Private Room, Brockton Bay General Hospital

Daniel 'Danny' Hebert sat beside his comatose daughter's bed and wanted to weep. Again. It had been almost two weeks since someone had pulled the cruellest prank he had ever heard of and shut her in a locker full of disgusting filth, and he had cried more in the last two weeks than he had since the death of his wife.

'Annette…I'm sorry. I failed our Little Owl.' He thought wretchedly. Taylor and her mother were so alike, despite the fact that she had inherited a lot of his own characteristics and mental habit from him, that being around her in the early days of the aftermath of the funeral had been painful. So, he being the pathetic failure of a father that he was, had thrown himself into work, with the absolute minimum amount of interaction with Taylor on the odd occasion that he had encountered her.

He had become a ghost in his own house as he ever so slowly recovered himself. He had even sent Taylor to Summer Camp. She had recovered faster than he had, thanks to Emma Barnes, her best friend, and going to Summer Camp had seemed to heal her fully.

Then…then things started going wrong. He had been kept in the dark by Taylor, but he had found her so-called 'bully diary' and he still felt the rage build as he recalled the preface that Taylor had written into the first page of the diary, that the book only held a small portion of what had been done to her, that the bullying had started the previous year. Some of the things done had been petty, some physical, some horrifying, all of it to his daughter.

Emma Barnes, Madison Clements, Sophia Hess. Those three were the ringleaders behind the torment of his daughter for over a year and a half and he couldn't do anything about it. That had been the thing that bothered him the most. Alan, Emma's father, was hyper protective of his children and wouldn't take any implication of wrongdoing well without a case fit to pass muster in a court of law, because he would sue for slander and defamation of character, among other things.

Danny had no clue about the other two, but some careful poking around had revealed that Roderick 'Roddy' Clements was a shift manager at one of the few factories still operating in Brockton Bay, with his wife a full-time housewife, while the Hess Family was a typical story for a family who had lost a parent. The mother worked her ass off as a secretary and had a useless excuse for a boyfriend who mooched the money and wasn't exactly nice to her daughter and son.

None of this pointed out why the three had spearheaded a campaign of bullying that seemingly involved the entire student body and possibly the faculty of Winslow itself, which was patently ridiculous. Yet, if the idea was so ridiculous, why was it that the teachers hadn't noticed anything? Why hadn't they stepped in? Why did their active collaboration or unspoken willing ignorance of the situation seem to make the most sense here?

It was because of that that he had taken to carrying Taylor's diary around with him, if only to read it and castigate himself for not realising that something was wrong with his usual chatterbox of a daughter.

"Mr Hebert?" a voice, a female voice, said uncertainly. He looked up and saw a nurse at the door to the room.

"Yes?" he asked somewhat hoarsely. He hadn't spoken in a while.

"Doctor Michaels has called in Panacea to have a look at your daughter." The nurse said softly, "She should be here within the next hour or so."

A surge of hope crested inside of him. Panacea was the world's foremost healer and had been successful at curing all types of cancer and other previously incurable diseases. Then a horrible though occurred to him.

"But isn't she supposed to be unable to do anything to do with the brain?" he asked in concern.

"She can monitor and read the brain, even if she can't do anything to alter it." The nurse replied with the air of someone who had answered that question too many times to count, "Even if she can't fix whatever's wrong, she can give us a good idea of what is wrong so we can try to fix it."

After the nurse left, Danny rubbed his weary eyes and hoped that Panacea could do something to help his daughter, because he was running out of hope.

Unseen by him, a light glowed on Taylor's forehead for a moment before fading.

Later

With Panacea

Amy Dallon, dressed in her costume as Panacea, entered the hospital with a barely concealed sigh. Another day, another bunch of patients that never seemed to end.

"Ah, Panacea. Good to see you." Jeffery Michaels greeted her. He was the doctor at Brockton Bay General that acted as her liaison with the staff when he was on duty. He was a good man and a good doctor and actually tried to make her leave at reasonable times.

"Doctor Michaels." She nodded, "You don't normally call for me. What's the problem?"

He gestured at her to follow him, which she did.

"A patient was admitted two weeks ago after being viciously attacked on the first day of school." He explained, "I'm her doctor. The patient, a Miss Taylor Hebert, has been in a coma of sorts for that entire time."

"What were her injuries?" she asked with a frown. A coma for two weeks?

"Scratches, bruises, some broken bones, most of them in the hands. A minor concussion." Michaels listed, "What was far more concerning was the number of infections that she received. She was trapped in a locker, filled with…well, used feminine products that had apparently had all of the Winter break to rot and ferment, for over four hours."

Panacea blanched at that. "Holy fuck!"

"Exactly. We've had her on a general antibiotic and we've been flushing her system with water drips, but she remains comatose." The doctor continued with a grimace, "The police have refused to hand over any samples of the biomass that Miss Hebert was trapped with as it is evidence in an ongoing investigation with possible terrorist connections. Our blood tests haven't shown us anything in her system for the last two days or so, but given the sheer amount of…filth…she was exposed to, some might have migrated to other locations in her body by this point."

"All too likely." Amy agreed with a disgusted expression. "Have they caught who did this to her?"

"Apparently not." Michaels scowled, "According to a friend of mine in the force, no-one saw her go in and no-one heard her cries for help. She was only released when a janitor let her out. She was feral and attacked him, so the man responded by clubbing her unconscious. I don't blame him for overreacting, but it has put us in this rather awkward position."

"Christ." Panacea muttered. The poor girl wasn't having much in the way of luck, was she?

At length, they reached the door to the girl's private room. She had found it odd that she had one, until she spotted that it was one designed to be hermetically sealed at the drop of a button, just in case of one of Bonesaw's plagues getting out, just to give a random example.

Without knocking, Doctor Michaels opened the door and stepped into the room, Panacea following cautiously behind him. Lying on the sole bed in the room was a tall, almost painfully thin girl with a mane of brown hair and a mouth slightly too wide. Sitting next to the bed was a tall man with bags under his bespectacled, red-rimmed eyes, who was obviously her father.

"Mr Hebert, I thought you had gone home?" Doctor Michaels said in concern.

"I'll head home and catch some sleep after I find out what's wrong with my daughter, doctor." Mr Hebert answered with a slight slur of tiredness in it. It was plain to see even without using her power that he hadn't slept in some time, perhaps as long as two days.

"Very well." Michaels sighed, "Panacea, if you would?"

"Of course." Amy nodded before stepping forward, "Mr Hebert, do I have your permission to use my powers on your daughter to heal her?"

"Please." That one word carried more emotion than any angry diatribe or grief-stricken wail.

"OK. I promise to do my best." She answered. Stepping forwards, Panacea looked at Taylor Hebert closely for a moment before gently pressing one hand to her skin.

Then she stiffened.

"Doctor, please start taking notes on the infections she has as I speak them aloud and cleanse them." She half-growled. Some of these were almost like the work of a deranged Biotinker, although not nearly on the same level as Bonesaw. Bonesaw could make diseases look like a Picasso painting, while this was a slapdash effort by a deranged amateur by comparison.

Panacea started listing the infections in a clipped and emotionally frozen voice as she found and cleansed them from Taylor Hebert's system. Her lungs, her liver, her pancreas, her womb, her bone marrow, her kidneys…the list went on. The only reason the tall girl was still alive was because she had, in that foul and dank locker, Triggered and become a Parahuman.

She had a baseline physiology that had an immune system that was matching the infections blow for blow, even although most of her body's resources were required to do so. Thus the coma, as her powers had shut down her body aside from the most necessary and vital functions in order to combat the viruses and infections. Panacea would estimate that she was a Brute 3 for that kind of immune system, as it would translate to a healing factor once Taylor was back to normal.

That wasn't all though. There were oddities about the girl's body that Panacea couldn't quite put her finger on. It wasn't like there were areas she couldn't read exactly, but there were parts of her genetic code that were blurred, for lack of a better term. It was as if she were trying to read several different people at once with her power. She had only attempted that once and had given it up, as it gave her something similar to a Thinker headache.

Odd that she wasn't getting one now though…

The New Wave healer opened her eyes and stepped back once the last of the viruses and infections were purified. "That was tiring." she muttered.

"Over twenty infections…!" the doctor muttered in amazement, "I didn't think an ordinary human could survive this kind of thing!"

"Technically, she isn't an ordinary human." Panacea sighed. Now comes the hard part. "Close the door doctor. You and Mr Hebert need to hear this."

Concerned, Michaels did as he was asked.

"Mr Hebert, have you ever heard of the term 'Triggering' when related to Parahumans?" Panacea asked seriously.

Michaels sucked in a deep breath as he saw immediately what she was getting at. Danny just blinked. "Uh…no. Can't say I've really paid much attention to the Cape scene other than when the gangs steal my workers."

At her blink of non-comprehension, he added, "I'm the Representative of the Dockworker's Association."

Ah.

"Well, the thing is…a Trigger Event, to give it its full name, is how Parahumans get their powers." She said carefully, "The name comes from the fact that something happens to a person, triggering and activating their powers. It can be a life threatening situation, a moment where all the stress from over a prolonged period of time hits you at once…anything sufficiently stressful. It's usually summed up as the worst day in a person's life."

"This happens to every person with powers?" Danny asked in distress.

"For First Gen Capes, yes." Panacea confirmed, "For Second Gen Capes like the younger members of New Wave, it's not nearly as bad. Glory Girl Triggered during a moment of frustration at a basketball game, for example. A very public Trigger."

"I see…" the man said, horror creeping into his eyes as they darted between Panacea's face and his daughter's. "Y-You mean…?"

"She Triggered in the Locker." The healer said gently, "It's probably the only reason why she's still alive. The possibility of System Shock from so much filth getting into her system combined with the number of infections both major and minor that she received should have meant that she should have passed away at least a week ago. As it is, one power I know she has is what is called a 'Brute' power. Basically, she's able to withstand blows that would break an ordinary human's bones. Unlike with my sister, she has a very strong bias towards resilience and regeneration rather than strength, but she's at least as strong as an amateur wrestler right now."

"I…see." The man gulped, "I lost Annette…I can't lose Taylor too. I'll have to tell her not to use her powers."

Panacea instantly shook her head. "That won't work."

"I beg your pardon?" Danny asked with narrowed eyes.

"Mr Hebert, a study has been carried out ever since the advent of Scion in the eighties." Michaels fielded this question for her. "Parahumans have an almost compulsive desire to use their powers, almost an obsession. They have to use them, even if it's like Cola Boy. It's been proven in scientific studies worldwide."

Cola Boy was the Hydrokinetic that worked for the Coca-Cola Company to advertise their soft drinks.

"Ok…Ok." Danny breathed out as he brought his panic attack-slash-temper under control, "So I get her into the Wards. They should be able to keep her safe there."

"Even if you agree, she'd have to agree as well." Panacea pointed out, "You can't simply sign her over to Director Piggot. And even with my help, she isn't going to be up and about for a couple of months, at least. At that point, you can bring it up with her."

"I am her father." The man argued.

"And this is her power." Michaels interjected again, "Unless she has used her power as a villain for a crime, you cannot speak on her behalf regarding how she uses it and for whom. This was upheld in the Supreme Court when a minor refused to work with the Wards when his parents unilaterally signed him up for the Wards after he Triggered. A Parahuman's power is theirs to use as they please, unless they break the law, at which point power of control is passed back to the parents or guardians. Of course, minors are encouraged to join the Protectorate Wards or a PRT Affiliated hero team for their safety, and usually they accede to their parent's wishes, but the right of refusal is solely a Parahuman's regarding their power."

Danny's hands clenched before he slumped in his seat, defeated.

"You have a couple of months before that becomes a necessity." Panacea reassured him, "Even although her enhanced immune system was fighting back against the infections, there were a lot of them, and I had to use some of her fat reserves to repair some of the damage. She won't be able to do anything for at least a month, even with me helping her along, with physiotherapy adding another month at least."

'That is, if her powers don't cut even more off the timeframe.' She silently added. Now that they didn't have to fight off the infections and viruses, they would start to restore her body to how it was before the locker. Sometimes Brute powers even went beyond that and made their wielders at the peak of human fitness, like with Triumph.

"How long until she wakes up?" Doctor Michaels asked.

"I put her to sleep when I finished clearing her system." Panacea replied, "She needs actual sleep right now, not coma sleep. She'll be awake at about midday tomorrow and she'll need a moderate helping of food. Not paste, not thin soup, actual food. I just hope the police find out who did this. To her…"

"I already know." Danny laughed hollowly.

"WHAT!?" both Michaels and Panacea exclaimed. In answer, Danny pulled a thick book out of a bag at his feet that neither hand noticed and held it up to them.

"Taylor recorded every day of bullying since September in this book, including printouts of the e-mails and itemised day-by-day accounts of what was done to her and by whom." He explained.

"Why haven't you handed it in to the police?!" Michaels half-asked, half-demanded.

"Because of who one of the girls responsible is and who her father is." Danny replied shortly, "Emma Barnes' father Alan is a lawyer and he can, and has in the past, threatened to sue anyone who 'slanders his daughter's good name.' I think he works for the same firm as Brandish."

"Allan Barnes…I don't think Carol's mentioned him." Panacea said after a moment of thought.

"Then there's the fact that the teachers at Winslow seem to do their damnedest to see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil as far as the bullying Taylor was under was concerned." Danny said with a furious scowl, "She tried to transfer to another school and they shredded her application form in front of her."

"That…that isn't normal." Panacea shook her head in disbelief. "I can ask my mother to come and talk to you about this if you want…?"

"Do you think that she'd do something or sweep it under the rug for someone in the same firm?"

Panacea bristled slightly. Yes, Carol Dallon treated her like a bomb ready to go off and yes, she resented that, but her professional conduct, as both a Hero and a lawyer wasn't to be questioned. "Mr Hebert, she will not do any such thing. Her professional integrity is impeccable and there is no blue wall of silence with lawyers. I can assure you that she will treat this with the seriousness it deserves."

"Sorry." Danny sighed, "I've not slept in about sixteen hours, so I asked a stupid question. Please…I want the people who did this to my daughter to pay. Not only for what they did to Taylor, but so no one else ends up like her."

The healer nodded. "I'll get the ball rolling with my mother. When she meets you…make sure you bring that diary. In the meantime…Doctor, you'd better get a Wards/Minor NDA to sign."

A Month Later

Hebert Residence

With Taylor

It had been a month since Panacea had healed me. A month since I had discovered that I had powers.

And a month of Dad trying to persuade me to either join the Wards or not use my powers.

"Dad. Please, enough." I sighed, interrupting the nth attempt at pushing the Wards. "I am not joining the Wards."

"I can understand that what that…hellion…has done to you has perhaps soured you to them…" Dad trailed off as I sent a flat, unimpressed look at him. Sophia Hess had been revealed to be Shadow Stalker, a Protectorate Ward, by Carol Dallon's crusade-like investigation. Evidently something about my case had offended her on a deep and personal level.

I hadn't been supposed to know about Sophia's identity. I had only found out when she went apeshit, escaped the PRT building and tried to kill me. That damned crossbow of hers almost killed me, and would have too, had I not have been practicing my powers at the time.

In addition to the brute strength, resilience and healing factor, which put me at the peak of fitness for my age, I also had the ability to Trump myself with three powersets a day. From what I gathered, the powers seemed to be based on the constellations. The skillset I had been testing at the time was that of Centaurus, the centaur. That set granted me supernatural speed, dexterity and the ability to leap to truly ridiculous heights, which was why I had been able to dodge the crossbow bolt that Sophia had shot at me.

I had channelled Corvus, the Raven, next and unleashed a sonic scream that had laid the shadow bitch low in pain from her burst eardrums. She had ripped her mask off in pain and I had been so, so tempted to call on another of my powers to finish the job while she was helpless. Dorado, Sagitta, Canis Major…hell, most of the constellations that I could bring to mind could have been used to kill the bitch somehow.

And yet, I didn't. I had invoked my last powerset of the day, Auriga, the Charioteer, and created the projection of a bike, zooming off home to rage and cry. Apparently the Protectorate arrived a bare minute after I left, and had wondered who had defeated her.

The bitch spilled the beans as soon as Panacea had, begrudgingly, healed her ears. So now, I was being best by both my Dad and the PRT to join up. Fuck no. I was not going to join the same team that that…unholy bitch from hell had been a part of.

"What else is there, Taylor?" Dad almost begged me, "New Wave still has its unmasking policy, so that's out. And I am not letting you be a lone hero!"

Something snapped in me at that. "Letting me?"

The way Dad recoiled meant that I had a seriously ugly expression on my face. I didn't care.

"Letting me?" I repeated heatedly, "After the last year and half of being treated like a leper both in my own house and at fucking school, I am so beyond caring about what you think about what I should do!"

"Language!"

"Shove it!" I shouted, standing up and glaring at him. "You collapsed in on yourself when Mom died! You left me to prop you up even though I was feeling just as bad! I had to keep you fed and fucking clothed properly when you couldn't give a shit about anything but feeling bad for yourself! When Emma started with her shit, I didn't tell you because I knew that you couldn't fucking handle it! And now you want to tell me what to do with my own fucking power?!"

Emma, as it turned out, was suffering from being brainwashed by Sophia amidst the PTSD caused by a gang attack and was now receiving counselling from a professional who has experience with people who have been brainwashed by Capes. I was still on the fence about whether or not to attempt to mend the differences between us. Despite all of the shit she had put me through, I still loved her.

"Taylor…I…"

"Enough." I shook my head, "Just…enough. I'm not joining the Wards. If New Wave relaxes its maskless policy, I would consider them. Until then, I'm going to train. Because cents to dollars says that someone will try and force the issue, whether it's the PRT or one of the gangs."

With that said, I got up and left the room, leaving my father behind.

OK, so this is a LOT darker and more angst-ridden than I had initially thought it would be, but hey, when I write, the words flow from my fingertips. The idea behind this kinda-sorta comes from Lucy Heartfillia's Celestial Spirit magic from Fairy Tail, except a bit broader in scope than the Twelve Zodiac (technically thirteen with the snake bearer) that were the most powerful on the ordinary Celestial Spirits in that show. You could spin this as Taylor being an Eidolon-ite and tapping into a different set of Endbringers or whatever.

In other news, Wildbow has started posting things on the Worm Wordpress site again. Just three PHO chapters, but all of them titled 'Glow Worm'. It's really intriguing for me to see if he'll bring Taylor back as a main character, or if he'll start with someone new. I hope for Taylor, as I have a lot of respect for the Queen of Escalation. We'll just have to see what happens.

Brute: 3 (Is at the peak of human fitness. Can tank blows that would shatter bones with barely a scratch. Is stronger than she appears. Possesses a ridiculously strong immune system and has a healing factor.)

Trump: 8 (Has the ability to grant powersets to herself three times a day. Can swap between the powersets at will. A 'Day' is counted as starting from midnight and lasting 24 hours from then. The powers are based off of the 88 Modern Constellations. See examples below.)

Andromeda: Shaker 4 (Chains), Trump 5 (Power Negation Field).

Centaurus: Mover 6 (Super Speed, Enhanced Dexterity, Super Leaping ability).

Corvus: Changer 5 (Raven/Crow), Master 4 (Sensory Bond Creation), Stranger 3 (Shadow Camouflage), Blaster/Shaker 4 (Sonic Shriek).

Dorado: Master 4 (Fish), Changer 3 (Sub-rating Striker 2, Arm Blade), Breaker 5 (Underwater Adaptation).

Canis Major: Master 4 (Canids), Changer 4 (Canids).

Sagitta: Shaker/Blaster/Trump 6 (Mass Arrow Generation, Trick Arrow Bestowal), Thinker 3 (Supernatural Enhanced Archery).

Auriga: Master 6 (Vehicle Projections).