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A Worm Fanfic
The Taste of Peaches
By: Grounders10
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14
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"EMMA YOU COMPLETE AND TOTAL IDIOT! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED!" Sophia stared wide-eyed and with ringing ears at Taylor as the foxgirl heaved with heavy breaths. The soft tinkle of falling glass, from the visible shattered windows, was impossible to hear through the ringing of her ears. "WELL?!" the heroine demanded as she shook Emma who seemed frozen, "What were you thinking?! Were you even thinking? Is there anything functioning in that brain of yours?! You nearly got eaten, you empty-headed idiot!"
Sophia did nothing as she watched Taylor start to lift Emma, only to promptly drop her with an angry growl. "And you nearly got Sophia killed as well! What the hell Emma?! Why are you-" Taylor turned away, stalking around the room as she ran her hands angrily through her hair. Her tails lashed about, sweeping a nearby side table clean.
Emma's legs crumpled beneath her and she sat kneeling on the ground, a tremble in her shoulders. "I-I'm sorry," she said, her voice nearly quiet enough to be lost beneath the angry growls of the nine-tailed girl. Taylor whirled to face her, lunging across the gap that had opened to grab her by the shoulders again.
"SORRY?! YOU'RE SORRY?!" Sophia rocked back on her heels as another explosion of volume set her ears ringing and what books were still on shelves tumbling. One of the bookshelves took that moment to tip forward and crash to the ground. "YOU ALMOST DIED!" Were those tears in Taylor's eyes? After the last year? What was with this girl? "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY IF YOU DID DIE? Why? Just- Why did you think following me through a hole in reality was a good idea? Why Emma?" Taylor sagged falling to her own knees in front of the other girl.
Sophia took a minuscule step back and shot a glance towards the door. Maybe she could slip out the side while everyone was- She caught the glance Glory Girl sent her way and the way she floated towards the door. That wasn't an option, so she turned her attention back to the drama that was happening in front of her.
"I'm sorry," Emma said again as tears fell in tracks down her face. She sobbed. "Stupid. So stupid. Sorry. Sorry. You-you-" She lurched forward and grabbed Taylor in a tight hug that left the foxgirl with the dumbest look of surprise Sophia had seen on her face since she met her. "Care- why do you-" Emma's face was buried in Taylor's neck as she rambled.
"Emma?" Taylor asked cautiously as she pulled the redhead off of her. "You aren't making sense."
Emma shook her head. She was swaying drunkenly in Taylor's grip. "Stupid. So stupid. I'm so… so stupid. Why do you still care? Why? Why? Wh-" Her head lolled forwards as she went limp in Taylor's grip.
"Emma? Emma?!" Taylor caught her with wide eyes, "Amy!" Panacea hurried over, kneeling beside Taylor. She reached out and touched Emma on her cheek.
Sophia stared. What the hell was that? She had thought there was something wrong, but that had all the signs of a complete breakdown. She took a step away. This was not what she had signed up for. She knew she shouldn't have come here, but this was- She went to take another step but her feet felt like they were frozen as she stared at Emma being cradled by Taylor.
"Dehydrated… blood pressure is through the roof… lack of sleep and her brain chemistry is nuts," Amy said, "I think she's having a complete breakdown. Not much I can do about that. Getting her some bedrest and water is about the only thing you can do."
"A breakdown?" Taylor repeated softly enough that Sophia had to strain to hear her over the ringing of her ears. "So, what, she's been having a mental breakdown all day then?"
"Given how weird she's been? I suppose. Not like I know her," Amy said with a shrug before standing. She unhooked the bag from her shoulder and stepped over to Sophia. "Here. This was yours."
Sophia took it with a mechanical nod. "Thanks," she said, her eyes still on Emma. Her heart stopped as Taylor's head snapped up to meet her gaze. The world seemed to fall away as her green eyes swallowed Sophia. She could practically see a corona of lightning and fire in the gaze of the foxgirl as their eyes met. The moment stretched on and she tried to look away, tried to say something, tried to- Tried to not meet the judgment that was nailing her feet to the ground.
"Earlier, you said you saved her," Taylor said, her tone frigid, "Between last year and this, does she look saved to you, Sophia?"
Unable to look away she blurted out, "If it wasn't for me the ABB would have kidnapped her! You don't know the shit they do to girls they take!"
"And that explains why she spent the last year tormenting me? That explains why she's having a full mental break right now? DO I LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT, SOPHIA?!" Lightning crackled down the lengths of Taylor's tails as her ears stood up on end. The walls rattled ominously as a stiff breeze swept the room. "What else happened?" She voice wasn't booming, but it rumbled like the storm shaking Sophia's entire body.
"I-" Sophia's eyes finally left Taylor's to stare down at Emma. What had happened? She had thought Emma was strong. A survivor like her who… Who… "She was freaking out afterwards. They'd cut her hair and she couldn't stop fixating on it. Kept crying too," she said, the words tumbling from her mouth without control, "So I- I told her she was a survivor. That the world is made of those who fight back and those who just give up. The strong and the weak and that she'd stood up and fought back and that made her strong. Like me. That- That…" Her eyes met Taylor's again and she shuddered as her words dried up.
To her surprise, Taylor's eyes closed and the girl let out a rumbling growl as the lightning died away. "Hair. I complimented her hair. Damnit," Taylor growled. Glory Girl knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Not your fault, Tay," the Heroine said softly and Taylor just shook her head.
Sophia took a step towards the door and stopped, surprised that her feet didn't feel like they were welded to the floor. Then she took another and tried to move quietly to the exit-
"Where are you going, Sophia?" She froze at the low rumble of Taylor's voice.
"I know when I'm not wanted," she said as she, slowly, turned back to face the renewed lightning that crackled around Taylor. The Dallon sisters shied away from her. The white fox had taken cover behind a pillow and was watching.
"So you're just going to run away? Flee like a little coward because she isn't what you thought? Such bravery. What. A. Hero. You are, Sophia," Taylor growled as she rose from the ground with Emma. Her words dripping with sarcasm and condescension that rankled Sohpia's pride, yet when she opened her mouth to refute, words failed to come.
Taylor carried Emma over to her bed and laid her down. "Take care of her," she said to Amy, who nodded, then she turned back to Sophia who hadn't dared to take a step towards the door. She couldn't, her feet had frozen again like there were nails through them.
"So she was scared, you comforted her. I accidentally insulted her," Taylor said, the lightning dimming as she walked around Sophia. The foxgirl's tails brushed across her legs with a static crackle that made her cringe. "What I'm not getting," Taylor grabbed her by the arm and spun her to face the angry foxgirl, "Is how that leads to the last year of bullshit!"
"I don't know! Alright! I don't know!" Sophia shouted back, "I just- She- She told me about you before you came over that first time. I said you sounded lame, pathetic. She said otherwise, then- Then she threw you out. Since you didn't even respond to my jabs I thought she just realized you sucked like I said." She met Taylor's gaze with quivering legs. There was something in those green eyes that terrified her like nothing before. Not even… not even him. Hell, at that moment she'd rather face down Lung than the girl standing before her.
She glanced Emma's way only for Taylor to say, "So all of last year was, what, Madison's idea? The flute? My homework, all those comments about my mother, everything was-"
"No!" There was a moment of silence before Sophia realized she'd been the one to yell. "No, it wasn't- Emma said that you were strong, that she just needed a chance to prove it. So she- I don't know I just- I told her to just make a clean break. So what if you sucked, she could cut you loose and go on her way and be stronger for it."
"Except that the one time I did stand up you nearly broke my nose," Taylor replied, her eyes glaring a hole straight into her soul.
"Seriously?" She heard Glory Girl mutter.
"You stood up to me! I have a reputation to… maintain…" She said, trailing off as Taylor loomed over her.
"Oh yes, a reputation," it was amazing how much disgust was in the other girl's voice, "A reputation as a two-bit thug."
"I'm not a thug!" she protested. She wasn't! She was a hero. She had saved people, taken the fight to the villains, even broken up a few gang operations. She was a-
"Not a thug?" Taylor leaned in close, her breath was warm and carried a hint of salt water as it washed over Sophia's face. This close she could swear she saw storm clouds swirling behind her green irises. Little sparks of light, which may have just been reflections, but which also bore a disturbing resemblance to lightning, danced in her eyes. Had she been more rational at that moment she may have wondered about whether she was being mastered. "Stop lying, Sophia. You aren't a hero."
"Yes I am!" God, did her voice just crack when she shouted that?
An animalistic smile played across Taylor's face and the larger girl grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her to face Emma who was lying unconscious on the bed. "Really?" the foxgirl breathed into her ear as the Ward leaned in close enough to be mistaken for a friendly embrace. "The person who you tried to help is lying here, more broken than before and you just tried to run away, oh great hero. Such a heroic action, don't you agree Vicky?"
"Tay, now hang on-" Glory Girl started from out of sight, but Sophia barely heard her as she stared at the disheveled redhead lying on the bed. Her hair was a rats nest filled with dust and bits of stone, except for a small portion on one side that was pulled back with that stupid comb from the brothel.
"Now, as I understand it," Taylor continued her tone every bit as biting as Sophia had ever heard from Emma, "You think your responsibility ends the moment you spout a little bit of five-cent philosophy? That tormenting others for your own personal satisfaction is the noble thing to do? That it's a good thing to just walk out on a friend when they need you?" She leaned so close to Sophia that she could feel the tip of her nose on her ear. "Those aren't the traits of a hero, Sophia. Those are the traits of a thug. A coward who only thinks of themselves."
"I saved her. From the Jaguars. I saved her there as well!" Sophia replied, her hands clutching the bag that she had taken from the parlor, "I didn't run!"
Taylor pulled back and stepped into view again with a curious expression. "But you tried to, the moment she snapped. Not so good with emotions, but so good with violence. You know what that says, right?"
"No. No. No." Sophia shook her head and took a step back. She wasn't a thug. She was a hero. She wasn't like-
"But you did stand your ground," Taylor continued, locking eyes with her again, those big green eyes that seemed to swirl with an endless storm, "So can you do it again? You patched her over, but now she's broken again. Will you stand, or will you run? Hero, or Thug, Sophia?"
Those last four words hammered into Sophia with the force of falling meteor and the world dropped out from under her. The walls crumbled, the floor buckled, and her stomach lurched as she dropped into a swirling green vortex of clouds.
She was a hero! She was! One girl, even Taylor, wasn't enough to disprove that!
The clouds parted to reveal a rolling montage from her life. It went by too quickly to pick things out, but she recognized a lot. Every moment she pushed someone around who hadn't done anything to deserve it. Taylor, that girl from the supermarket, that one girl who Madison thought looked like a pug, Aubrey from martial arts class, and on it went.
Okay, so she wasn't perfect. But she still fought the villains!
The storm shifted, closing in around her as it formed a scene. A man with a knife was threatening a woman to hand over her purse and she was giving it to him. Then it shifted to show a man getting beat up by three others in an alleyway. Then a girl being dragged off by a pair of ABB thugs. With each scene that flashed past, a fragment stayed behind. A section of rooftop, a piece of alleyway, a figure beneath a street lamp. And in the center of each section was that figure, a girl in makeshift armor wearing a mask and carrying a crossbow… walking away from the incident without another look.
The clouds rolled on as her heart clenched. Had she really looked away so many times? Had she just let them do their thing without doing something? But- Those people weren't fighting back, weren't trying to survive-
The clouds rolled back to the woman handing over her purse, slipping her phone up her sleeve. Spun around to show the man getting beaten up covering a small child. The men who were dragging the girl had blood running down their faces from scratches. Small things. Things she hadn't seen. Hadn't noticed.
Was she wrong about them? Had she- No.
The clouds swirled and parted again as she crashed down into a pool of water. She rolled over and shook her head as she pushed herself up. She couldn't be wrong about this. So she'd judged a few people wrong she wasn't-
The water was perfectly still and backed by a lidless green eye that gazed up through her reflection. Which wasn't hers. Looking back at her, mirroring her movements with perfect precision, was him. Dark messy hair, those bloodshot eyes and that sallow and pitted face.
"No! I'm not like him!" she shouted and punched the reflection of her mother's former boyfriend. She wasn't him! She didn't prey on people to fulfill some twisted desire just cause they couldn't fight back. She wasn't… wasn't…
She sobbed as the clouds descended to swirl around her once more. People, places, memories swirled around her, a twisted monument to her every mistake and bad choice. She pounded the reflection that refused to change no matter how many times she wiped it away. She wasn't him! She hadn't started doing the things he did. She fought the villains, she stopped them! She- She- She-
"I just wanted to be a hero," she whispered and with a jolt found herself staring Taylor in the eyes in her bedroom as though nothing had changed. "I just- I- I don't know…" The tears were beyond her control now and were rolling down her face as she cried. "When did I?" She asked Taylor or maybe the room. She couldn't tell anymore. Couldn't think of anything else except what she'd just seen. She sagged forward, not caring that she was going to slam face first into the ground, only to fall into a warm, if slightly muffling, set of arms.
They sank to the ground and she slowly looked up to find Taylor looking down on her with a curious expression of confusion on her face. "I'm… I'm sorry," she said softly, not knowing what else to say. Did she even mean it? Was she actually apologizing for what she'd done to Taylor? She couldn't tell anymore.
All she wanted was to be a hero.
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Taylor stared down at the unconscious form of Sophia Hess with her mind awhirl. She hadn't caught everything that Sophia had just experienced, but she had caught bits and pieces of images and the sound of falling water. She hadn't expected her questions to cause such a visceral reaction in the other girl that she literally collapsed after uttering an apology for… Well, clearly something she'd done. She couldn't tell if it had been directed to her specifically.
She felt tired after all of that like she'd just spent the last several hours running a marathon.
"Tay?" she jumped as Vicky spoke up from beside her. The blonde was kneeling by her side while Amy hovered across the room behind a fallen bookshelf.
"Hey," she replied. She wobbled as she turned to Vicky while still cradling Sophia in her arms.
"Woah, woah, easy," Vicky placed a hand on her shoulder, "Don't pass out on me. We don't need three people out cold."
"Sorry about that I don't… Oh god," her eyes widened as she took in the room. Her bookshelves had fallen over, scattering books every which way, and anything that hadn't been nailed to the floor or wall had joined them. It looked like a tornado had whipped its way through her room. A small one at any rate.
"Yeah. You, uh, lost a bit of control," Vicky said.
"We're probably going to have to figure out an explanation for the booming voice," Amy said from behind the bookshelf, "You know, the one that blew out the windows right at the start of this mess."
She… she had done that, hadn't she? Gone all 'Goddess of Storms' complete with booming voice. "I am going to be in so much trouble," she groaned. Not to mention she was going to have to explain this to her dad and since both Sophia and Emma were out cold that meant explaining… everything. Just the thought alone was enough to make her sag towards Vicky.
"Keep in mind how many times I've been grounded Tay. It happens," Vicky said with a shrug. The older girl threw an arm over her shoulder with a grin. "Don't worry too hard about it. You showed remarkable restraint in my opinion."
"Really? Look at my room?" Taylor groaned. This was going to take hours to fix and that didn't even include the windows. Where the hell were they going to get the money for- oh wait. Yeah, she was probably paying for those out of her own pocket.
"Amy hasn't had to reattach any limbs?" Vicky offered with a sheepish grin. Taylor stared.
"Vicky, have you ever-" She started to ask.
"I'm working on my own temper and my strength control," the other girl replied hurriedly with a fluorescent blush.
Taylor rubbed her forehead. She could feel a headache forming right above her eyes. "Inari, what was that I just did?" she asked the fox. She had clearly done something supernatural just now. The whole broken up slideshow made it
Said fox poked her head out from under the pillow she had been using as an improbably effective cover. "Define did because, from this direction you had a staring contest, she broke down and then passed out," Inari said, "I can think of at least ten different things that could be."
"I think- I don't know. I saw, glimpses of something. Images of people and places, and Sophia, and just… Yeah, I don't know," Taylor shook her head.
Inari let out an 'ah' sound and slipped out from under her pillow. "It sounds to me like you leveled some form of Divine Judgment or Revelation upon her."
"Divine what?" Amy deadpanned. Vicky shushed her and got a raised eyebrow in return.
"Which is weird, because none of your domains should have been applicable here," Inari continued as though she hadn't been interrupted. She walked over to Sophia and prodded her head with a paw. "It isn't the sort of thing that you can normally do unless you have an appropriate domain, or spend a bunch of time learning. What were the last words you said to her?"
"Um…" Taylor tried to recall, but honestly she was feeling so tired that trying to pull them up was like grasping at fog.
"She said, 'Hero or Thug, Sophia'," Vicky said, her ears twitching.
"She said she just wanted to be a hero," Taylor added. She brought a couple of tails over to help hold Sophia's head up. One of them took the bag, which clanked a little, and set it aside.
"Interesting. Hrm… Perhaps less judgment and more revelation then," Inari said, quirking her head in thought, "Or, potentially a judgment that she barely passed through some form of self-revelation? There's a reason this normally requires training. It's a wooly power at the best of times."
"Do the three of you even hear yourselves?" Amy asked in that same deadpan tone.
"I know. We're listening to the talking fox and hoping she's wrong about everything," Vicky said, "Right now, however, you basically mastered her into having a nervous breakdown."
"... I mean, maybe she was just that scared?" Taylor offered weakly, looking over at her friend. Her friend stared back with a bemused look.
"Tay, I was scared. You went full-on 'angry storm goddess' there for a bit," the other foxgirl said, "But somehow I don't think she passed out cause she was terrified of you. Still, it was quite the display."
"Ugh," Taylor groaned, rubbing her cheek with a hand, "That explains why I feel like I'm utterly exhausted and I've got a headache again. Amy, do you mind checking Sophia? Make sure she's not about to die on us?" The last thing she needed was to accidentally kill her. She, probably, didn't deserve that and Taylor really did not want the fallout from that.
"... I can do that," Amy said after a moment of looking at her carefully. She walked across the room and knelt down beside Taylor. She grabbed Sophia by the ankle, and promptly winced while pulling her hand away. "Ow."
"Ow?" Vicky echoed.
"Ow, my head. She's got something headache-inducing in her system. Probably that stupid wine I told her not to drink," Amy said as she massaged her forehead.
"She drank wine while through the portal?" Inari asked with a pointed look.
"Yes, she did," Amy said with a wince, "I was able to tell that she's tired and sore from the fight earlier. Again, can't really do much about a mental break, and what I could do for her," she jerked a finger towards Emma, "I can't do, for Stalker here. Not as long as she's got that wine in her system. Why is it everything you're involved in makes my power go weird, Taylor?"
"Because, Goddess," Inari deadpanned. All three of them gave her uncharitable looks. "What? Stop trying to know the unknowable and you'll get fewer headaches."
"... There is absolutely no reason I shouldn't be able to," Amy replied with a huff. Taylor shook her head.
"Whatever. Vicky, do you mind carrying Sophia over to the spare bedroom and putting her to bed? Its just two doors that way. I need a moment," Taylor asked, waving her free hand in the appropriate direction.
"Sure." Her fox-eared friend picked Sophia out of her lap and Taylor floated back to lean against her bed. She rested her head against the edge of the mattress and closed her eyes with a sigh. She felt tired and emotionally exhausted after everything. She still didn't understand how everything had gone so sideways, but whatever had happened in that alleyway had left Emma a mess. And then Sophia had fucked it up further trying to help. That girl needed therapy just as much as Emma apparently did. God did they ever.
At least she'd have a moment to-
"Oh, Mr. Hebert." Taylor's eyes snapped open to stare across the room and out the open door of her room. Visible below Vicky's floating legs was her father mirroring her posture sitting against the wall of the hallway with his lower face covered by his hand. She could make out the clear shimmering tracks of tears rolling down his face.
"Hello Vicky," he said with a half-choked voice, "Bedroom is over there. Put her in there." He gestured weakly with a free hand.
"Sure, Mr. Hebert," Vicky said, floating swiftly out of the way. Amy glanced from Taylor to her father then took a step back as though to put herself out of the line of fire.
Taylor waved a hand and smiled weakly. Her heart was hammering. How much of that had he heard? "Hey Dad," she said hesitantly.
"Hey Little Owl," he replied before leaning to the side and spying Amy, "Why don't you go and take something for that headache. Bathroom is down the hall."
"Thanks," Amy said, nodding his way as she hurried out of the room. Once she left Danny stood up and walked into the room. He closed the door. She winced at the click of the door. The floor creaked in the quiet room as he walked over to the bed.
"How much did you hear?" she asked.
He looked down at Emma, his jaw clenched. "I got here when Amy was examining Emma. I- I was going to come in when…" His fists clenched, "You and that girl-"
"Sophia," she provided.
"Yes, her. You started in on her about saving Emma and I- I listened. How did it come to this?" The last sentence was a whisper she suspected she wasn't supposed to hear. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from Emma's face. She heard the bones in his hand creak before he brought it up and down.
Her hand caught his wrist right before his fist impacted the nightstand. She let go immediately. "Sorry, I just- I thought-" she flushed. She had thought he was about to punch Emma. Her former friend wasn't even awake, but that wouldn't have been right either way, and would probably end her Dad's friendship with Alan.
"I couldn't… I want to hit… something," he dad growled, his face flushed beneath the tear stains as he looked down at the unconscious redhead. "How did- After everything… I don't get it. I need to talk to Alan. I need to- to- to-" He growled much like she had earlier and turned swiftly on his heel.
Taylor grabbed him by the shoulder. With her strength it was easy to bring him to a halt. "No, don't. You'll punch him," she said, floating out in front of him.
"They bullied you, Taylor," her father said, his face falling, "She was- The two of you were like sisters. You did everything together and after one incident you had no involvement in she goes and spends a year-"
"And Alan probably knows nothing!" Taylor interrupted, "Think Dad! What would he and Aunt Zoe do if they found out something like this was happening? After everything, do you really think they'd let it continue? Do you?" Her father stared over her shoulder, his expression shifting between anger and something far too depressingly familiar to her, self-hatred.
That wouldn't do. She wasn't going to let him slide back into his shell right now. She grabbed him and pulled him into the strongest hug she dared to give him, complete with all of her tails. "This isn't worth that, dad. Please, don't go and do something you'll regret. Please? For me?" And for him.
He hugged her back and they stayed there, one of them basically hanging off the other through the simple power of levitation, for a good several minutes. "Alright," her father said, his voice choked, "But we still need to talk to him."
"I'll talk to him and Aunt Zoe," She said before kissing him on the cheek and pulling back, "You go and sit downstairs in the kitchen with a beer. Once I'm done talking to them you and Alan can talk about how you've both had a really bad year. Or two. Alright?" Maybe, just maybe, she could keep this whole thing from exploding into something front page worthy? Right?
She so didn't want to try and figure out how to deal with the PR from her dad killing his best friend in front of a dozen other people.
He nodded and stared at her with the most curious expression. "What?" she asked after an awkward moment. He chuckled.
"Nothing, it's just… I swear half the reason Alan and I have remained friends this long was because of your mother giving advice like that," he said before pulling her into another hug, "You remind me of her more every day, you know that, Little Owl?"
"I do?" She whispered, her heart clenching in her chest as she rested in his arms.
"You do. I'll… As your father, I should go and talk with Alan," he said softly into her ear, "I know you're trying to save my friendship with him. This… I can't just foist it off on you. You might remind me of her, but you aren't your mother. This is something that I have to do." He kissed her on the cheek.
"... You're still missing most of what happened today," she pointed out as she blushed. He paused.
"Together?" he suggested.
"One of us has to keep you from punching him," she said dryly, watching his face closely. The red flush was still there, diminished, but there so he was still angry. Probably angry enough to punch a divorce lawyer right in front of his own colleague. Oh god, what were they going to say to Mrs. Dallon?
She buried her face in her tail, to her father's bemused look. Oh, she was going to be in so much trouble for taking Vicky to another world while she was grounded.
So, so much trouble.
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Their plan, as much as it could be called a plan, went sideways the moment Taylor and her dad stepped off the stairs. A series of heavy thuds from someone knocking at the door reached Taylor's ears. Her ears which had promptly flattened.
"We aren't expecting anyone else, right?" she asked.
"No, we aren't. That's probably the police," her dad sighed. She winced in agreement.
"I'll… go explain myself. I'll be right back," she said, suppressing a flash of worry. She'd broken the windows in her room. How far had that reached, exactly? Such a wonderful way to tank her debut. She could almost hear the headlines. 'New Ward breaks windows in shouting match with former friend' sounded about right. Glenn was probably pulling what little hair he had left out right then.
"Take the time you need. I'll…" Her father trailed off and shook his head. "I'll go and get Alan and Zoe. This is going to be rough."
She gave her dad a hug then promptly flew off as the pounding on the doors continued. "COMING!" She shouted, keeping her voice just under house-rattling as she zipped over to the front door. Cracking the door she found an unfamiliar pair standing at the door in plain unarmoured PRT uniforms.
"Hello?" She asked, already feeling her cheeks blushing. Inari poked her head around the corner of the door.
"Ms. Hebert, I'm Officer Jason Brookes, this is Officer Mary Daniel," the man on the right said, gesturing to the woman at his side as he showed her his badge. It looked real enough to her. "We're part of your protection detail. Is everything alright? There've been a few complaints about the noise."
The blush she could feel turned practically incandescent as her ears laid down. She could practically feel the steam rising off of her, she was so embarrassed. This was one of the reasons she had tried to play it cool earlier. "I'm so sorry about the volume. I just lost my temper a little when I was shouting at Emma for doing something really stupid and-" She trailed off as Officer Daniel chuckled.
"See. Told you, teenage drama," the officer told her partner.
"And your phone?" Officer Brookes continued, apparently trying to ignore his partner, "We tried to call you, but you never picked up."
Her phone? Her hand went for a pocket, and then she paused. She didn't have pockets in this outfit. Where did she leave her PRT cell phone? "Um…" She glanced around, "It might be in the kitchen? I think?"
"... A teenager who isn't welded to their phone. This is a truly ironic miracle," Officer Daniels said with a smirk. Taylor huffed and the female officer chuckled. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Seriously though, you should try and keep it on or near you at all times. You never know when something is going to happen as a Ward."
"I know I just- I'm not used to having a cell phone," she replied. She could tell that her blush wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. She had completely forgotten to keep it on her. Or near her at least. She had taken it down at breakfast and then… yeah it was probably still in the kitchen by the house phone.
"Not a big problem, just try not to make a habit of it. A Ward has to be contactable, you understand?" Officer Daniels asked. Taylor nodded.
"I'm really sorry about this," she said. She could feel her tails drooping from the embarrassment.
There was the familiar bang of a door being roughly slammed open from the otherside of the house and she half turned her head as one of her ears swiveled to face the sound. Heavy footsteps followed and a moment later it was repeated a second time. "ALAN! GET BACK HERE!" She blinked at the anger in Aunt Zoe's voice. She couldn't recall the last time she had heard the red haired woman get angry.
"This isn't the time or place for this, Zoe!" Alan replied even as he came into view hurrying towards the stairs at a jog.
"Not the time?! NOT THE TIME?! YOU SAID NOTHING HAPPENED THAT NIGHT!" Zoe came around the corner at a sprint. She slipped on the carpet and caught herself against the couch as Alan hurried up the stairs.
"I said nothing of consequence! Shadow Stalker intervened and Emma said she was fine!" Her dad's old friend called back as he continued up the stairs.
Taylor stared as Aunt Zoe heaved herself off the couch in hot pursuit. "NEARLY BEING KIDNAPPED IS NOT 'NOTHING OF CONSEQUENCE'!" Taylor winced at the volume as Zoe charged up the stairs in pursuit.
At the same time, her Dad and Emma's older sister Anne came around the corner and into sight. The older girl had a look about her that Taylor couldn't place. "She might kill him this time," she was saying as they entered Taylor's sight.
"I can't believe he never told her," her father replied, looking rather surprised himself.
"I think it comes from being a lawyer. Not the first time he hasn't said something important 'cause of confidentiality before," Anne said, "Even when he wasn't getting paid. I think it's just a habit at this point."
"Mr. Hebert, I'm Officer Jason Brookes, PRT. Is everything alright?" Officer Brookes asked loudly. Her Dad diverted from the path towards the steps to meet the officers at the door. Behind them the shouting had dropped in volume enough that Taylor could no longer accurately make out the conversation… If you could call loudly interrogating someone a conversation.
"It's… complicated. Very complicated," her Dad said, putting an arm around Taylor's shoulder. She leaned against him as Inari curled up by her feet. "Something happened to my friend and his daughter last year and things…" Danny shook his head with a barely suppressed growl. "It seems he didn't tell his wife what happened." Both Officers winced.
Officer Daniels shook her head. "Idiot," she said firmly.
"This wouldn't happen to be related to the shouting from earlier?" Officer Brookes asked.
"... A lot has happened over the last year that may be connected to what happened following an attack by the ABB that was stopped a bit late by Shadow Stalker," her Dad said, "The shouting earlier was the culmination of everything." He squeezed her shoulder and Taylor placed a hand on the one around her shoulder. She didn't want to explain everything again, especially not to a pair of strangers. It was hard enough talking about it with Inari and Vicky. Just thinking about the possibility was making her feel even more exhausted and wiped out.
"... Anything the Police should be aware of?" Officer Brookes asked cautiously.
Her Dad was silent for a moment. "Not to my knowledge. Some bullying, but I think- I'd prefer keeping this quiet. After yesterday the media circus that something like this would cause would be…" He waved out at the street, where Taylor could already see a van belonging to one of the local TV stations pulling up and the two officers nodded.
"We understand. We're part of the protection detail so we'll still be around. Just give the PRT a call if you think you need us. Since this involves a Ward we'll be handling any police incidents from here on out," Officer Brookes said. He offered a hand and her dad shook it.
"We'll keep that in mind. For now, though, we're going to try and keep this in-house," he said.
"Understandable. Have a good day Mr. Hebert," Officer Brooks said before turning and heading back up the drive. The drive that was playing host to a hurriedly setting up TV crew. Great, just great.
"Have a good day. Later Taylor," Officer Daniels said, waving as she walked off.
"Have a good day Officers," Her dad said and she parroted him with a wave.
Taylor's Dad shut the door a moment later. He rested his head against the wood with a thunk. "I can't believe he didn't tell her," he said softly. Taylor gave him a hug.
"I can." Taylor turned her head to spot Anne leaning against the archway leading into the living room with her arms crossed. "She's been nuts all year, but Dad couldn't see it. She never let him see it. The moment he or Mom would walk in it would be all sweetness and cheer. They never got to hear the vitriol she'd spew when someone got under her skin. So why would he think something was wrong? His darling little girl was perfectly normal and well adjusted in his mind."
"She took it out on you as well?" Taylor asked. Had she really been so far gone that she was trying to take it out on her older sister?
"She tried. Nice thing about being the older sibling. You've got seniority. She never liked what I'd do in retaliation so she stopped," Anne said with a helpless shrug, "I tried to say something a few times, but when my Dad wants to be blind he'll stay blind. Neither Mom or I ever had a clue anything had happened in that alley. We just knew they'd met Sophia because of it… Crazy bitch there if I ever met one. Never liked her, but Dad always acted like he owed her something. Guess I know what now." The older girl scowled.
"He always kept track of the debts he thought he owed," Danny said as he stepped out of Taylor's embrace and walked back towards the stairs. "Come on. We should make sure that Zoe hasn't killed him yet. He and I still need to have words, and…" He looked Taylor's way, "Someone is going to have to explain everything that's happened to them." Taylor nodded slowly. She really didn't want to go through it again, but there was no avoiding it. At the moment she was the only one who knew everything who wasn't unconscious.
"Everything of what?" Taylor looked up as Mrs. Dallon entered the living room looking annoyed, "Would you mind explaining what's going on?" Her Dad looked at Mrs. Dallon for a moment before nodding.
"It's probably best if you hear this with the rest of us," he said, "Come on. We'll explain upstairs." He started up the steps and the Heroine followed him. As Taylor went to follow, she found herself in an unexpected hug from Anne.
"I'm sorry," the older girl whispered from where her ears used to be. It felt weird not to hear her whispering in that ear. "We should have done more."
"You…" Taylor closed her eyes and let out a tired sigh. "You tried."
"Not hard enough apparently… Just… Tell me she didn't have anything to do with… This," Anne asked, tugging lightly on an ear.
"... Not directly I think. She was there," Taylor said as her ear twitched, "but I don't think she asked someone to push me into the locker and lock it. She didn't have that sort of laugh." She knew very well what Emma's laughs sounded like.
Anne just gave her another squeeze. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry," she said again before stepping back and walking up the stairs. Taylor watched her go for a moment. Her stomach churned with emotions like a million drunk butterflies were swarming in a panic.
"Inari?"
Her advisor placed a paw on her leg. "Yes, Taylor?"
"What… What do I do now?" she asked while scooping up the white fox spirit.
Inari rested a paw on her arm. "I'm sorry to say, but that is up to you Taylor. How are you feeling?" Inari asked as they walked up the steps slowly.
"Tired, exhausted. I'd say like I'd been hit by a car, but I don't think that's really the same anymore," she replied, "I just… Alan didn't tell Aunt Zoe? I don't even know what to think anymore. Emma's been in freefall all year and- I don't even know what to feel about her. After everything she's done just looking at her makes me angry and then I find out that she's been falling apart the entire time? I don't know what to think."
Inari was silent for a moment. In the distance, Taylor could hear a voice spike for a moment before falling back down. "Do you indulge in vengeance for what she's done? Do you help her because of your history? Do you ignore her? Do you blame her family? Her father? Or do you blame Sophia? How much is circumstance and how much is malicious intent? Those are just some of the questions going through your head right now, am I right?" Inari asked.
Taylor paused at the top of the steps. In the distance she could see Anne peering into her room. She could make out the soft tones of Amy talking too softly to be understood.
"I suppose," she replied, "I don't know how to feel about this. Even Sophia is just as messed up. I didn't catch everything but… Something bad happened to her, Inari. Something terrible and she patched herself together all wrong afterwards. Or someone did. I can't tell which, everything was such a jumble." She was silent for a moment. "Things were so much easier when I could think she'd just become a mean bitch."
"You mean this morning?"
"Feels longer than that."
"Strong emotions have that effect."
Taylor buried her face in the white fox's fur and sighed. "I feel so tired," she said. Inari patted her on the arm and they walked down the hallway. She was not looking forward to this.
"... didn't you tell her?" her dad said.
"I thought she was fine!" Alan protested, "She looked fine, she acted fine, why wouldn't I think she was fine?"
"Because she's a teenage girl who nearly got kidnapped by the ABB? You know what they do to girls, Dad!" Anne snapped, "Why the hell didn't you say something anyway? This is the sort of thing we had a right to know about Dad!" The silence that followed from the bedroom was damning in Taylor's opinion. She stepped up beside Anne, who was scowling at her father, and looked in on the room.
Her Dad was standing to the left of the door with his arms crossed and a look of furious frustration on his face. Carol was standing by the end of the bed with her face in her palm as Amy watched from the foot of the bed. Vicky was hovering out of sight of the windows facing the street. Aunt Zoe was kneeling beside the bed and running her fingers through Emma's hair.
In the center of everything was Alan running his hands through his hair. "I- I just-" He stammered before taking a deep breath. "Look, I fucked up."
"By the numbers, Alan, by the numbers," Aunt Zoe said, her tone just above a growl. He winced.
"I just didn't think anything was wrong. She seemed normal. You didn't notice anything was wrong either," Alan said, a note of protest in his voice.
"In case you haven't noticed, I spend less time at home than you do. University work is like that," Zoe replied, "Which I'll have to fix because this-" Her fingers clenched around Emma's hair.
"I noticed," Anne said, "I told you something was wrong."
"You said she was being weird. You're both teenage girls, Anne, that could have meant literally anything," Alan protested.
"Then ask what she meant, Alan," Zoe sighed. She turned away from Emma. "Oh, Taylor." Eyes turned to her and she shrunk inward as her ears flattened down again.
"Hi, Aunt Zoe…" She said awkwardly with a small wave. The woman waved back sadly.
"Taylor," Carol said, "How are you doing?" The older heroine appeared to be genuinely worried for her. She smiled weakly back.
"Exhausted, tired, wrung out I guess?" she said. She curled her tails about her feet as she glanced around the room.
"I'm sorry to ask this then, but we need to know what happened over the last year. My daughters have already given a very rough overview of today," Carol glanced over her shoulder at Vicky who shuffled awkwardly in the air, "And we'll be having a discussion about certain things later, but for now, if you could explain everything you know about the last year from your perspective."
"And I'd appreciate it if you would all remember that this isn't a courtroom," her Dad added, looking pointedly at Alan, who shut his mouth before he could say anything.
"Agreed," Zoe said, shooting her husband a pointed look, "No one is on trial here, Alan."
The divorce lawyer wilted. "Yes, dear."
Taylor crossed her legs and took to floating. She dropped Inari in her lap. "Well… It started after summer camp, or well, it started during summer camp I guess. With a phone call…" She told them everything, pausing only when Mark Dallon, Carol's husband, arrived with plates of food for everyone. There was an awkward stilted silence punctuated only by the scratch of plastic forks and knives on disposable plates. The steaks were a bit overcooked, but the warm meal made Taylor feel better despite the situation.
Once the food was done Taylor picked up her story. It continued until she reached an event that had occurred earlier that year. "... and then I made the mistake of bringing Mom's flute to school," she said.
Aunt Zoe's eyes went wide. "Annette's flute?"
Taylor nodded and fiddled with the plate in her hands. "It was stolen out of my locker despite the lock being on it," she said, "Then it showed up later having been filled with…" She bit her lip and took a steadying breath. It wasn't enough to prevent a crackle of electricity from arching between the tips of her tails. She had been keeping a fair lid on her temper so far, being emotionally exhausted helped with that, but just thinking about her mother's flute... She scowled and more electricity popped as the air began to feel damp and greasy like before a summer storm.
Danny pushed away from the wall. "Alan," Her Dad said angrily. Carol stepped a touch in front of him as he attempted to approach his old friend. She shook her head sharply.
"Now hang on, if she found it, we can fix it, right? Repair it or do something to make this-" Alan was saying as Taylor cut him off.
"It disappeared when I went to get a bag to put it in," Taylor said, she fixed him with a scowl, "I know exactly who took it."
"It could have been anyone," Alan protested.
"Alan. Shut up." Everyone turned to Zoe. The red-haired woman's teeth were gritted and bared. "Taylor," she continued with a softer tone as her husband fell silent, "Are you sure Emma did this?"
"I didn't see her, but Sophia is Shadow Stalker, and she never did this sort of thing without prompting from someone else," Taylor replied. She hugged Inari as she watched the woman who had always been so kind when Taylor stayed at their home seethe and growl under her breath like an animal.
"I see," she said.
"Zoe-" Alan started.
"Alan, if you want to stay married you will kindly shut up and let me deal with this," Zoe snapped. The room went silent and Alan took a step back. A sharp glance to the side revealed that Anne was staring wide-eyed as well. "Danny," she continued once the silence had carried on for around half a minute, "What my daughter has done to you and to Taylor… I- I… I can't even imagine…" Taylor caught sight of the tears as they started to roll down the older woman's cheeks. "Annette's flute. After everything you and she did for us and… God above, how did we fail so badly that one scare was all it took for Emma to turn to this? How?"
Taylor put her feet to the ground and walked over to the bed, pointedly ignoring Alan, where she dropped down beside Zoe and pulled her into a hug. "This isn't your fault," she said as she comforted the woman who had been so close to her mother. "You didn't know what had happened."
"But I should have. We, should have," Zoe whispered as she in turn pulled Taylor into a hug. Taylor could feel her tears falling on her long ears. "Emma shouldn't have had to try and figure this out on her own. I should have seen that you not coming over anymore was unusual. I should have… We…" Taylor wrapped a few tails around Aunt Zoe and instantly felt her grip tighten as the older woman lost control of her emotions and started sobbing into her hair. A few tears shimmered in Taylor's eyes as they sat there. A few moments into the sobbing, Anne appeared on Zoe's other side and the three of them sat there crying.
An ear twitched towards Carol. "Come on boys. Let's leave them," the older heroine said, "We need to have a chat about the media circus forming out front."
"Media circus?" Alan repeated as he and Danny were shuffled out of the room by the New Wave trio.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Victoria kept a few steps behind Alan Barnes and Danny Hebert as they left Tay's room. She was ready to intervene if the two men started fighting, but so far Mr. Hebert seemed to be keeping a good hand on his temper. It probably helped that Mr. Barnes seemed almost terrified of his friend as they walked down the hallway. Leading them down the stairs to the first floor was her mother who hadn't said a word since they left the bedroom. Nor had Amy, who was following along to Victoria's left.
Vicky's ears twitched towards the bedroom and she had to fight the urge to go back as soft crying continued to reach her. This whole day was proving to be one giant mess that just grated at her sense of right and wrong. It was messed up enough that she was still fighting the urge to punch Shadow Stalker. She'd originally felt like punching Emma, but as Amy had put it, she was completely catatonic from some kind of mental break. The redhead didn't make her angry, she made her feel pity despite her actions. Shadow Stalker though, well…
Vicky breathed out a sigh and ignored her sister's inquisitive glance. The truth was she felt some pity for Sophia, but her audacity to claim to be a hero while literally bullying someone so hard that it could have very well caused a trigger incident in a less resilient person grated at her on a personal level that even Emma's betrayal of Taylor didn't. The redhead had clearly lost her mind after whatever had happened in that alleyway and never regained it. She'd seen or heard of instances like it before, though nothing quite so dramatic. Some people just couldn't handle the shock of something bad happening to them without the help of friends and family. Emma clearly hadn't gotten anything resembling support from her family.
Her mother Carol could be cold at times, okay most of the time, but she did care in her own way.
"So," Alan said as they entered the kitchen, breaking Vicky's train of thought, "Media circus?" Mr. Hebert dropped into a seat at the small table and ran a hand over his face.
"I took a look out the window," her mother said, "There's at least ten vans out there. Possibly more by now."
"I saw the first one when Taylor answered the door," Danny groaned from behind his hand. "Fucking hell. Alan, I want to tell you to get the hell out of my house, but if you walk out of here with two unconscious teenage girls in your arms the media is going to eat Taylor alive."
"And my wife will kill me," Alan muttered quietly enough Vicky suspected she wasn't supposed to hear it. She shot a smirk at him and he flinched. She didn't have a lick of sympathy for a guy who couldn't even tell his own daughter was traumatized. Idiot. Out loud the divorce lawyer said, "So we get the PRT to get them away from the building. Aren't they supposed to deal with this sort of disruption?"
"The PRT also normally has masked Wards," Carol said, "If they have procedures for this I'll be stunned and even if they do, when was the last time they had to use them? This isn't a riot. They can't just roll in with tear gas and heavily armored guards."
Amy walked over to the fridge and retrieved a pop can. The loud hiss of air from the can drew glances from the adults as Amy sipped the drink with a bored look while leaning against the appliance.
"So we just don't leave then," Alan said, moving on from the disruption, "We move Emma to the downstairs spare bedroom along with Shadow Stalker-"
"I'd severely advise you to reconsider how close you allow that girl to your family, Alan," Carol interrupted.
"Fine. We dump her on the couch or something," the divorce lawyer said, waving a hand in the air, "My point is we just wait this out for the weekend. They can't stay there forever."
"This is literally what they get paid for, Alan," Danny groaned, "They can stay there a hell of a lot longer than we can stay here. Gods sake, my freezer is maybe half full at most. How long do you think I can feed this many people?"
"Not to mention that they may not want to stay either and forcing them would be the definition of unlawful confinement," Carol pointed out, "I'd suggest my family draw attention, but explaining Vicky's… accouterments would be difficult." The thin line of her mouth made it clear she considered it more than difficult.
"Why would it be?" Vicky interjected, "They're looking for an explanation. Something that'll hit the news." She wiggled her ears up and down, a very weird sensation she was still getting used to, and smirked. She crossed her arms under her chest. "Way I see it Mom, we give them a half-truth. They want a scandal. Tada, Sis and Tay have a weird power interaction. It also means I don't have to keep staying inside."
As her mother opened her mouth with an annoyed look, another person spoke. "It could work," Alan said slowly. He winced as Carol turned her gaze on him. "I'm serious. Give them something to latch onto and they might go away before midnight."
"Yes, my daughter," Carol snapped.
"And mine," Danny said, "He's right though. Your daughter is right, Carol."
A mixture of emotions warred across her mother's face before the parahuman lawyer groaned and reached into a pocket. She pulled out a cell phone. "I'll give Glenn a call. This involves your daughter as well as mine so we need to get the PRT involved before we start making decisions."
"Does that also mean telling them-" Alan started.
"About your family's meltdown?" Carol cut him off, "Possibly."
Danny rubbed his face in his hands. "This feels too much like a cover-up," he said distastefully.
"That's because it is," Carol said, sounding just as disgusted as he did, "Let me make this clear Alan, I am not considering this to keep your family out of the news." She pointed her phone at him.
"I didn't think for a moment you were," Alan replied. He finally pulled back a chair from the table and dropped into it. "I can't fucking believe… Danny… I never- I don't- I don't get it…"
"Well I guess we know who wins the worst father of the year award," Amy deadpanned, "And for once it isn't a supervillain. Unless you've got something to share, Mr. Barnes?" Vicky whistled low and flashed a surreptitious thumbs up at her sister. Her mother shot her a glance with an unspoken reprimand, but Vicky shrugged it off as her sister minutely raised her pop can in return. Worth it.
Alan dropped his head into his palms as Carol finished punching in Glenn's number. The phone rang loudly in her hand and after a few cycles the familiar voice of the PRT's PR king came through. "Carol, I was wondering if I was going to hear from you tonight. Got an explanation for the news, I take it?"
"Depends, what're the news stations saying?" Carol asked.
"Not much. More pure speculation. Something about a lot of shouting being heard and broken windows?" Glenn replied.
"Glenn, it's Danny," Mr. Hebert said tiredly, "My daughter had a rather… understandable outburst at a… former friend who we didn't realize was former when we invited her." He seemed to sag in his chair as he said that.
"Well that explains a few things and raises more questions, but can I just say you sound terrible Danny. Are you alright?" Glenn asked.
"I've been worse. Today has been… How exactly do you handle finding out that your best friend's daughter had a full mental break and passed out after spending the last year trying to bully your daughter in some twisted method of dealing with her trauma from nearly being abducted by the ABB last summer? All without either you or your best friend finding out?" Danny asked.
"Well fuck," was the reply they received.
"Very helpful Glenn," Carol drawled.
"Accurate though," Alan grumbled.
"I'm guessing she tried to continue it and Taylor lost her temper?" Glenn asked, a note of concern in his voice.
"Not according to Victoria," Carol replied, "By the sounds of it she had a mental break yesterday after seeing Taylor's debut and tried to act as though everything over the last year hadn't happened."
"Only she kept acting like the script was missing half its letters," Vicky said, speaking up so that phone picked it up, "According to Tay she practically froze up whenever Taylor didn't do something exactly according to how they acted before. She… did something stupid and Taylor lost it and called her out on everything. She started crying and passed out… Kinda hard to explain without an hour or two." That and Vicky didn't really want to go into the whole taking a stroll in another world thing. That was Tay's secret to spill.
"Then I suppose we should be happy she didn't do something violent," Glenn said, "Where is…" There was a rustling of paper, "Emma at the moment?"
"She's currently unconscious upstairs in Taylor's bed," Danny said, "Which brings us to the second half of the problem. Shadow Stalker."
"The Vigilante? What does she have to do with this?"
"She saved us last year in the alleyway," Alan said, "My daughter latched onto her in the aftermath and I didn't see anything wrong with their friendship since… well…"
"Gratitude can get you a lot of leeway," Glenn said knowingly.
"... That is one way to put it," Alan conceded, "I didn't… I thought Emma was fine, but I guess… I don't know. Stalker filled her head with ideas of… I just…" He fell silent, dragging a hand across his face.
"More importantly," Carol picked up, "is the fact that she's here, in civilian ID, and unconscious as well."
"Did she get violent?" Glenn asked.
"No, actually. According to my daughters, after Taylor put Emma into her bed she rounded on Stalker and started verbally tearing her down for her own participation in the bullying," Carol said. Vicky winced. She had never thought that Taylor could be that vicious with words. She was always so… soft-spoken. Quiet. Unassuming. Right then, however, she'd seemed to have so much presence that Vicky was honestly surprised the roof hadn't come off the house to accommodate her.
It had been both thrilling, and utterly terrifying to watch. She could honestly say she had never seen anyone angrier than she had seen Taylor at that moment.
"She must have hit a nerve because Stalker reportedly started crying and passed out in Taylor's arms. She was apparently quite surprised," Carol said, "At this moment she is asleep in the spare bedroom upstairs."
"And Taylor?"
"Currently commiserating with Mrs. Barnes and her Eldest Daughter. They were hugging and crying when we left. Taylor seems to be quite emotionally exhausted at the moment," Vicky's mother said, "Which leads to the fact that we have guests in the backyard, my sister and her family, two unconscious teenage girls upstairs, and a media storm forming because Ms. Hebert's shouting literally blew the windows out on the top floor."
Glenn was silent for a few moments and Vicky wondered if he had hung up before the PR expert sighed. "Oh, this is a shit show."
"Sorry to drop this on you Glenn," Danny sighed.
"Not your fault, Danny. Every Ward has some sort of drama waiting in the wings. It just doesn't normally get connected to their work with the PRT," Glenn replied, "I'm assuming the issue is what to do about the two girls upstairs?"
"Amongst other things. Ideally we'd like to move them to either a hospital or the Barnes' home. The biggest issue preventing that is the media swarm outside," Her mom said. Carol set the phone on the table and leaned over it. "My daughter is suggesting we reveal the effects of the incident that transformed her and blame everything on an unexpected power interaction."
"... That was an unexpected power interaction, Carol," Glenn noted.
"Yes, it was," she agreed, "But my daughter seems to think that we can say that someone got shouted at for doing something that Amy had to fix and there was a power interaction that caused Vicky to get transformed."
"Distracting the media by giving them something to fixate on is a tried and true tactic. We could probably get them out of there by tomorrow morning or perhaps even midnight with that. Maybe sooner if they think that's all it is. I can arrange a statement in support of that sometime in the next few hours if you'd like?" Glenn suggested.
Carol sighed. "That… I am disinclined to throw my daughters to the wolves, Glenn."
"Well I don't have a better idea, Carol. Unless you want me to stir things up with a PRT cordon? Perhaps we could have a helicopter land in the backyard? No, there's a tree if I recall. Possibly sneak through the neighboring yards tonight and pick them up a couple of streets over? I can't say any of these are good options Carol," Glenn said, "Flying is right out. They'll have people climbing trees and scanning the sky since Taylor is known to be an Alexandria package."
"Mom," Vicky said. She stepped up to the table. "I'll be fine. Better a weird power interaction than the rumors that would go around otherwise. Besides, I'm getting a bit tired staying at home all the time, and I'd need to head out anyways later this week when Tay goes shopping, and trust me, she really needs a shopping trip." That blouse of hers was practically ready to pop from the looks of it.
Carol rubbed her temples. "I know… We do still have to have a chat about rules later as well, but…" She sighed.
"It's the path of least collateral, for everyone I think, Carol," Glenn said over the phone, "I can have a PRT team over there to make a show of it in ten minutes. You can leave whenever after that and I'll issue a statement an hour after agreeing with the story you tell them."
"Well Mom?" Vicky asked, leaning down to be in her mother's vision. She flicked her ears to draw attention and grinned at her mother. "I can do this. I promise."
Her mother blew out a heavy breath. "I know… I know… Fine. We'll do that. So lets get our story straight," she said.
Vicky pumped a fist and winced as her wagging tail sent a kitchen chair skidding across the room. "Whoops." She blushed as her mother sighed and Danny broke into chuckles. Her sister snickered into her pop can. Traitor. There would be vengeance for that slight. Likely in the form of stolen ice cream.
A couple of hours later Vicky found herself standing by the door of the house with her family as everyone pulled on shoes and coats. Taylor and her dad were there as well. "Thanks for doing this," Tay said. The dark-haired foxgirl fidgeted awkwardly. She looked utterly exhausted to Vicky. Her ears and tails slumped listlessly and a slight paleness to her skin that spoke of way too much time spent crying.
Needless to say Vicky pulled her into a hug, drawing a surprised squeak from her friend. "Its fine, I promise Taytay," Vicky said as she hugged her with all her strength. The other girl hiccupped and nodded. "No crying," she said as she let go of Tay. Her friend shrugged awkwardly and wiped her eyes.
"Who's crying?" she said, looking away.
"Uh huh. Right. Don't worry. It's just a few media clowns. It'll be fine, seriously. I'm used to this," Vicky said with a grin.
"We do have quite a bit of practice," her mother said as she walked over. The reserved woman gave a hug to Tay who seemed positively surprised. "Feel better soon, Taylor."
"I- Thank you?" Taylor sounded rather surprised.
"And I've talked it over with your father. Vicky will be by on Tuesday to take you shopping," Carol continued, getting a wide-eyed look from Taylor.
"I-really?" Taylor blurted out, her ears perking up just a bit.
Victoria grinned. "Of course. We'll go poke around at a few places I know. I'm sure we can find some good stuff for you to wear," she said.
"You realize I have a budget, right? Not all of us get to mug our boyfriend for clothes," Taylor deadpanned.
"I do not mug Gallant… I ask him nicely," Vicky said with a huff and a grin. A weak smile appeared on Taylor's face. That was a win. "Now I think it's time for me to go. You have a better night Tay. I'll call you once I'm home, kay?"
"Stay safe Vicky, and try not to dig us both a deeper hole," Tay replied.
"So much faith. You'll see," Vicky replied as she turned to the door. Her dad opened the door and she followed him out into the slowly darkening summer night filled with the bright flashing lights of a hundred cameras. "Hellooo, Brockton Bay~" She called, flying out into the light, her tail trailing behind her like a banner.
"VICKY!" She had to suppress the cackle that wanted to bubble up at Taylor's shout. It would send the totally wrong impression.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Watching the news over the next couple of hours was a combination of surreal and tiring. Not that she wasn't tired, exhausted, and emotionally drained beforehand. Spending several hours watching various news anchors, commentators, and even a couple of late-night talk shows talk about and speculate on her life had that sort of surreal quality usually reserved for out-of-body experiences. She had expected something like it, but experiencing it for real had made for a few strange hours.
More importantly, she was quite thankful for Vicky. A weird and unexpected power interaction drew enough speculation and attention away from her that all but the most dedicated news journalists had moved on by midnight when the PRT sent a few discreet people to clear them away. They returned later, but by that point the Barnes family had disappeared with Emma and Sophia, both still unconscious. The vigilante was stirring as they carried her out, but when she woke Taylor didn't know, and she was having a hard time finding the will to care as well.
Sunday was less exhausting and more simply exhausted. They spent the entire day cleaning while her dad arranged for new windows, the price of which was going to be a bit more than they wanted to spend from what Taylor understood. She was going to have to watch her temper since there was no way they could afford her blowing the windows out every week.
Things were a little quiet between her and her Dad, certainly quieter than they had been since she had gained powers, but it was thankfully not as quiet as it had been in the years after her mother died. He was quiet, but he hadn't shut himself off the same way. Not yet, anyway, and she wasn't going to let him do so. Inari had proved helpful there, breaking the ice when the two of them started to close off. Overall, Sunday was a quiet day that they both needed after the events of Saturday.
Waking up on Monday Taylor spent a good ten minutes just sitting on the side of her bed fiddling with her cell phone. Today was her first patrol. The first time she would go out in public as Corentine and be a hero. Well, 'hero' in quotations. Wards weren't supposed to get into fights like the Protectorate so it really wasn't that surprising that the route the PRT had sent to her phone was taking them through downtown. Nothing but skyscrapers and condos to worry about. Sure there were probably a few E88 fronts in the area, but the Neo-Nazi's never showed an overt presence in the city center.
Taylor brushed a lock of hair back and let out a small growl of frustration as it, predictably, failed to hang behind her non-existent human ear. "I really hate that," she grumbled, setting aside her phone and the text message from Vista asking about the news. She'd tell the younger girl about it when they met up for the patrol later.
Twenty-five minutes and sixteen seconds later, as informed by the timer she'd started on her phone, Taylor stepped out of her room dressed in her uniform. She fiddled with her tiara as she wandered down the hall. Getting it to fit in a way that kept her hair back was always a bit of a fight. A bit more of a fight than she wanted to deal with at that time in fact, so she pulled it off and carried the ornate decoration in one hand as she headed down stairs.
In the kitchen she spotted Inari sitting on the tabletop slowly eating a plate of bacon. The white fox looked up as she walked in, a long strip of bacon hanging from her mouth. "That better not be mine," Taylor told her advisor. Inari waved her tail towards the stove where her dad was cooking.
"Hey Little Owl," he greeted as she claimed a chair, "I've got more bacon coming up along with some eggs and pancakes." He paused. "Are you sure you don't need me to take you in today?"
"Glenn wants me to fly in by myself. Give Brockton Bay something to talk about that isn't what happened on Sunday," She said, setting the tiara down on the table.
"Flying in isn't going to do much about that. They're still talking about you and Victoria on the news," her Dad said.
"That's what I said. Apparently it's supposed to just be a start. I don't know," she sighed, resting elbow on the table and her head on the palm of her hand. "At least I can go out and about now I guess."
"Going out the front door or the back?" her dad asked.
"... I want to say back, but sneaking away might not do the job Glenn wants," she said. Be showy, like Victoria, he'd said in his text message. Yeah, showy. Whoo. Ms. 'Hello Brockton Bay' hadn't been off the news in two days. That was not something Taylor was looking forward to having in common with her friend. She hadn't liked being able to look out her window that morning and spot the lingering paparazzi.
Seriously, what was with these people? Didn't they have better things to do with their lives than stalking teenagers? They could at least pick more inconspicuous vehicles so she could pretend they weren't stalking her. A neon orange SUV with pink fuzzy dice hanging on their car's rear view mirror was not inconspicuous, and it wasn't even like they'd picked good looking pink fuzzy dice. They were these tacky half-plastic ones that looked like they were the nineties idea of what the seventies and eighties had been. The only consoling thought she had was that at least she'd know they were coming from a mile away.
"It might not, but at least they might not notice until you're long gone," her dad said. She made a non-committal noise as he placed a plate of food, glorious, delicious smelling food, in front of her.
She dug in hard and fast, making sure to guard her plate the few times Inari turned her head towards it. The cheeky fox kept sticking her tongue out every time Taylor did though. "I'm watching you," she said, pointing a pancake laden fork at Inari.
Inari looked from Taylor's plate to the fork then to Taylor. "You realize you've just put that in perfect stealing range if I cared, right?" the fox asked. The fork was withdrawn and she returned to eating as her fox smugly ate the rest of her own bacon.
"I'm surprised you're here today, Dad," Taylor said as she dropped her plate in the sink.
"I have to be for the contractor to come by and measure the windows," he replied. She winced.
"I'm really sorry about that," she said, feeling a blush forming again.
"Not your fault, Taylor," her dad said, patting her on the shoulder. "You have a longer fuse than I or your mother, and better restraint than I do."
She kept blushing, for other reasons, and picked up her tiara. She examined the hearts on the sides of the jewelry. "I wonder if I could get this set up like a headset?" she wondered aloud.
"Are you sure it isn't already?" her dad asked. She peered at the jewelry.
"Pretty sure. I'd think they'd have mentioned that if it was," she said as she slipped it on. Getting her hair to sit right took another few minutes. Then, after noticing how her Dad was slowly poking at his plate, she gave him a hug from behind and kissed him on the cheek. "Have a good day, Dad," she said.
"Thanks. You stay safe out there, alright?" He said as he turned to hug her back.
"I will," she said, giving him a smile. Sure she didn't like the attention she was about to receive, but compared to dealing with Emma? This was going to be a blast. Hopefully not literally. Getting blasted down one city block was enough for her. "You ready to go, Inari?" she asked. The fox in question was busy cleaning her muzzle on a hand towel.
"Give- me- a- there we go," the fox said, giving herself a shake, "All clean." She turned and held her paws up like a cat.
Taylor picked her up in her arms. "You know this would be easier if you could fly like me," she said. At the lack of a comeback she looked down. Her advisor was staring intently at the fridge. "Inari?"
"Yes?"
She poked the fox in the cheek. "Can you fly?"
There was a moment of silence. "I plead the fifth," was the reply she got.
"Seriously?" She held the fox out in front of her and gave her a look.
"What?" Inari gave her an innocent look.
Taylor carried her over to the stove top where the slowly congealing greasy bacon pan was and promptly dropped her on it without a second thought. The fox stopped mid-air after dropping a foot and just hovered there, tail a few inches above the greasy mess. "Okay, fine, I can fly. Meanie," the fox grumbled, "I like being carried."
"Well you're flying today," Taylor deadpanned. This was the sort of thing that she should have been told. She ignored the attempted puppy dog eyes from the fox and turned away with a huff and crossed arms. She glanced at the clock. "Anyways, we need to get going. I have no idea how long this is going to take and we're pushing it as is. Come on. Goodbye Dad," she said again as she left gravity behind and quickly zipped out of the kitchen towards the door. Her tails swept the house phone off the counter on her way by.
"SORRY!" She called back.
"IT'S FINE! STAY SAFE! LOVE YOU!" her dad shouted back.
Then she was out the door and in the bright sunlight of the early summer morning. Ignoring the reporters that were undoubtedly scrambling for their cameras in the three vehicles that she didn't recognize as normal around the neighborhood, she stretched and turned her head skyward. Closing her eyes she relished the feeling of being able to be outside. She could feel the light breeze as it rolled across her skin and gently ruffled her hair. The warmth of the sun seemed to melt into her. A sniff brought the hint of the sea to her as well. Somewhere distantly she could hear the honking of horns and the wail of a police siren.
She let out a sigh and opened her eyes to find Inari floating at eye level. "You know that's the sort of thing you're supposed to tell me," she said. The fox looked back unrepentantly.
"I like being carried."
"Uh huh. Well get used to flying, because you're in trouble," she said, taking to the air before the manipulative bundle of fluff could talk her into carrying it around. Inari kept pace with her, flying just to her right as they zipped a little above the rooftops of the subdivision and out over the city streets.
"I'm going to be stiff after this," Inari complained as they flew.
"Seriously? Why even bother keeping this a secret?" she asked as they followed the wall of an eight story office building.
"Because I hate flying myself? I don't know why but I always feel like all my muscles have been stretched for too long," her advisor complained.
"How? I don't even feel like anything is holding me up. I just float," Taylor said, she moved up a few more feet to avoid the HVAC units.
"I don't know. It's always been this way. I hate flying," Inari grumbled. Taylor rolled her eyes. They were getting into skyscraper territory, which meant they were entering downtown. So the PRT building was…
"Almost there," she said. Horns honked down below as she passed and cell phone cameras flashed. Ten to one, she was sure there was going to be a PHO post about this at some point in the next few minutes.
The PRT building, with its compound and parking garage came into view as they turned the corner. The rows of buildings between the PRT headquarters and the building were all shorter than the HQ.
"You know, you could have just come in from the ocean side," Inari said.
"Deliberately drawing attention like Glenn said to. Look, there's Aegis and Vista on the roof, come on," Taylor said, dropping down to the roof of the building where the two other Wards were waiting. "Hey Aegis, hey Vista," she called out as she landed.
"Tay- I mean Corentine, you alright after the weekend?" Vista asked.
"We saw the news," Aegis said. Taylor groaned.
"It sucked. It really sucked," she said, "I'll explain why while we're patrolling. Do I need to head inside?"
"You just need one of these," Aegis said, pulling out a small clip on earpiece and throat mic.
"You know I was just thinking about making my tiara useful as a headset this morning," Taylor said as she accepted the tiny electronics.
"Talk to Glenn. He'd probably love the idea," Aegis replied as she fiddled with trying to attach the ear piece to one of her ears. It was easier said than done because she kept twitching every time she tried.
"Stupid, sensitive…" she grumbled as she finally got it clipped on. It felt rather uncomfortable, "Now I know how a tagged animal feels. This sucks."
"Is it Itchy?" Vista asked, appearing beside her with a ripple of distorted space.
"It pinches, a lot," Taylor replied, flicking her ear hard to try and shake it off. When the earpiece refused to come off she nodded. It would probably stay on unless she got hit hard. Or it did. She was pretty sure that the ear piece wouldn't benefit from her durability.
"That can't be pleasant," Aegis said, "Now, let's get you set up. Press the button on the mic and-"
"Go through the procedure to contact the Ward's dispatch. I know, they ran me through it over a dozen times," Taylor sighed, "Aren't I supposed to connect this to my phone first though?" There was a moment of silence and Aegis coughed into a fist.
"Yes."
She eyed the more experienced Ward as she pulled her cell phone from its pocket and synced the earpiece and microphone to it. While she did that, Vista prodded Aegis, who tried to ignore the teasing grin she was sending him. "Ward's Dispatch, this is Corentine, signing in. Can I get a better setup than this please?" she asked, "My ear is getting pinched something fierce."
"Talk to Glenn. I'm sure he'll have an idea. He never seems to run out of them," came the drawl of Dennis.
"Hey Clock," she said.
"Hey Corentine. Aegis, Vista, you should have said she arrived," Clockblocker said.
"Well if you'd stop talking about baseball for five seconds," Vista said, annoyance clear in her tone.
"It was an awesome game," was his reply.
"Since when did you even like baseball?" Vista demanded.
"Since middle-school."
"Well middle-school or not, mind cutting it back a bit, Clock?" Aegis asked, "We're about to be on the clock- Ignore the pun."
"And why should I?"
"Because I could tell Triumph you were chattering about baseball rather than keeping an ear out on console duty?" Aegis said. He smirked at the silence. "Right then, we're about on time so let's get moving and Corentine can tell us about why she ended up on TV."
"Did you really blow out all the windows with your voice?" Vista asked.
She groaned again. "Yes, and it's going to cost a bunch to fix as well," she said.
"Ouch again. Come on, let's move," Aegis said, "You can tell us about it on the way to the boardwalk."
"Boardwalk, lovely. I can get mobbed by tourists. Just what I need after this weekend," Taylor complained.
"You don't know that'll happen," he replied.
"Yes I do. They're tourists," Taylor replied, emphasizing tourists. Inari snickered as they took off.
"Hey, is Inari flying?" Vista called over the radio.
"Wait, the fox flies?" Clock asked.
"Apparently," Taylor sighed before launching into that story first. This was going to be a busy day. At least it was sunny.
-0-0-0-0-0-
The PRT ENE Headquarters in Brockton Bay was surrounded on three sides by skyscrapers. Most of them were office towers, but a few were upscale condos and apartments. They were, in Sophia's opinion, an excellent example of how terrible people could be found anywhere. Like her mother or her neverending string of boyfriends that ran the gamut from creepy to criminal. Not that they bothered her anymore. None of them were as bad as he had been.
Sophia knocked back a shot glass of that glittering red wine and barely winced at the heady sensations that overwhelmed her taste buds. She coughed a few times before she poured a second shot out then put a proper cork back into the bottle and slipped it back behind her desk. She didn't know why they had sent her away with the bag of wine. Maybe pity. Maybe Taylor just didn't care. Maybe she just didn't have an inventory of whatever that place was. Either way, she was thankful. It meant she didn't need to steal her mother's wine to get drunk.
Her head still hurt from her drinking the day before. It wasn't like she drank a lot, but it only took a couple of shots of this wine to make her tipsy as hell.
She'd been dumb enough to have eight.
She walked over to her room's window and leaned against the wall beside it as she peered out into the uncomfortably bright daytime. Down below she could see the usual PRT guards and a pair of figures, one quite small, walking around the rooftop. Aegis and Vista if she had to make a guess. She could make out the costume well enough to be fairly sure on that.
She watched them for a few minutes as her mind wandered. She wasn't angry with Taylor, or even with the Barneses after they told her to not come back anytime soon. Ever was what she figured Emma's mother meant. Sure she'd been angry when she first woke up and the headache was raging, but the moment she took that first shot it had just evaporated leaving her feeling melancholy.
That was the nice thing she was noticing about this drink. Something about it just made her less angry. Less angry at her mother. At the guy walking down the street with his dog. At Taylor and the Barneses, at the world, at everyone except herself.
She downed the shot and shivered as it burned its way down her throat in an explosion of flavor. She coughed and closed her eyes to savor the burning sensation that had practically dropped her the first time she'd tasted it.
She had fucked up so badly she couldn't hate anyone but herself. It wasn't the sort of hate that made one think about taking a walk off the roof of a skyscraper, but it left her feeling shitty enough anyway.
"Predator and prey," she muttered. The words were almost enough to make her reach for the bottle again, but she resisted the urge. She only had so many of them. People weren't animals. You didn't hunt people like you would a deer.
She eyed the crossbow leaning against the wall in the corner of her room and the quiver of broadhead bolts next to it. Her mother hadn't cared when she'd spotted it. Sophia honestly doubted she'd have cared what her daughter had been planning to do with it. So long as she didn't get blood on the white carpets or the hardwoods her mother wouldn't have cared if she'd gone out and nailed a hundred men to the wall.
Now just thinking about it was making her stomach turn.
Sophia set the shot glass down on her desk before she gave into the urge to toss it at her crossbow. "Dumb fucking idea wasn't that," she muttered. There were non-lethal options to a crossbow. She remembered even using a few when she first started. She just couldn't recall when she'd switched. When she'd given into the urge to want to nail the bastards to the wall like she'd wanted to nail him to the wall.
Hero. Heroes had standards.
She wrenched her gaze away from the crossbow and looked out the window again. She blinked. Down below was the unmistakable form of Taylor Hebert. She peered down. Was her fox flying now?
She gave the bottle of wine another considering glance before going back to watching the Wards on the rooftop. The Wards. How many times had she literally looked down on them and written them off as sappy, collared monkeys dancing to the tune of people weaker and less qualified than them? A bunch of people too wrapped up in rules to get the job done.
And yet they were Heroes. They had standards. They stood for something that you could recognize without needing a month of psychoanalyzing and a philosophy degree to understand. Something anyone sensible would approve of.
Her hands found the bottle and another shot was poured. She downed it without even looking away from the scene down below, barely coughing as she did so.
The trio of boy, foxgirl, and fox took to the air while the younger girl simply stepped… somewhere. Honestly, did Vista even have a range limit? Or could she just appear anywhere she recognized? It was a good question, not that she expected to ever know the answer to it.
Once the Wards disappeared in the direction of the boardwalk, and thus out of sight, she walked over and flopped face first onto her bed. It kind of reminded her of her uncomfortably close encounter with Taylor. It certainly was soft enough.
She rolled over and stared at the ceiling. Her mother hadn't cared when she'd come back looking like death warmed over. Hadn't cared that she'd been at a place that was all over the news or that she might have been ill. Didn't care when she didn't come out of her room the day before except for dinner, and even then to just disappear back into her room immediately.
"Not that she ever cares if it doesn't involve her," she said to the room. That was why her boyfriend had been able to get away with…
She closed her eyes and shook her head, ignoring the way the slideshow of people she'd abandoned flickered past her eyes for a brief moment. She'd moved past what he'd done ages ago, so why did it keep coming back into her thoughts since Saturday? Why did she keep comparing herself to that bastard?
She stared at the blank white ceiling for several more hours before rising and getting another shot of the wine when she felt her anger and aggression returning. She couldn't afford to let it. Not if she didn't want to be him.
Not again.
-0-0-0-0-0-
End of Arc One
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A/N: Ello~ Been a while. Sorry about that. This chapter has been a rollercoaster ride for me to write. Oh boy, the emotions. I had to stop writing this chapter a few times just to decompress and cheer myself up from channeling the sheer emotional trauma of a bunch of teenagers.
Once again a thank you to my lovely editor, Gekkou_Yoko~ She has once again helped keep me on track. 3 Thank you Gekkou~
Gekkou: Your Welcome!~ 3
Grounders10: ^.^ *Fluffy tailed hugs*
A link to my Discord server is in my signature. We're all very floofy there. Feel free to come and chat ^.^
