Overcast 3.1

Taylor didn't exactly regret staying up late to wipe out the Merchants and get some much needed insight on PRT protocol, but she was definitely paying for it now. Her eyes felt heavy as the teacher droned on about math or physics or something like that and none of her supers were letting her grab a power to ease her tiredness either. They kept saying it was an important lesson on the work-life balance of being a hero. The vicious stabbing headache she'd woken up with hadn't helped either, though she thought she hadn't overused her powers…

You can't just use a superpower for every little thing in life, Taylor Aaron - Legacy - chided her. I've seen young supers try it and get screwed over for it in the long run.

Old bastard. Thought he knew everything. She pointedly ignored the knowledge that he was basically his world's equivalent of Scion. He had a lot of experience to draw on.

Lunch came around quickly and the chance to get out of class was nice, except… Well. A storm was on the horizon and its name was Hurricane Vicky.

"Oh Taayyyylorrrr~" Victoria plopped down across the table from her, eyes glimmering. "You know, I heard the most interesting rumor from some friends the other night."

"Do tell." Taylor grumbled while stabbing at what the school graciously called 'mashed potatoes'.

"They said this new hero team showed up last night and took down the Merchants in one go." Victoria grinned. "They're doing a press conference later today to confirm it. I hear their leader Olympia is a really cool hero." Victoria's grin turned predatory as she leaned closer. "Tall gal with some cool armor and a spear, seems to be ripping off Dauntless. Dark curly hair. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would yo- Ow!" She yelped as Taylor viciously kicked her shin hard enough to bust her shield. "What was that for?"

"You may have a public identity!" Taylor hissed quietly. "But your parents are also superheroes! I can't risk my dad's safety like that!"

"Sorry, sorry, it's just exciting to have another girl hero my age around." Vicky gushed. "Shadow Stalker was a bitch, plus she's gone now and Vista is cool, but she gets grumpy around me sometimes." She pouted slightly and Taylor was taken aback by how well the expression fit. "We should- I mean, I would love to team up with Olympia sometime." Then she had the audacity to wink!

This girl would fit in well in our world. Legacy chuckled. Though perhaps she could use some more subtlety.

No one is listening in on us right?

We're fine, it seems she has the presence of mind to make sure no one was actually nearby.

"Hey so I have an entirely theoretical question," Vicky interrupted Taylor's mental conversation. "But do you think Olympia can summon villains?"

Taylor gave Vicky her best aggressively neutral look. "What makes you think Olympia summons heroes in the first place? Maybe she's a Tinker or a combat Thinker."

"Well ah…" Vicky apparently had enough shame to look abashed. "A um, friend of mine who works at the PRT saw footage of a certain attack on a house, in which an individual was killed and then proceeded to vanish. The same individual was then later seen fighting against Echidna and then last night against the Merchants. It's also really suspicious and unlikely that so many heroes would suddenly just come out of the woodwork like that. So either we have a projection Master or a power granting Trump who just assembled her own team, but based on the vanishing bodies and what not, I'm leaning towards projection Master." Vicky concluded.

Taylor sighed. "Hypothetically, if Olympia did summon projections, it's entirely hypothetical that those projections have free will and minds of their own and don't always listen to their summoner." She explained. "So hypothetically when she summoned a powerful projection to help save her life, maybe she didn't know that the person she'd summon was a complete asshole."

Vicky nodded sagely. "Yeah that makes sense."

"Also hypothetically," Taylor glanced around again, just to double check no one was listening. "Isn't it breaking the unwritten rules to just come up to a cape in their civvies?"

Embarrassment flashed across Victoria's face. "Sorry, I was just so excited. Plus I know you and you know me, it's not like you're a stranger or something."

She sounded oddly defensive.

I think what she just did would be considered a breach in cape etiquette. Archmage cut in dryly from the depths of her mind. It certainly would be in our world. Perhaps she doesn't have a proper understanding of identity because her whole team is unmasked.

Taylor had to agree with that sentiment. "Just… Don't tell anyone else." She tried to inject as much of Archmage's gravitas into her voice as she could. "I know the PRT already knows who I am, but I don't need any villains getting the memo either."

"Yeah, my bad, anyways-"

Vicky was interrupted as Amy suddenly thumped her on the back of the head. "Leave Taylor alone Vicky." The healer ordered dully as she sat down. "And stop it with the conspiracy theories. Especially at school." Her eyes shot over to Taylor and she gave her a small nod. "Sorry about Vicky, she's been convinced you're a cape since last week."

"Oh uh… thanks? But if you healed me before then you already know…"

"Yes." Amy agreed. "But also doctor patient confidentiality, not to mention a healthy respect of the rules." She shot an irritated glance at Victoria. "Something Mom apparently didn't drill into her head. You'd think she'd take it more seriously considering our identities are all public."

"I see…" Taylor replied thoughtfully, surprised to see that the younger of the two Dallons was clearly the more responsible. "Well again, thanks for the save."

"No problem." Amy replied graciously.

"I did have a question for you by the way."

"Shoot." Amy replied as she made a face at her lunch tray. "But just so you know I don't do custom jobs."

"Ah, not what I was going to ask." Though that was an interesting tidbit. So Panacea was more than just a healer? "No, I was wondering how much another healer cape would help you out."

Amy paused, fork halfway to her mouth and then slowly set it down. "What?"

Oh boy. Legacy sighed. You hit the healer button.

"What are their limitations?" Amy demanded, leaning over the table and dangerously close to Taylor's personal space. "Is there some kind of catch or consequence?!"

"No, nothing like that." Taylor assured her. "The only real thing is that the healing cape I have in mind taxes my, ahem- Olympia's powers so she probably couldn't use him very often."

Amy settled down a bit. "You have no idea how much petty shit I have to deal with sometimes. Just one other cape with an effective healing power would cut down my workload so much."

Is it really that bad for healers?

Oh yes, healing abilities are extremely rare and always in high demand. Legacy informed her. We had one back home named Magister, he actually ran a clinic in the city and hired other healers too. A great boon for the community.

"I'm willing to bet Olympus will help you then." Taylor smiled at Amy. "They seem like a pretty versatile team, they must have a leader."

Amy gave Taylor a look of such relief that she had to wonder just how overworked Brockton's only heroic healer really was, before she turned back to her food. Taylor decided that was a pretty good course of action and started digging into her food as well, and the conversation turned to lighter and more casual topics.

After school, Taylor went to her currently favorite cafe that happened to sit between her home and Arcadia. So far their tea hadn't been disappointing and their pastries were excellent. It was also a convenient and private spot to summon her heroes and have conversations with them. It was time she had a serious conversation with one now.

He didn't want to be summoned. He rarely, if ever spoke, preferring silence. It felt like her power was dragging him out. With a burst of rainbow light (easily hidden by a minor Stranger power) Isaac Walker, the superhero Roulette, appeared across the table from her. Now that he was out in the open air, she could see a … weight to him. Something similar to the aura that Panacea always had around her.

Isaac blinked as he took in their surroundings. "Taylor. Why'd you summon me?"

"Why have you been so quiet?" Taylor asked bluntly, folding her arms. "The others, they're eager to be out and about or even just talk. Not you. We had like… one conversation and then you vanished."

"Ah. Well put simply, I figured you have all the help you need." He smiled with just a touch of tiredness in his eyes. "You don't want or need the help of a washed up hero like Roulette."

"Washed up? Legacy is always saying what a great hero you are. Even Archmage seems to respect you!" Taylor was confused now. Roulette was kind of like Eidolon, right? A powerful Trump, spoken of in the same breath as Legacy.

Isaac sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Taylor, do you know why I was famous back in my world? I mean other than the hero part."

"No. What does that have to do with this?"

"Everything." Isaac grumbled, raising a hand and letting a soft light shimmer from it. "I guess to properly explain, you should know that I had a friend of sorts. Not a proper one, we were… Projects. We were given powers mirroring that of our predecessors, a hero whose might could shatter the world, but drove him mad and a villain who would slaughter all to steal strength. We were supposed to be perfected. My friend, Emilio, had the same strength as Ares." Isaac paused working his jaw. "In return he had the ability to form empathic bonds with people, to preserve his sanity when dipping into his well of power. Me? I have a variant of Magician's power. Rather than steal powers on a kill though, I can just take one powerset at a time, though I was once told I could raise that number if I practiced. I never did."

"By the time I was in my twenties, Magician and Ares had been dead for a while. But a villain calling himself Apostle wanted to bring ruin to the world, so he coerced a young super named Encore with the power to temporarily bring back the dead into raising the two strongest supers of all time." He stopped for a moment, considering Taylor. "Actually your power might be tied to Encore's, but we'll get to that later. "

"So there we were, two kids out of our depth, one a rising hero, the other a reformed villain. And we had a choice, either one almost certain death. I went after Magician and Emilio went after Ares." Isaac's fists clenched tightly, eyes lost in memory. "Emilio died, fighting a monster so much stronger than him, it was barely a challenge. Like a toddler picking a fist fight with Mike Tyson. Supers gain power with time and Emilio was too young to battle Ares at the height of his strength. Meanwhile I confronted Magician and it was all just… bullshit! I thought I was going to die and that bastard came along having easily broken the compulsion that Encore had over him. He had the audacity to kill Encore, a kid younger than me, and then just waltz over and… Well turns out he just wanted to bring his mom back to life."

"It was too much. A friend, someone who was almost like a brother, killed because he tried to do the right thing, and then the only thing I did was watch Magician have an emotional breakdown when it turned out that Encore's power was temporary and his resurrected mother died, shortly before he did. But people, the media, the government, they assumed I'd beaten Magician and those that knew otherwise basically ordered me to keep my mouth shut." Isaac's fist slammed onto the table, making Taylor jump. "I was hailed as the next great hero of the UHF, maybe even Legacy's successor. I couldn't take it. So I left. I retired. And even that was tainted, because when I did so, I didn't bother with identities anymore, so people thought I was starting a revolution of maskless supers, like your New Wave. My whole life I've had this… expectation. And everytime, I fail to live up to it. So yeah. I'm really not cut out to be a hero. And that's why when other supers are giving you advice or pep talks, I stay in the dark little corner of your mind, where I belong."

Well damn when he puts it like that…

"I'm sorry." Taylor said earnestly, awkwardly reaching out and putting a hand on his arm. "That… That really sucks."

Isaac let out a long breath and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, you're like the only one I've ever ranted to like that, not even my wife ever got the full tirade." He smiled sadly. "Guess the end of the world made me hate secrets even more. Plus, you know." He shrugged. "No point in keeping them."

"For what it's worth, it sounds like you had a lot of expectations put on you from the beginning." Taylor stated firmly. "Not really your fault, that's on the higher ups and whoever engineered your powers."

"Janus."

"Of course it was fucking Janus." Taylor cursed dryly. "Everything is about that dumb Tinker bastard."

The two shared a good long laugh at the Tinker's expense, a nice moment of comradery and burgeoning friendship.

And then the bombs went off, turning the world into an inferno.
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