Chapter 2 of As Solid as the Earth (Original chapter Chapter 18)

Taylor glared half-heartedly at the villainess who had snuck up on her while she was brooding on the roof of the building she had fled to after killing the mad Tinker Bakuda and almost killing the Breaker twins of the Empire 88 Fenja and Menja. She was exhausted and depressed and really didn't need to deal with this crap right at this minute.

Tattletale's grin morphed into a serious expression. "Look, you killed Bakuda, which means you've done everyone in the city a big favour. I'm not here to fight you, trick you or anything. From what I can tell, you haven't eaten all day and that isn't good. Take it."

She extended the pizza box and placed it on the ground before backing up a few steps. Taylor was going to refuse but her stomach reminded her rather loudly that the villainess was correct in her deduction that it was empty and that it would like her to rectify the situation at some point. Preferably right now!

Reluctantly, she grabbed the pizza box and opened it up, the warm air trapped within releasing a delicious scent of melted cheese, meats and herbs when she did so. Hungrily, she devoured half of the pizza in short order before remembering her manners and offering some to Tattletale.

"Thank you." the blond Cape nodded graciously, contenting herself with a single slice, "You must have been very hungry."

"Yeah...I hadn't even eaten breakfast when dad...!" Taylor felt her throat choke as she was reminded again that she had lost her only family.

Tattletale bowed her head slightly and said sincerely, "I am sorry for your loss."

There was silence between the two of them as they finished the pizza between them. Tattletale then got up and stretched.

"Ahhh. Now, I'd advise you to sneak home and hide. Call...damn, no relatives? OK, call friends of the family." she instructed Taylor, "This number is for a burner phone I have. If you want to talk, call me. I'll probably call you sooner though; you need to have a crash-course in Cape etiquette after what you did to Menja and Fenja. Haven't you ever heard of the Unwritten Rules?"

Seeing the unresponsive and obviously baffled body language of the new Cape, Tattletale sighed. "Evidently not. A quick update then; beating other Capes to within an inch of their lives is a big no-no. You knock them out or immobilise them. Killing is usually off the table too, but since that bitch Bakuda had a kill order out on her head after the first hour of her bombing spree, you're in the clear. You could even go to the PRT and claim the bounty on her head, although you'd have to endure their attempts to make you join up with the Wards, which you don't want, I think."

Taylor shook her head firmly. "No...no, I don't. I just...I need time...to mourn and...adjust to...this."

She waved at her makeshift costume, indicating her powers and new occupation in that one wave.

"Understandable. I did the same after I Triggered." the blond nodded, "Another thing; do not ask what someone's Trigger was. All of them, aside from Second Generation Capes like Panacea and Glory Girl, are usually the very worst events possible to happen to a human. Years of frustration building up to explode in a single moment, being physically or mentally tortured or even undergoing a traumatic event like today...all of those are possible Trigger Events. Asking about them is at best a faux-pas and at worst being rude and insensitive. Just a quick heads up."

"Got it." Taylor nodded. She pointed one hand at the pile of rocks that had been her flying platform until recently and they snapped back together like a jigsaw and the whole ting, about a meter square, floated inches from the roof surface. With a hop, the new Cape jumped atop it and sped off into the darkening night.

Tattletale, left alone atop the building, sighed. She doubted that she could keep her association with 'Gaia' a secret from Coil, her bastard of a boss, for long, but maybe she could evade him long enough to make sure the girl, whoever she was behind the mask, knew enough not to get caught out by either the PRT (self-righteous bastards) or Coil (murderous unholy bastard).

'The amount of pain and sorrow she was in was almost sore for my power.' she thought as she headed to the roof access point she had used to get up to the roof in the first place, 'It was...sobering to see, even just with my power. Someone royally screwed her over, multiple times, and she still had the self-control and desire to live to not try and off herself. I just hope that doesn't fade with her losing her last parent.'

A Few Days Later

Taylor sighed as she lay back on her bed. The last few days had been trying and taxing beyond all reckoning. Her Dad -or the glass statue that had been her Dad- had been interred next to her mother, Kurt and Lacey, her godparents, had been officially made her guardians when her father's family (the bastards) refused to acknowledge that she even existed. Not that she wanted them to.

She still lived in her house, alone. Kurt and Lacey had very little room in their house and only lived a few blocks away, so she basically had free run of the house as long as she kept it in good condition, went to school on time and put up with Lacey dropping by three times a week after school. It was fairly easy to do, as she had pretty much done all of the household chores since her Mom died anyway.

She hadn't gone out in 'costume' since she had killed Bakuda, but the forums on PHO had been exploding with reports and speculations on the mysterious Cape who slew Bakuda and left Fenja and Menja in comas. The PRT and the Protectorate had given her the codename 'Gaia' after the Ancient Greek Titaness of Earth, which was surprisingly apt coming from the government. The last person to be named by the PRT had suffered for years under the name 'Chubster'.

Shudder.

Taylor wasn't even certain that she wanted to continue as a Cape. She had been completely out of control, zooming all over the Bay like a madwoman and actually killing someone. Heroes didn't kill, even scum like Bakuda. Let alone what she had done to the twins.

'Then again, they were the ones who tried to crush me into dust first.' she reasoned, 'I doubt Kaiser is going to take that as an answer though. The number of Nazi's Tin_Mother has hit with the banhammer in the last few days for making death threats to me makes that clear enough.'

She snorted and stood up, heading to her new (to her) computer and started it up. She checked PHO every day for news about the state of the city, taking the news with a pinch of salt. You could never trust everything on the internet, after all.

A private message in her account made her pause.

From: All_Seeing_Eye

Hey newbie. Took me a while to track you down. Call me on the phone you have the number to. Got some news for you.

This made Taylor shiver. What the hell was Tattletale's power that allowed her to track someone down without much in the way of clues? All PHO could tell her was that it was some kind of Thinker power, based solely on the fact she showed no other powers in her few appearances with the Undersiders. This just confirmed it for her though.

Calling the number was easy, but the implications made her hesitate. If she called the number, Tattletale would know for certain who she was and even where she lived. But, given that she had been tracked with the smallest amount of information she had given the villainess on the roof on that terrible day, it was likely she could track Taylor down even if she took truly paranoiac and draconian measures to conceal herself.

Deciding to do the Solomon thing, Taylor went out and used some of her allowance from her godparents to buy three burner phones. She decided that one would be used for her Cape career, should she decide to continue it, with the other as a spare.

"About time you called me." was the first thing Tattletale said when she picked up, "Don't recognise the number...a burner phone? Very clever. I could get around that, but I won't. Anyway, would you like to meet up? I still need to tell you the rest of the Rules and I can advise you on what you can do in regards to a costume, if you like."

"Err...OK. How does tomorrow after school grab you?" Taylor asked uncertainly. She hadn't met up with anyone outside of school since Emma's betrayal.

"Sounds good. Outside Fugly Bob's?"

"OK. Wait, are you coming in costume?" Taylor was suspicious again.

"Nope. I pretty much know who you are, so consider this a way of balancing the scales." Tattletale replied casually, sending chills down Taylor's spine. This girl scared the crap out of her, and she was a more physical threat that the blond Cape.

"See you then." Taylor said with a frown. She sighed as she disassembled the phone and hid it in her room. Even although the teenage villainess had helped her take down Bakuda, this was still risky for her. Visions of being shanghaied danced through Taylor's mind until she remembered Tattletale going on about some 'Unwritten Rules' when she met her. Maybe one of them would stop her?

What should she do...?

Yes, a little cliffy for all of you.