long while after that. Trying to get past blaming ourselves and actually talking about the situation. By the time we calmed down the sun had gone down.

"So what's going to happen now?" I asked, wondering who could have sent Aunt Zoe those E-Mails that got us here.

"Emma isn't going to be a problem for you, and I doubt her new friends will be either. She's in juvenile detention right now. For now? I'm feeling pizza and we haven't had a movie night in a while. Mystery Men ok?"

I couldn't help but chuckle "Sure. I'll get the tv you call Vincenzo's?"

"Sounds like a plan." He said with a soft smile before heading off to the kitchen to order.

I got up a little after, to turn on the TV and make sure the VCR was still plugged in. The thing on whatever channel Dad left it on last made me stop and stare. On the screen with an extremely nervous expression as he gesticulated wildly was John, being interviewed by a news crew.

"Coming up at eight! A local Brockton Bay teen fended off an attack from Empire 88 thugs with nothing but a tire thumper. Our exclusive interview with him coming up."

I felt a smile form that I couldn't quite get rid of.

Yup. He's definitely a Parahuman.