Taylor's Room, Hebert Residence
Mom always said that one day, I'd grow into a beautiful woman, like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. I really don't think that this was what she meant though.
Standing in front of my mirror, I looked on in bemusement as the pair of white and black butterfly wings slowly flexed themselves at my command. I also looked towards the pair of antennae poking through my hair. They were long, black and twitched every so often. I could feel the slight breeze from the rest of the house through them and my sense of smell was about twice as sensitive as normal.
The rest of my body looked…weird too. My skin was blue, my eyes (as in all of my eyes; sclera, pupil and iris) were bright red and my hair was another shade of blue.
I had woken up looking like this, sans the wings, which had popped out just a moment ago. The last few weeks had been horrible since my mother passed away, with everything coming to a head last night when I had a great row with Dad before stomping into my room and slamming the door shut before crying my eyes out until I fell asleep.
Oddly enough, just before sleep overtook me, I had this odd dream about…whales? Floating in space?
Dismissing it with a shake of my head, I focussed on the problem at hand; I was as blue as a blueberry and had freaking wings! Pacing slightly for a minute or two, I stopped and concentrated on my original appearance.
Schloop!
The antennae on my head were sucked into my hair before vanishing, followed by my wings folding up and vanishing inside of me. My eyes became normal again and my hair turned brown again. The last thing to revert was my skin.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I froze as my eyes focussed on a part of the mirror I had been avoiding with them since the onset of puberty; my chest. Reaching up hesitantly, I cupped my breasts, shocked to discover that there were actually enough of them there to cup! I had to have grown a cup-size at least, maybe more!
Turning to the side, I checked my butt out and found that it was slightly more feminine as well. Holy shit!
Shaking my head, I decided that this required research. Thankfully, it was Summer Vacation and Dad had long since fallen into a depression so deep that I was surprised that he noticed what he ate for breakfast.
Shrugging away the frustration which had sparked the argument of last night, I got dressed and headed out. Dad was away at work already, as he had been since the funeral. The only sign of life in him was when he wasn't sitting around in the house, when he was doing something.
This was all my fault. It was my fault that Mom had died, my fault that Dad was falling to pieces. All of it was on me. I could never make this up to Dad, even although he had said that he didn't blame me. It didn't matter, because I still blamed me.
Later
Library
Leaning back on my computer chair, I sighed. On the screen was a forum on PHO, Parahumans Online, which discussed the different types of powers that Parahumans could have. There were a couple of things my powers (I actually had powers! Squee!) could be. Back in the eighties, a system was developed to categorise powers. One defunct category that was scrubbed was the Shifter category, which was split into Changer and Breaker.
Changers could transform their bodies, while Breakers could make their bodies say fuck you to the laws of physics. I could safely say that my other form was definitely on the Changer side of things, with the wings and antennae giving me a Mover and Thinker rating respectively while I was in that form. Quite what the beautification of my body (Actual breasts at least!) was under was a bit beyond me though.
"Taylor!" a familiar, and not entirely unwelcome, voice whisper-screamed in my ear, making me levitate in fright.
"Emma!" I complained, turning around in my chair and glaring at my best friend-slash-sister. Emma Barnes was redheaded and looked utterly gorgeous. Even with my newly-improved body, she shot me out of the water. Her grey, sharp eyes were currently narrowed at me in displeasure.
"Taylor. I thought we were going to meet this morning?" She said sweetly, making me facepalm. That's right; we were supposed to go shopping together, but…
"I had a big row with Dad last night, Ems." I said apologetically, "I completely forgot, sorry."
"You and Uncle Danny had a row?" a single elegantly trimmed eyebrow shot up in surprise.
My Dad and Emma's, Alan Barnes, had been friends since they were in College. Since as long as I can remember, Emma's been by my side, even before kindergarten. I knew everything about her and she knew everything about me, we were so close. She was less like my BFF and more like my sister in all but blood.
"About…you know…Mom and how Dad's been so depressed." I muttered as I turned around again to start logging off the computer, "I almost never see or hear him these days. He's always at work. He's avoiding me, I know it."
"Oh, Tay…" Emma said softly.
"Anyway, we need to talk." I said firmly, "I found something out this morning that's…well, you'll see when we get home."
"Which one?" Emma snarked as I finished with the computer and stood up. I was so used to going to her house and she to mine that 'home' was a bit of a murky water thing.
"Mine." Nothing against Alan and Zoe, but I only wanted to show this to Emma, and an empty house is what I needed right now.
"OK, but this had better be worth skipping out on shoe shopping." Emma grumbled.
Later
Living Room, Hebert Home
"This was so worth skipping out on shoe shopping!" Emma breathed as she gazed wide-eyed at my transformed self. My wings fluttered self-consciously as she seemed to drink me in.
"Emma! Stop looking so much!" I whined. I was shy, dammit!
"Sorry, but…wow." My almost-sister shook her head in admiration, "Tay, you look gorgeous like this."
Again, my wings fluttered in embarrassment.
"T-The best part is that I actually have boons now!" I said to divert attention from my butterfly form. Reverting back, I pulled my t-shirt down for emphasis.
"Holy shit!" Emma gaped for a second before hugging me, "Congrats Taylor! I know it's been bugging you."
"Emma, that pun was so bad I'm surprised that the fabric of reality is still intact." I deadpanned at her.
"You have no sense of humour." My best friend rolled her eyes. "So what're you gonna do now? Join the Wards?"
The Protectorate Wards were the underage members of the National Protectorate, the official hero team of America. They were paid, given a stipend towards college, as well as trained in the use of their powers. When they reached eighteen, they were officially promoted to members of the Protectorate.
"I dunno. Dad's a bit gloomy right now, what with…with what happened to Mom and everything." I admitted with a crack in my voice, "He…might forbid me. B-besides, they haven't been very useful, have they?"
Emma reluctantly nodded. In recent years, the gangs that made up the Bay had tightened their grasp on it, with the local branch of the Protectorate ranging between ineffective to totally useless. More worryingly, the number of Capes they had on hand had been pared away over the years. Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Velocity, Assault, Battery and the new arrival Dauntless were the only adult Capes with the Protectorate ENE. The Wards had Triumph, Aegis, Clockblocker, Gallant, Vista and the new Tinker Cape Kid Win.
This was set against the ten-plus Capes that the Empire 88 had at their disposal, not to mention Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu. He had beaten down the entire Protectorate single-handedly when he had arrived in the Bay. The Merchants…were irritating.
"The only other options are New Wave and going indie, Tay." Emma narrowed her eyes at me.
"New Wave is a family operation, and most of the adult members are semiretired now." I answered hesitantly. Well, there hadn't been an official retirement notice, but since the majority of their flag-waving was done by Glory Girl and Panacea, New Wave may as well be gone.
"You cannot be thinking of going solo." Emma stated heatedly.
"Emma…"
"NO! You might get killed!" the redhead barked.
"Emma, I want to make a difference." I said patiently, "We've both researched the Wards' patrol route. They never go anywhere near the areas of the city that need patrolling, sticking just to the Broadwalk and that part of the Docks that isn't claimed by the ABB and the Empire. That is so far from making a difference that it makes me want to choke. And I'd have to put up with it until I was eighteen. That's four years, Emma. I seriously doubt I could take that."
Growling, my friend paced back and forth in front of me. "OK, fine. Then at least try new Wave. You might not have to reveal your identity because you don't live with other Parahumans like they do."
That was another thing that the New Wave Movement had against them. They were 'Capes with Accountability,' meaning no masks. Everyone knew the identities for the New Wave Capes.
"I dunno, Ems." I said doubtfully, "I don't even know if I have any useful powers. I mean, yeah, I can fly, have a super sense of smell and sense the air currents, big wow. I only just got my powers today, so I need to experiment to see what I've got."
Emma gave me a look. "You're planning on munchkining your powers, aren't you?"
"Say what?"
"Dad was a tabletop gamer back in the day." The redhead explained impatiently, "A slang word he used sometimes was 'munchkining', which literally means to maximise mastering what powers you've got to the extreme."
"That…pretty much sums it up." I said with a surprised blink. It wasn't often that Emma taught me about new words. She wasn't stupid by any means, but she admitted herself that I was the brains between the two of us.
"Fine." My friend rolled her eyes dramatically, "At the very least I'll help you."
I squeaked and hugged her. "Thank you Emma!"
"OK, OK, so what first?" Emma laughed and hugged me back.
"We need somewhere to practice that won't draw attention." I said with a frown as I drew back, "I mean, testing my ability to sense winds and smells doesn't take much room, but I think I read somewhere that butterfly wings have scales on them that are an irritant or poison. What if I can, I dunno, project them, spread them over an area? Or direct them at just one group or person?"
Emma blinked. "That…OK, that does sound good. Remind me to buy a gas mask to wear when we're testing that out."
"Depends on if the stuff works from being breathed in or by skin contact." I answered absently, "Some species of butterflies have toxic flesh, like the Monarch Butterfly, and they also taste bad, as indicated by their bright wing colours."
Emma just blinked again. "OK, the fact that you know that means you did more than stare at PHO today. Let me guess, you trawled several sites for information on butterflies?"
I blushed. Emma knew me too well.
"You never change." The redhead sighed, "Let's start tomorrow, because we are going shopping!"
"What for?" I asked in confusion, "Shoes?"
"That and maybe something for you to use as a costume." Emma smirked, "Knowing you, you'd try to go out with a hoodie and cargo pants on."
Again, she knew me too well.
"Stick with me Tay, and I'll have you looking better than Victoria Dallon." She smirked and my stuttered denials. Urg, friends!
So this was something I thought of. What if she had Triggered as a result of the stress of her mother's death and Danny doing his depression bit? She wanted to fly free…and so turned into a humanoid Butterfree. Plus, it's before the incident with the ABB, so no evil Emma.
Oh and these ratings, in fact all the ratings in my ficlets, are just to give a general idea of her powers. I'm certain that other people can think of different angles to take on them. Please do!
Changer: 5 (Sub Ratings: Thinker 3, Mover: 4, Shaker: 5, Blaster: 5) (Possesses the ability to transform into a humanoid butterfly. Has the ability to fly via the wings. Via the antennae, possesses the ability to read the air currents around her for several metres, as well as an increased sense of smell. Is able to fire beams from her eyes that drastically affects the sense of balance of anyone she hits. Is able to generate small tornadoes via her wings. Can generate the scales on her wings en-mass with a variety of effects, including sleep inducing, paralysation, aggression incitement and poison. Can let loose a shriek that stuns those who hear it.)
Breaker: 4 (Is able to scatter her body into a cloud of butterflies. Unable to attack in this form. Unable to use her powers aside from flight in this form. Able to assume this form even without Changing into her Butterfly form. Can reassemble anywhere within several meters of her initial location. Has a hive mind in this form, so is granted a Thinker: 2 rating while in this form. Can regenerate her body from a single butterfly if necessary.)